THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH AS A WHOLE

"The descend of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles"

The Church, according to Christian belief, is divinely assisted by the Lord, who preserves her in the truth by the Spirit,

"but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. " (John 14:26)

"However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come." (John 16:13)

and promises to remain with her apostolic leaders until "the close of the age",

"and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'" (Matthew 28:20)

preventing the powers of death from prevailing against her.

"So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it." (Matthew 16:18)

Convinced that she stands in full institutional continuity with the apostolic Church, the Catholic Church is confident that she will never cease to bear authentic witness to Christ. If the Church as a body were to fall away from the gospel, Christ's promises would be made void, and God would be unfaithful.

Together with the promise of perpetuity, Christ has given to the Church means whereby she can assuredly remain "the pillar and the bulwark of the truth" :

"but in case I should be delayed, I want you to know how people ought to behave in God's household -- that is, in the Church of the living God, pillar and support of the truth. (1 Timothy 3'15)

"If we persevere, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us." (cf 2 Timothy 2:19).

These means include the canonical Scriptures, as an inspired record of the developing faith of the people of God in its constitutive phase; sacred Tradition, whereby the Church preserves her deposit of faith as a living memory; the sacraments, whereby she encounters the living Lord in faith; prayer, whereby she invokes the Spirit of Truth; and the ecclesiastical office, which continues to shepherd God's People as the needs of the time require.

The perpetuity or indefectibility of the Church as a community of faith involves her preservation from errors that would contradict the gospel. Thanks to the promised assistance of the Holy Spirit and the created means of grace, the Church as a whole has what the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium No. 25 of the Second Vatican Council speaks of as a "charism of infallibility".

"And this infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed His Church to be endowed in defining doctrine of faith and morals, extends as far as the deposit of Revelation extends, which must be religiously guarded and faithfully expounded. And this is the infallibility which the Roman Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith, by a definitive act he proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals. And therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment. For then the Roman Pontiff is not pronouncing judgment as a private person, but as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the charism of infallibility of the Church itself is individually present, he is expounding or defending a doctrine of Catholic faith. The infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of Bishops, when that body exercises the supreme magisterium with the successor of Peter. To these definitions the assent of the Church can never be wanting, on account of the activity of that same Holy Spirit, by which the whole flock of Christ is preserved and progresses in unity of faith.

But when either the Roman Pontiff or the Body of Bishops together with him defines a judgment, they pronounce it in accordance with Revelation itself, which all are obliged to abide by and be in conformity with, that is, the Revelation which as written or orally handed down is transmitted in its entirety through the legitimate succession of bishops and especially in care of the Roman Pontiff himself, and which under the guiding light of the Spirit of truth is religiously preserved and faithfully expounded in the Church. The Roman Pontiff and the bishops, in view of their office and the importance of the matter, by fitting means diligently strive to inquire properly into that revelation and to give apt expression to its contents; but a new public revelation they do not accept as pertaining to the divine deposit of faith." (DS 4149)

Putting this idea in a positive form, one may say that the Church is gifted with what the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus on the Church of Christ of the First Vatican Council calls a "charism of unfailing truth and faith".

"Now this charism of truth and of never-failing faith was conferred upon Peter and his successors in this chair in order that they might perform their supreme office for the salvation of all; that by them the whole flock of Christ might be kept away from the poisonous bait of error and be nourished by the food of heavenly doctrine; that, the occasion of schism being removed, the whole Church might be preserved as one and, resting on her foundation, might stand firm against the gates of hell." (DS 3071)

This does not mean that the faithful or their pastors cannot be mistaken in some of their opinions, but that, to the extent that they are in full communion in the Church, their faith will be unsullied. Thanks especially to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the firm and universal agreement of the pastors and the whole body of the faithful about matters of faith and morals cannot be in error as what the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium No. 12 on the Church of the Second Vatican Council teaches:

"The holy people of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office; it spreads abroad a living witness to Him, especially by means of a life of faith and charity and by offering to God a sacrifice of praise, the tribute of lips which give praise to His name. The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples' supernatural discernment in matters of faith when "from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful" they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God. Through it, the people of God adheres unwaveringly to the faith given once and for all to the saints, penetrates it more deeply with right thinking, and applies it more fully in its life." (DS 4131)