“My Lord Bishop, what does it mean to speak “ex cathedra” or teach “ex cathedra”? And who speaks or teaches “ex cathedra” in the Roman Catholic Church?” Aks Mr. Joshua Elikplim:
Answer: by Most Rev Joseph Osei-Bonsu
On one WhatsApp platform, there was recently a discussion about a policy that one archbishop was supposed to have enacted in his archdiocese. The archbishop in question was said to have spoken ex cathedra on the matter and that gave rise to debate on that platform. It is against this background that Mr. Elikplim is asking this question. But is this the correct use of the expression ex cathedra? Do bishops speak or teach ex cathedra?
The Latin expression ex cathedra is used in the context of discussions about infallibility. But what does infallibility mean? The term “infallibility”, taken literally, implies not only the absence of real error, but also the basic inability to err. Therefore, in the strict sense of the term, infallibility can be used of God alone. In all other cases, infallibility should be understood to refer to a divine gift that works only under certain limited conditions. When used of the Church, infallibility means that by virtue of the abiding presence of Christ and of the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the Church is “the pillar and foundation of truth” (1 Tim 3:15). As a consequence, it is preserved from definitively falling away from the truth of Jesus Christ.
Vatican I and Infallibility
The main Roman Catholic teaching on infallibility has been given by Vatican I (1870) and Vatican II (1962-1965). In chapter four of Pastor Aeternus, Vatican I described “the infallible magisterium of the Roman Pontiff” as follows:
The Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when he discharges his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians, and, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals that is to be held by the universal church, through the divine assistance promised him in St. Peter, exercises that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed to endow his church (DS 3074).
The Latin phrase ex cathedra means “from the chair (of office)” and is intended to mean that the pope is speaking in a deliberately formal, official way, exercising his power as the Vicar of Christ, seated on the chair of Peter, the first Pope. It is, of course, a metaphor, but its point is that when the Pope intentionally speaks in a definitive way on a dogmatic issue, he is being guided by the Holy Spirit and thus he cannot err.
The Council did not teach that “the pope is infallible”, but stated that the pope “exercises that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed to endow his church”, without explaining the nature of infallibility and without limiting the exercise of infallibility to the pope. In addition, the Council did not speak of “papal infallibility”, but of the “infallible magisterium of the Roman Pontiff”. This was probably to show that infallibility is not a permanent personal quality of the pope, but a temporary assistance given him by God in his capacity as universal pastor and authoritative teacher.
According to Vatican I, four conditions must be fulfilled before the pope can speak infallibly: (1) the pope must act as supreme pastor and teacher of all Christians; (2) he must use his supreme apostolic authority, i.e., as successor of Peter; (3) the subject matter of his teaching must concern faith and morals, i.e., a doctrine expressing divine revelation; (4) he must expressly indicate that the doctrine is to be held definitively by all.
The Council also stated that these “definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, not by the consent of the church”. This implicitly rejected the position championed by the Gallican Articles of 1682, which stated that papal definitions are binding only if they are subsequently approved by the churches. Vatican I rejected the subsequent ratification of the Church as the source of papal infallible teaching; rather, the source, it said, is the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Hence, it ruled out further appeal to a higher authority.
Vatican II and Infallibility
The teaching of Vatican I on infallibility was elaborated by Vatican II in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church or Lumen Gentium (no. 25). The Council noted that bishops “individually do not enjoy the privilege of infallibility” and taught that bishops can exercise infallibility in two ways: first, “when, even though dispersed throughout the world but preserving for all that amongst themselves and with Peter’s successor the bond of communion, in their authoritative teaching concerning matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement that a particular teaching is to be held definitively and absolutely”; and secondly, “when, assembled in ecumenical council, they are, for the universal Church, teachers of and judges in matters of faith and morals”.
Vatican II also identified the “subject-matter” of infallibility with matters of revelation and thereby rejected the position of those theologians who stretched the scope of infallibility to include virtually any type of official papal pronouncement.
For Vatican II, the fact that papal definitions are “irreformable of themselves, not because of the consent of the Church” does not mean that they can dispense with Scripture and tradition, with the faith of the Church, and with the universal episcopate. In fact, the pope cannot teach any new doctrine, and he is morally obliged to take the necessary means to ascertain that his definition indeed conforms with the Christian revelation. In this regard, Vatican II affirms that “the assent of the Church can never be lacking to such definitions on account of the same Holy Spirit’s influence, through which Christ’s whole flock is maintained in the unity of faith and makes progress in it” (Lumen Gentium, no. 25). Furthermore, the statement that the infallible teachings are irreformable only means that their basic contents cannot be reversed in future developments. It is indeed possible for these teachings to be reformulated or even reconceptualized.
Are there examples of infallible papal definitions or statements? There are two occasions in history when the pope did in fact issue a doctrinal statement in exactly the manner described by Vatican I (1870). The first example, ironically, occurred before the definition of the infallibility exercised by the pope was ever made: in 1854, some 16 years before Vatican I was convened, Pope Pius IX issued the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus, in which he declared that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was an article of Catholic faith. The second example concerns the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus.
In the foregoing, I have tried to explain what the expression ex cathedra means in the context of discussions about infallibility. It is the theological term for a teaching that has been declared infallibly by the Roman Pontiff. Even though every bishop has a cathedra, “a chair or seat of office”, and there may be nothing wrong doctrinally with what individual bishops teach or say, the term ex cathedra is not used of individual bishops when they issue statements or make policies in their dioceses. It is reserved for the pope but even then, as we have seen, a number of conditions have to be fulfilled before those statements can be regarded as infallible. Moreover, as we have also seen, there have been only two instances in which popes have spoken ex cathedra.