Speaking From the Throne

The Roman Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility - the inability of the pope to err on matters of faith - dates only from the 19th century. It was declared to be dogma only in 1870 by the First Vatican Council and it can act retrospectively. Under this doctrine the Pope is deemed to be infallible when speaking “ex cathedra”, meaning “ from his throne”. Even so, it is not entirely clear how many times the Pope has spoken with “infallibility” , and the subject is debated and disputed by Catholics throughout the world. Some maintain that Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on birth control in 1968, “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life), is an example of papal infallibility. But most Catholic theologians have denied this. There are two cases, however, which are not disputed. They concern the divinity of the Virgin Mary and are: the doctrine of Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854; and the Assumption (the doctrine that she ascended bodily to heaven), proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950.