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Show INFALLIBILITY. ("Continued from page 1.) Jrt'r infallibility with which the Divine Re-f.(f.;r,rr Re-f.(f.;r,rr .,;,., f.iurcj T0 be endowed in defin--r- s trine regarding faith or morals." ... Jt ;.- ;no; important that we hold clear and curate meaning on this subject. A definition of '-h ;s p creat;on 0f a new doctrine, but is irx;,y i-r, official declaration by the church, or by ';e Sij,:tv:,k, portiff, that a defined doctrine is con-ta!:;fj con-ta!:;fj ,n deposit, or legacy of revealed truth, lr'f; - by Christ. "har a deposit?" asks St. Vincent of Lerins. x that which is intrusted to you, not that which " the fruiT 0f vour invGntion; it is what you have fciver, not what you have devised; it is not a pr!vate assumption of authority, but an affair of Public transmission; a thing transmitted to you, Cot jrrMJll(.fii Dv you (De Potcs v.29). The Ilu"eh does not create a doctrine and never claimed i'fle bt to do so. She defines what God hath re-e&'f-d, and lifts above the region of controversy ctriIJ( - contained in the deposit of faith. I tieition of faith, the,is not the invention or 1 ' creation of a new doctrine, but is simply an authoritative author-itative or official promulgation of a truth as old as Christianity itself. Thus, a truth of revelation which was before implicit, that is, enclosed as it were m the deposit of all doctrinal or moral truths, becomes by the official voice or definition of the church a thing to be believed by every member of the Catholic church under pain of exclusion from her communion. For example, the doctrine of the Infallibility of the Pope was of necessity included in the deposit of faith, but the vast body of Catholics Catho-lics did not know it, and until the voice of the Church of God was heard proclaiming it to be of faith, were not expected or bound to believe it. After th church had officially defined Papal Infallibility In-fallibility to be included in the revelation of God to man, then it became what is called a dogma, and was to be accepted and believed under penalty of excommunication. Papal Infallibility does not mean that the Pope cannot sin. It is one thing to be exempt from sin or the power of sinning, but it is quite another to be divinely protected against doctrinal error, when teaching the things that are of God. Infallibility is not inspiration. Inspiration implies im-plies infallibility, but the latter does not necessarily mean inspiration. By inspiration is meant the impelling im-pelling will or influence of the Holy Ghost moving one to write or speak; His will and presence moving mov-ing the mind of the individual, not allowing him to err, and influencing him to write or speak what God wishes. By infallibility is understood a special providence or assistance from God, by which the representative or Vicar of Christ on Earth is preserved from all doctrinal error in teaching or defining all matters of faith and morals contained in the deposit of truth already revealed. Xow there is nothing contrary to reason and practical common sense in believing that God has given to the head of His church this prerogative of infallibility for the conservation of the doctrines He revealed for the benefit of the human race. An infallible God proclaims to man truths which must be believed even though they transcend the comprehension compre-hension of the human mind. It was necessary for the conservation and the correct exposition of these truths that the church which He founded should be infallible, otherwise we could not be held to believe them. An infallible God could not establish a church subject to error, and the exigencies of time and locality demanded an infallible head for an infallible in-fallible body. There is therefore nothing contrary to reason, nothing out of harmony with God's dealings deal-ings with man as exemplified in the lives of the inspired Prophets and Apostles, if God shields the supreme head of the religion which He established on earth from all doctrinal error in his capacity of Supreme Teacher. It is due to the human race that it should be so, for without infallibility there can be no unity and no obligation to believe. |