Of course popes arent infallible on any level. But he must be the leader of the catholic faith without question, so he has to be right by definition. This was needed in the aftermath of the protestant reformation be cause the pope could no longer claim political leadership of the civilized world. It was to beef up his credentials when Rome lost political control so the catholic faithful would not question his authority as had become routine for developing democracies. Catholicism cant survive as a democracy. So he needed to be perceived by the rank and file as not subject to their griping.
Your analysis is revealing what helped you obtain your engineering degree.
59 posted on 05/01/2014 7:59:29 AM PDT by daniel1212
(Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)