Koley Porter
New Member
Hi there!
A couple of things have come up in class about Catholic dogma. I wanted to clarify a couple of things.
1) The Assumption of Mary
Some weeks back, there was a reference in class to Mary's ascension. Importantly, Mary did not ascend into heaven. Ascension would imply an action of her own will and power. This is explicitly NOT what Catholics believe. Instead, we believe Mary was assumed bodily into heaven by God.
2) Papal Infallibility
Papal infallibility does not mean that everything the Pope says is true. It does mean that the Church believes that, in a very narrow range of circumstances, when declaring ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals and addressing the entire Church, the Pope may declare infallibly. That is to say, that what he decides ends any debate. This happens extremely rarely. The most conservative reckoning places it as having happened only once (in 1953, regarding the Immaculate Conception). Even papal encyclicals are not infallible declarations.
There were a couple of other things, and I wish I had time to say more, but I did want to at least address them, lest there be some misunderstanding.
A couple of things have come up in class about Catholic dogma. I wanted to clarify a couple of things.
1) The Assumption of Mary
Some weeks back, there was a reference in class to Mary's ascension. Importantly, Mary did not ascend into heaven. Ascension would imply an action of her own will and power. This is explicitly NOT what Catholics believe. Instead, we believe Mary was assumed bodily into heaven by God.
2) Papal Infallibility
Papal infallibility does not mean that everything the Pope says is true. It does mean that the Church believes that, in a very narrow range of circumstances, when declaring ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals and addressing the entire Church, the Pope may declare infallibly. That is to say, that what he decides ends any debate. This happens extremely rarely. The most conservative reckoning places it as having happened only once (in 1953, regarding the Immaculate Conception). Even papal encyclicals are not infallible declarations.
There were a couple of other things, and I wish I had time to say more, but I did want to at least address them, lest there be some misunderstanding.