The Remnant’s Chris Jackson posted last Friday a clear and concise defense of the dogma of papal infallibility — what it is and what it is not — written by Father Michael Gavin in 1881. The article was written to refute an attack on said doctrine by a Protestant, Dr. Littledale. This is definitely worth a slow read.
The Remnant: “From Fables About Papal Infallibility” by the Rev. Michael Gavin, 1881:
…The Catholic Church, as Dr. Littledale remarks, maintains that its teaching now is exactly what it has been from the beginning. Yes; its teaching never contradicts what it has authoritatively taught in other ages, but it may be on certain points much clearer, fuller, more explicit now than ever it was before. The belief of Catholics is ever the same, that is, the Church never denies what she has once taught, nor can she ever teach, or by her universal practice sanction in matters of faith or morals, what she may hereafter deny or repudiate. The prerogative of Infallibility has been granted to her simply and solely that she may guard and faithfully transmit the body of doctrine entrusted to her on the death of the last apostle. Catholic theologians teach that nonew revelation affecting the doctrine that binds on the belief of all has been given to the Church since the hour when St. John yielded his virgin soul to God. See full piece here.
