In a meeting with Christian laypeople Thursday, Pope Francis explained a confusing schedule mix-up by appealing to his fallibility in daily activities.
“You know that the Pope is infallible when pronouncing dogmatic definitions, which happens very rarely,” he said. “But the Pope has flaws and infallibility has nothing to do with it!”
“And this Pope isn’t very orderly and he lacks discipline. And that’s where this confusion comes from, and I apologize for that,” he said.
The Thursday meeting was originally scheduled for Friday and had to be changed at the last minute.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Pope enjoys infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful “he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals.”
“When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine for belief as being divinely revealed, and as the teaching of Christ,” it reads, “the definitions must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.”
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter @tdwilliamsrome.
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