Santorum doesn't believe the Pope is infallible

[ichy]

Papal infallibility only applies in certain very narrow circumstances. It does not and never did mean that the pope cannot be wrong.

 

[JockoJohnson]

IIRC, the pope's infallibility applies to matters of faith (dogma), not scientific, economic, and ecological policy.

troll bait is troll bait (and yes, having responded to this post, i am in fact feeding the troll and fueling the flames)

^This. And he hasn't replied in this thread once since posting original.

 

[CycloWizard]

CycloWizard

Troll? How so?

All I can assume now is that you have never heard of Papal Infallibility before since even if you had read about it, the author was "saying it".

Sheeesh! Get your panties in a knot over a simple question. (Which, by-the-way, had no deeper or hidden meaning.) I have no idea why you took offense. At it's simplest interpretation, your statement meant that you had never heard of the concept. That seemed odd, so I tried to guess what else it might have been intended to convey.

I consider your reaction over-the-top and unwarranted.

I consider your question trolling. You knew that the OP was misleading. You knew what I said. You then asked a question which attempted to take my original statement out of context. What in my original statement made you think I'd never heard of papal infallibility? Here it is again:

I've never heard anyone say that they believe that the pope is infallible. You're really grasping here.

I'll reiterate: I've never heard anyone say that they believe the pope to be infallible. In the context of the OP, the meaning was clear. I'm sick of people feigning innocence. You knew exactly what you were saying. It's not offensive in any way - it's simply a troll post. I was baptized as a Catholic at the ripe old age of seven days, so I'm fairly familiar with the actual concept of papal infallibility. Idiots like the OP feel the need to distort it because they're ignorant to the point where they don't comprehend the concept or because they can't address the idea in its true form. Either way, troll.

 

[JEDIYoda]

e's just trying to make his declared faith go in easier with his target audience...

So you could say that Santorum is a mixture of Pope and lube.

Exactly!! He needs the fundamentalist Christian vote.....
The fundamentalist Christians do not like the Catholics.

 

[Throckmorton]

Infallibility or not, isn't going against the Pope the kind of thing that makes him "throw up"?

 

[jackschmittusa]

CycloWizard

Well, not being a Catholic, and not even knowing that you are, you expect me to find the same nuances as you do between terms like: papal infallibility and the pope is infallible?

So, enlighten me, is the Pope sometimes infallible, or never infallible? Is capitol punishment consideration important to Catholics? Is there a universal consensus?

I do not favor capital punishment. As an atheist, I figured that out on my own.

And you can put aside your outrage. My original question had only to do with your comment, not the OPs. The intent of your comment was entirely unclear to me. Maybe it made sense to other Catholics, but it missed me by a mile.

 

[Michael]

jackschittusa - please read the link already in this thread. Popes are only "infallible" in specific circumstances related to matters of faith. In general, they are considered to be human beings and perfectly capable of being wrong and being a sinner. Church history - which is fully discussed and taught - is full of examples of Popes that bought the Papacy, married Popes and Popes with mistresses, one purported woman Pope, etc. Many of the traditions around electing a Pope and the current structure of the Church government are a result of problems with past Popes.

The OP is a pure troll, and one that is not even internally consistent.

Michael

 

[werepossum]

Meh. I'm more interested in whether he thinks the Pope can fly. Then we'd have something.

 

[cybrsage]

Meh. I'm more interested in whether he thinks the Pope can fly. Then we'd have something.

Pope John Paul could, but Benedict cannot...which is why he always looks grumpy and Paul always looked happy.

 

[CycloWizard]

CycloWizard

Well, not being a Catholic, and not even knowing that you are, you expect me to find the same nuances as you do between terms like: papal infallibility and the pope is infallible?

So, enlighten me, is the Pope sometimes infallible, or never infallible? Is capitol punishment consideration important to Catholics? Is there a universal consensus?

Papal infallibility only applies when he teaches ex cathedra (i.e. as a matter of Church policy) on dogmatic principles of faith and morals. He is essentially the supreme executive of the Church just like Obama is in the US government. Indeed, the Church's teaching remains that capital punishment must remain an option in places where they cannot ensure that a dangerous criminal will remain isolated from society. Places with modern prisons rather than straw huts cannot really apply this exemption and are therefore at odds with Church teaching. As with all Church teachings, there are plenty of Catholics, probably most even, that disagree with this teaching. The pope's job is to teach it anyway because it's what he believes is right based on a lifetime of studying the subject.

I do not favor capital punishment. As an atheist, I figured that out on my own.

The pope is against capital punishment. You might have figured that out on your own, but most people don't and most nations still allow it. It is much easier to logically justify capital punishment than abortion, for example, but those willing to justify the latter almost universally abhor the former (and vice versa). The pope's job is to tell it like it is and find objective methods by which we can say whether something is right or wrong based solely on ethical principles (i.e. moral principles based on logic rather than spiritual reasoning). Presumably, such principles are universally applicable outside the Church, even if most people within and outside the Church will ignore them at their own spritiual peril.

 

[werepossum]

Pope John Paul could, but Benedict cannot...which is why he always looks grumpy and Paul always looked happy.