[ctdonath2]

At this rate, everything any pope says is excused as “ex cathedra”, preserving the pretense of infallibility by never actually identifying any statement as such.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Dear ctd, I think you meant to say, "everything any pope says is excused as NOT 'ex cathedra'." Which is inevitable since most of what any pope says is, well, not ex cathedra.

In 2005 Pope Benedict XVI remarked, "The Pope is not an oracle; he is infallible in very rare situations, as we know". Pope John XXIII once stated it with a humorous twist: "I am only infallible if I speak infallibly but I shall never do that, so I am not infallible".

Here's what happens (LINK) i f a pope tries to make an erroneous statement "as if" infallibly. Go ahead and click it's just 2 minute,s and you'll laugh.