Hypothetical question about Papal Infallibility. Can anyone guess what would follow if this happened?

Question

Suppose that a sitting Pope was speaking with Infallibility. I'm not sure if Popes are supposed to always be Infallible or not. But for arguments sake lets say that the Pope was excercising this power and speaking with total infallibility. Now, let's say that the Pope said something that was totally contrary to what previous Popes had said when also speaking with Infallibility. What would happen?

Basically, I am asking if a sitting Pope can overturn, undo, or reverse the words of a previous Pope. Could this theoretically happen? And would the new teaching or statement be accepted under the laws and doctrines of the Church?

Maybe I didn't even need to ask this as I may have just found the answer at Wikipedia:

"The Holy Spirit does more than merely ensure that infallible teachings are true. The Holy Spirit also works to ensure that infallible teachings will be accepted throughout the entire body of the Church. Thus, it is impossible for any current Church teaching, whether fallible or infallible, to contradict a prior infallible teaching, just as it is impossible for an infallible teaching to be wrong."

Answer 1

No, it cannot happen, and never has happened. Truth cannot conflict with truth. No official teaching on matters of faith or morals defined by any pope has ever been overturned or contradicted by any other pope. The Holy Spirit will not allow it, since this is the only way mankind has of knowing the genuine truth with certainty, and it is the truth that sets us free.

Of course many Christians in denominational religion are quite sure they know the truth. But the doctrinal chaos that prevails in denominational religion clearly demonstrates that none of them really do.

Christ promised His Church, "whatsoever you bind upon earth is bound in heaven", and "the Holy Spirit will guide you to all truth". He is faithful to His Word.

Answer 2

It is a necessity of Christian theology that every person be allowed the exercise of free will. Everyone, the pope included, must be free to accept or reject Christ for himself. If God were to make the pope infallible in the ultimate sense, he would be depriving him of his free will.

Infallibility does not mean that a pope is incapable of sin. All popes are human and therefore sinners.

Infallibility does not mean that the pope is inspired. Papal infallibility does not involve any special revelation from God. A pope learns about his faith in the same way that anyone else does--he studies.

Infallibility cannot be used to change existing doctrines or proclaim new ones. It can only be used to confirm or clarify what has always been taught. The teachings of Christ cannot change. As the Scripture says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Infallibility does not mean that a pope cannot err when he speaks as a private teacher. As a man he is fallible and capable of error.

Infallibility does not guarantee that a pope will officially teach anything. However, when he does teach he is protected. If he decides to teach the truth, the Holy Spirit allows it. If he decides to teach error, either knowingly or unknowingly, the Holy Spirit will stop him.

Infallibility is not something that endows a pope with divine powers, but rather it is a gift of the Holy Spirit that protects the Church from the human frailties of a pope.

All Christians believe that God used men infallibly in writing Scripture. Why then is it so hard to believe that He would work through men to protect it from corruption? Surely such a protection was implied when Jesus said to His disciples, "He who hears you hears me" (Luke 10:16).

The First Vatican Council taught that three conditions must be met in order for a pronouncement to be considered infallible:

The pope must speak ex cathedra (from the Chair of Peter) in his official capacity.

The decision must be binding on the whole Church.

It must be on a matter of faith or morals.

Answer 3

This doctrine became into defined dogmatically in the 1st Vatican Council of 1870. in accordance to Catholic theology, there are numerous concepts important to the awareness of infallible, divine revelation: Sacred Scripture, Sacred custom, and the Sacred Magisterium. The infallible teachings of the pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which additionally contains ecumenical councils and the "person-friendly and extensive-unfold magisterium". In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is between the channels of the infallibility of the Church. The infallible teachings of the pope ought to be according to, or a minimum of no longer contradict, Sacred custom or Sacred Scripture. Papal infallibility does not characterize that the pope is impeccable, i.e., that he's specifically exempt from criminal accountability to sin. in accordance to the finished fool's handbook to awareness Catholicism: "rather, the pope seldom makes use of his capability of infallibility......somewhat than being some mystical capability of the pope, infallibility ability the church enables the workplace of the pope to be the ruling agent in finding out what would be universal as formal ideals in the church."[2] because of the fact the 1870 solemn assertion of Papal Infallibility with the aid of Vatican I, this capability has been used merely as quickly as: in 1950 while Pius XII defined the assumption of Mary as being an editorial of religion for Roman Catholics. ********* as you will discover in the historic previous of the church the pope has merely used the assertion of infallibility as quickly as. all the different situations you reported the two befell previously 1870 while the dogma of infallibility became into defined, or they weren't declarations of infallibility! ******EDIT -- ok, I did a sprint extra learn and that i ought to nevertheless merely discover the single occasion of a pope applying the infallibility coaching. So i do no longer desire to assert that somebody else wasn't suitable... yet i could ought to work out the object that they have been examining. all the articles that I study, indicated that it has merely been used as quickly as..... nevertheless, i could have neglected something and anybody can e mail me a link or an editorial! ********

Answer 4

If that was the case then the Pope has to keep his mouth shut. He would not only question the credibility of the Vatican but the whole Christendom as well.

Answer 5

Guess anything.