Thursday, January 29, 2015

For the canon lawyers: What does "papal infallibility" mean in the case of Pope John XXII?

Roberto de Mattei has written a study of Pope John XXII, who, he says, according to St. Robert Bellarmine (in De Romano Pontifice, Opera omnia, Venetiis 1599, Book. IV, chap. 14, coll. 841-844), fell into heresy in his ordinary magisterium (with the intention of imposing it as truth on the faithful) but was saved from undermining the principle of infallibility by dying before he could define the dogma. [Advisory: See Rules 7-9]

1 comment:

Lee Faber said...

Should be clement V not XV; plus, Gerson wasn't chancellor until almost a 100 years later, so thats a report long after the fact. The author also doesn't mention that many prominent theologians signed on with the pope, including Girard Ordonis, the general of the Franciscans, who also held a public dispute defending the pope at Paris. But he cites Trottmann, so all the relevant information could be dug up by an interested party.