Matthew 16:18-19 (NRSV)

¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Now, rebelling would be admitting the Gates of Hades prevailed.

But there is a distinction that has to be made here. Infallibility does not equal impeccability. So many people confuse the two together. Let us turn again to Scripture:

Matthew 16:17-19 (NRSV)

¹⁷And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose oinn earth will be loosed in heaven.”

And

John 21:15-17 (NRSV)

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

And

Luke 22:32 (NRSV)

³²but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Now, the Pope is Supreme Shepherd (besides Jesus, obviously), the Teacher of the Faithful, First of the Bishops. And Christ Himself said that the Gates of Hell would not prevail. Christ never said that the Gates of Hell wouldn’t try, or that the Pope would be perfect.

Infallibility is implicit in Scripture:

Jesus told the Church to proclaim everything that He taught:

Matthew 28:19-20 (NRSV)

¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus also promised the protection of the Holy Spirit:

John 16:13 (NRSV)

¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

And Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will guide into all the truth.This is a promise and guarantee that the Church will not fall away from Christ’s teachings, even if individual Catholics might

Matthew 16:18 (NRSV)

¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

1 Timothy 3:15 (NRSV)

¹⁵if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

To sum up:

It’s quite clear that Jesus promises to Peter, that:

1) Peter is the rock on which the church will be built. Cornerstones are a huge part of building, that’s an interesting read if you have time

2) Gates of Hell will not prevail against Peter the Rock. Doesn’t show that the Gates of Hell will not try, or that Peter would be perfect.

3) Jesus Promises that the Holy Spirit will guard and lead ALL TRUTHS

This is known by the early Church too, it’s not something Catholics made up:

As Cyprian of Carthage writes in Letters 59,

“Would the heretics dare to come to the very seat of Peter whence apostolic faith is derived and whither no errors can come?”

St. Augustine also writes in his Sermons,

“Rome has spoken; the case is concluded” (Sermon 131)


As another thing, more of an aside at the moment, just to comment on Pope Francis right now. We know that Jesus loves all of us, so if Francis says that God loves homosexuals (which God does, but He does not condone their sins) the media will probably run and say something along the lines of “POPE FRANCIS SAYS GOD LOVES GAYS, ACTIVE HOMOSEXUALS ARE OKAY FOR CHURCH”

Now, the infallible act is implicit in Scripture, but the act itself is very rare. Here’s the bottom line on it: infallibility applies only to solemn, official teachings on faith and morals, not to disciplinary decisions or even to unofficial comments on faith and morals. A pope’s private theological opinions are not infallible, only what he solemnly defines is considered to be infallible teaching. What infallibility does do is prevent a pope from solemnly and formally teaching as “truth” something that is, in fact, error. It does not help him know what is true, nor does it “inspire” him to teach what is true. He has to learn the truth the way we all do—through study—though, to be sure, he has certain advantages because of his position.

A lot of people here agree, but they bring up Peter and Paul in Galatians, wherein Paul rebukes Pope Peter. I’ll post here:

Galatians 2:11-16 (NRSV)

Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; ¹²for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. ¹³And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Jews and Gentiles Are Saved by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

So many point here and say “well the Pope is not infallible, since Peter is Pope and rebuked”.  But, when we examine it, we see that Peter’s actions had to do with matters of discipline, not with issues of faith or morals.

Furthermore, the problem was Peter’s actions, not his teaching. Paul acknowledged that Peter very well knew the correct teaching. For, look in verses 12 and 13:

Galatians 2:12-13 (NRSV)

¹²for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. ¹³And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Also, Peter wrote two infallible epistles, so if his behavior at Antioch doesn’t detract from infallibility, then neither does a Pope’s bad behavior.

People also then bring up other “bad” Popes. For example, consider Pope Honorius. Some will say that Pope Honorius taught monothelitism. In case you’re unfamiliar, monothelitism says that while Christ has Two Nature’s, He only has One Will (which is wrong, Christ has two Wills in correspondence with His two Natures).

But here’s the thing, Honorius never did teach Monothelitism. Honorius never made a decision either way. And, it’s really easy for us to sit back as armchair philosophers years later and say “lol he was wrong”, but no one has ever said that a Pope is infallible in not defining a doctrine. And here’s a quote from Ignatius of Antioch:

“Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8, 1

And so, if Jesus really did set up a Church and then Ascend into Heaven, He must have provided for its

>continuation
>visibility for all men
>preservation of His teachings

All of these things were done through the Apostolic Succession of the Bishops and the preservation of His Teachings and the Christian message, in entirety, was guaranteed through the gift of infallibility, through Christ’s appointed leaders, the Bishops (as a whole), and the Pope (individual).

The Holy Spirit is the One Who prevents the Pope from officially teaching error, and as we showed above, it necessarily follows from the existence of the Church itself. Otherwise, the Gates of Hell would prevail. The Church must prove itself to be a perfectly steady guide in matters pertaining to salvation.

But of course, the infallibility does not include a guarantee that any particular pope won’t “neglect” to teach the truth (Honorius), or that he will be sinless (tons of sinful Popes, Peter sinner too), or that disciplinary decisions will be intelligently made.

It would be nice if the Pope was omniscient or impeccable, but his not being so will fail to bring about the destruction of the Church.

But he must be able to teach rightly, since instruction for the sake of salvation is a primary function of the Church. Since for men to be saved, they must know what is to be believed.

They must have a perfectly steady rock to build upon and to trust as the source of solemn Christian teaching. And that’s why papal infallibility exists.

Since Christ said the Gates of Hades would not prevail against his Church (Matt. 16:18) this means that his Church can never pass out of existence.

But if the Church ever apostasized by teaching heresy, then it would cease to exist; because it would cease to be Jesus’ Church.

Therefore, the Church cannot teach heresy, meaning that anything it solemnly defines for the faithful to believe is true.

This same reality is reflected in the Apostle Paul’s statement that the Church is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

If the Church is the foundation of religious truth in this world, then it is God’s own spokesman. As Christ told his disciples:

“He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).