From: revc@garg.campbell.ca.us (Bob Van Cleef)
Subject: Re: SSPX schism ?
Organization: The Land of Garg
Lines: 48

>From: jhpb@sarto.budd-lake.nj.us (Joseph H. Buehler)


>Many Catholics will decide to side with the Pope.  There is some
>soundness in this, because the Papacy is infallible, so eventually
>some Pope *will* straighten all this out.  But, on the other hand,
>there is also unsoundness in this, in that, in the short term, the
>Popes may indeed be wrong, and such Catholics are doing nothing to
>help the situation by obeying them where they're wrong.  In fact, if
>the situation is grave enough, they sin in obeying him.  At the very
>least, they're wasting a great opportunity, because they are failing
>to love Christ in a heroic way at the very time that He needs this
>badly.

Joe;

Your logic excapes me. 

If the Papacy is infallible, and this is a matter of faith, then the 
Pope cannot "be wrong!"  If, on the other hand, this is not a matter 
of faith, but a matter of Church law, then we should still obey as the
Pope is the legal head of the church.

In other words, given the doctrine of infallibility, we have no choice
but to obey.

Bob

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[You might want to look at the FAQ on infallibility.  The doctrine on
infallibility does not say that the pope is always right.  All
Catholic theologians acknowledge that there have been a number of
occasions when the pope was wrong.  There appear to be two aspects to
infallibility.  One is a general concept that in the long run the
Church is protected from serious error.  However this does not mean
that it's impossible for it to take wrong turns at one time or
another.  The more specific concept of papal infallibility is that in
very specific circumstances a papal statement can be known to be
infallible.  However a relatively small fraction of statements meet
those criteria.  This does not absolve Catholics from the duty to obey
even "ordinary" teachings of the pope.  However only a few teachings
are made in a way that is explicitly infallible.  --clh]
