Infallibility and Pope Francis' Interviews
How can we tell if a statement is an ex cathedra decision? Pastor Aeternus (chapter 4) lays out several criteria.
The Pope teaches ex cathedra—that is, infallibly—when, “exercising his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians he defines, by his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine of faith or morals which must be held by the universal Church.”
Vatican II essentially repeats this: the Pope, the Head of the College of Bishops, by virtue of his office, is possessed of the infallibility “with which the Divine Redeemer wished His Church to endowed in defining matters of faith or morals . . . when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all of Christ’s faithful and the one who confirms his brothers in the faith (cf. Lk. 22:32), he proclaims by a definitive act doctrine concerning faith and morals” (Lumen gentium, 25).
With regard to the recent statements of Pope Francis, it is obvious—really obvious—that most of his comments are not infallible definitions.
Letters to the editor, interviews with journalists, even daily homilies fail to meet the criteria necessary for a statement to be infallible. Although he may be speaking about faith or morals, he is emphatically not making a solemn definition that the Church must hold this teaching.
Pope Francis has himself called on the laity to take a greater role in the Church, and has called on us to challenge him and to make our own contributions to the Church.
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