What's with the Catholic Church and their whole Papal Infallibility? What about the inquisition?

Question

These popes were killing people - in the name of Christ no less! I think its hypocritical to kill people who want to read the Bible for themselves.

Answer 1

I was really impressed to read that the inquisition as we imagine it was a myth. What??? OK, the inquisition basically appeared after Protestantism appeared. The Catholics, who had lost so many of their lands, decided to do something to get them back. So, they became stricter and set up new rules and regulations. Anyway, the only country that they get back was Poland. All the others remained Protestant. As I was saying, they imposed all these new laws, they told you what to eat, what to drink, and, worst of all, what to read and think. Thousands of books were destroyed because of this. oh, yes, and you could be burnt at the stake for having red hair if you were a woman because that meant that you were a witch. They killed people such as Galileo Galilei theoretically for heresy, but in reality not for heresy. And they weren't burning all that many protestants, you know, because they were only burning people from the countries in which they had access, that is Catholic countries

Answer 2

Papal infallibility is the idea that when the pope speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals, that settles the issue. This is no guarantee that the pope is a morally upright person. And it does not guarantee the accuracy of his day to day statements. The Protestants have no such doctrine, so they can't really determine what the correct theological position. That is why there are so many Protestants sects.

The Inquisition was instituted by Rome to stop the wholesale torture and execution of people accused of heresy. Nobody was killed by the Church. After the Inquisition examined a person, he was given to the civil authorities. Back in the Middle Ages, people could be executed for blasphemy.

People wonder why some Muslims get inflamed when someone ridicules their Prophet, or their religion. Christians used to take their religion a lot more seriously, several hundred years ago.

I have never heard of anyone being killed for reading the Bible. The Church condemned unauthorized translations of the Bible. These translators could be excommunicated from the Church. This was necessary, not only to prevent inaccurate translations, some of the "Reformers" actually changed or removed parts of the Bible that they didn't agree with.

Answer 3

You are blending two ideas. First, you are correct that the Inquisition of popular myth would be a horrendous thing, however a very recent and extensive study of the records of the Inquisition show that it was nothing at all like the myth. It is quite likely that the Inquisition saved 10's of thousands of lives and very very few people ever died and they died because the Inquisition didn't save them. There are even records of criminals blaspheming to get out of the secular court system and into the ecclesiastical court system. The Church simply asked if you were sorry, if you said yes then they let you go and it got you out of an execution. If you said that you were not then they returned you to the civil court.

As for papal infallibility, it isn't that big of a deal. The idea is simply this. Catholic beliefs are only those beliefs held from the apostles and held across the entire Church across time. Popes and councils can act infallibly only when repeating what everyone already believes, have always believed and can do so only when in union with the bishops and the laity accept it as a valid expression of the truth. People make infallible statements all the time however and don't think anything of it. For example, if you say "Jesus Christ is the Son of God," then you were acting infallibly. Papal infallibility is pretty much of the same order. Like the Inquisition, the Reformation made it into something it never was or was intended to be. As for reading the bible, the Catholic Church has always and everywhere not only encouraged bible reading, but it proclaims the bible daily in such a way that if you attended Church every Sunday and the Holy Days, you would hear the entire bible every three years, two if you go daily.

Think about that, a sixty year old Catholic who faithfully attends, would have heard the entire bible 20 times in their life. Further, except for the Nicene or Apostles Creed, every word of the service comes directly out of scripture. Only recently have they allowed Protestant hymns, prior to that they were not allowed as they are man made.

The only bibles that were not allowed for Catholic reading are bibles that have been altered or failed quality control, essentially bad translations. Most Protestant mediaeval translations were of very poor quality. When the KJV was retranslated in 1890, they removed 20,000 major errors. Entire denominations winked out of existence. The snake handling protestants of Kentucky come from a verse that isn't in the ancient writings. Catholics have translated the bible into English at least since the 8th century and Luther translated the bible into German, his was the 97th translation into the local language.

Just a note, it was not the fault of the Protestant translators that their translations were poor, they were working from very poor copies in the first place. As the Vatican controls one of two of our oldest texts and Protestants are not considered accredited theologians, they were not allowed to look at it and as the Orthodox controlled the other, Protestants had to rely on very corrupted hand made copies.

As a side note, it was Luther who executed the Baptists. He had 20,000 of them burned at the stake. The Reformation was a civil war and theology was used as war banners. When theology is used to create war all you get is bad theology. You should read the early reformers completely, you will probably be horrified.

Answer 4

Bible reading had nothing to do with the inquisition.

The Catholic Church had been in the habit of publishing the Bible in the language of the people since the 4th century.

Apostacy, heresy, and false teaching had everything to do with it, as those things lead people astray, and can land souls in hell.

As for infallibility, all of God's chief priests and popes have exercised limted privileges in that area, since the beginning.

It comes with the office, and has nothing to do with the man.

In the 2000 year history of the church, the pope has chosen to speak infallibly only TWICE.

Answer 5

The doctrine of Papal Infallibility did not become official Catholic doctrine until 1870. The Pope must be speaking EX CATHEDRA, which is reserved for solemn doctrines.

According to the teaching of the First Vatican Council and Catholic tradition, the conditions required for ex cathedra teaching are as follows:

1. "the Roman Pontiff"
2. "speaks ex cathedra" ("that is, when in the discharge of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, and by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority….")
3. "he defines"
4. "that a doctrine concerning faith or morals"
5. "must be held by the whole Church"

Personally, I think that the whole thing is a large amount of a disgusting brown semi-solid substance that has been excreted from the intestinal tract of a sexually functional male bovine. (It is a bunch of bullsh*t.)
.

Answer 6

You don't understand. A pope's teaching is only infallible when it is delivered "ex cathedra". Whenever a pope is not speaking "ex cathadra", there is no guaratee of infallibility.

Papal infallibility does not mean a pope is entirely beyond error, period. Only a pope's teaching "ex cathadra" are infallible. And these don't happen that often. Such events are few and far between.

Answer 7

My understanding is that the Pope is infallible, yet the current Pope can change previous decisions. I believe the Catholic Church has denounced those actions a long time ago.

Let's pray for our fellow Christians

Answer 8

+ Papal Infallibility +

The Catholic Church teaches that the Pope is infallible at closely defined times.

The Pope is only infallible when he, in union with the body of bishops, solemnly teaches that a doctrine as true.

This comes from the words of Jesus to Peter (the first Pope) and the Apostles (the first bishops), "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matthew 18:18) and "He who hears you hears me" (Luke 10:16).

At all other times the Pope can be just as sinful as you and me and be in need of forgiveness.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p4.htm#891 and http://www.catholic.com/library/Papal_Infallibility.asp

+ The Inquisition +

Modern historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. The Inquisition was actually an attempt by the Catholic Church to stop unjust executions.

Heresy was a capital offense against the state. Rulers of the state, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw heretics as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath.

When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig. It was not to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. The lord needed some basic theological training, very few did. The sad result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent judge of the crime.

The Catholic Church's response to this problem was the Inquisition, an attempt to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges.

From the perspective of secular authorities, heretics were traitors to God and the king and therefore deserved death. From the perspective of the Church, however, heretics were lost sheep who had strayed from the flock. As shepherds, the pope and bishops had a duty to bring them back into the fold, just as the Good Shepherd had commanded them. So, while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.

Most people tried for heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or had their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed.

If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.

Where did this myth come from? After 1530, the Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from the printing presses of Protestant countries at war with Spain accusing the Spanish Inquisition of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World.

For more information, see:
The Real Inquisition, By Thomas F. Madden, National Review (2004) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.asp
Inquisition by Edward Peters (1988)
The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen (1997)

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 9

The Christian religion was established because it was easier to rule the all the ppl if they all believed in one God. If you did not believe you were killed, that simple, this is how the religion of love and peace was spread. The Catholic Church were the keepers of all knowledge and power. It's easy to keep ppl in line when you threaten them with sentences of cosmic and eternal punishment.

Kneel down and pray, submit, do not question authority,live in fear of a God that will punish you if you get out of line. Might as well put a bullet in your head.
Amen

Answer 10

Only when he is speaking from the throne is he considered by Catholics to be infallible.