Don't think all Christian understanding has been influenced by the early Church fathers...and even by the current Pope?
I can't speak for all, but of course the leaders of the Catholic faith are men of God and can help us with our understanding. Do you believe they are infallible?
Of course I do. But then again I believe that the Holy Spirit is working through the Church as manifested in the teachings of the Fathers and the proclamations of the bishops united with the pope.
I can't speak for all, but of course the leaders of the Catholic faith are men of God and can help us with our understanding.
I would like to sincerely thank you for that comment. I too, although I would take issue with their conclusions, do not question the true commitment of Protestants to seek and follow the will of God.
Do you believe they are infallible?
My best response come from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The teaching office888 Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task "to preach the Gospel of God to all men," in keeping with the Lord's command.(415) They are "heralds of faith, who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers" of the apostolic faith "endowed with the authority of Christ."(416)
889 In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a "supernatural sense of faith" the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, "unfailingly adheres to this faith."(417)
890 The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms:
891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council.(418) When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed,"(419) and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith."(420) This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.(421)
415 PO 4; cf. Mk 16:15.
416 LG 25.
417 LG 12; cf. DV 10.
418 LG 25; cf. Vatican Council I:DS 3074.
419 DV 10 § 2.
420 LG 25 § 2.
421 Cf. LG 25