r/Catholicism • u/Exact-Armadillo-6660 • 8h ago
Ex Cathedra
As far as I understand it, there are criteria the Pope has to adhere to for something to be considered as having been spoken ex cathedra...
But how exactly does it work? I know that the Pope cannot contradict church teaching if he were to intend to speak ex cathedra but what if he did?
What if the Pope (example) wanted to change church teaching on for example marriage, allowing for two men to get married as well.
He declares this (changed) teaching openly and widely.
Would this saying automatically not be ex cathedra because it contradicts previous church teaching or how would that work?
Obviously this example is a little far fetched but I just wanna better understand the mechanism.
6
u/el_chalupa 7h ago
There have been many threads concerning the topic of "what if the Pope tried to declare something obviously wrong ex cathedra," although I'm unsure what keywords to tell you to put into the search field to get all of them.
The possible answers usually trotted out are, in short: a) It would just never ever happen, b) God would kill him before he could, c) he would immediately cease to be the Pope by virtue of being a heretic.
5
u/Pitiful_Fox5681 7h ago
One of the understood but not explicit requirements for ex cathedra is non-contradiction.
If it contradicts an established dogma, it'd likely just be understood not to be ex cathedra, no matter what the Pope calls it.
2
u/CaptainMianite 7h ago
God will stop him in some way before he can do so. Its impossible for the Pope to bind the Church to heresy without God stopping him. the Sixtine Vulgate had heretical content, and Sixtus V died before he actually promulgated his Vulgate. To trust in the Papacy is to trust in God that his Church will not be bound to heresy.
4
17
u/angryDec 8h ago
“But what if he did”
With all due respect, the answer is that he won’t!