John A. Broussard

I know of no Catholic claim that the pope never sins.

Please let me know the source of your information on this issue.

Yes, the Catholic Church does, in fact, insist that the pope is infallible.

Do you need an explanation of how a pope could be infallible and yet be capable of sinning?

I'll be happy to give you the standard Catholic explanation, but it's easily available in any major source such as the Catholic encyclopedia or the Catholic cathechism.

Now, let's get back to the original dispute. The Catholic Church insists that the bible grants infallibility to the pope.

Is that a minor difference over interpretation?

I look forward to your answer.

rhutchin

I don't understand the issue you have in mind.

The Bible is infallible and anyone who preaches, teaches, or instructs that which the Bible says can be said to be "infallible." Even an atheist who correctly explains that which he reads in the Bible can be described as infallible (with regard to those teachings). That the Catholic Church wants to officially limit "infallibility" to the pope so that only the pope is supposed to read the Bible where other churches grant this to anyone who reads the Bible seems OK to me. It does not mean that either the pope or others, whose teachings from the Bible might be viewed as "infallible" since they are derived from an infallible source, might not themselves be fallible and fallibly use an infallible Bible. Although rare, even fallible popes have been corrected on that which they teach (or taught) from the Bible.

John A. Broussard

The issue is simple. There is major, major disagreement about the bible on the part of Christians. The pope says he's infallible. Protestants say the pope's interpretation of the bible in such a way as to give him that power is completely wrong.

Want to deal with that issue again? You are the one who claimed there were no major differences.

Doug Shaver

Are you infallible when you say that?

jackrabbit

Yeah, I have wondered about that too. Were the people who selected the books as "divinely inspired" as those who wrote them? What if all the "inspired" books got tossed and replaced with junk?

jackrabbit

What, and miss out on all the laughs?

RUmike

Most important of all, are the people who read the books as "divinely inspired" as those who wrote them and selected them? If we have inspired writers, then we certainly need inspired readers, too. Without them, the whole process was a giant waste of time.

rhutchin

Only to the extent that what I say is that which the Bible says.

rhutchin

That the pope makes the claim of infallibility regarding his teachings from the Bible is one thing. I believe the complaint from Protestants is that this infallibility is not limited to the pope but extends to all who teach from the Bible (so long as what a person teaches conforms to that which the Bible says).

I don't think Protestants really care that the pope considers himself infallible in his teaching from the Bible. The complaint is, from what I hear, the claim that Catholics cannot also read the Bible and determine that which it says even as the pope claims to be able to do.

This might be a "major" disagreement that distinguishes Protestants from Catholics as a denomination but I doubt that many people really get excited about it. It seems to be a non-issue from what I know. As to the actual teachings of the Catholics (as expressed by the pope) and the Protestants, there is much agreement on that which the Bible says.

John A. Broussard

A non-issue?

You, indeed, live in a world apart.

The claim of papal infallibility is the unbridgeable gulf between Protestantism and Catholicism, yet you can here blightly claim that it's a non-issue?

It even separates Orthodox Catholics from Roman Catholics.

It's the topic of endless debates by theologians, both Protestants and Catholics.

Where have you been living? How can you simply toss aside this major difference in biblical interpretation?

Please explain.