[fwdude]

"Altered state"? Where in the Catechism did you find THAT?

Let me ask you this: When a pope IS speaking "Ex Cathedra," where does that come from? Himself?

The concept itself infers a divided mind. That he cannot speak truth any other time, other than "on the Seat of Peter," is what this teaching is all about.

[paladinan]

Let me ask you this: When a pope IS speaking "Ex Cathedra," where does that come from? Himself?

Yes, it comes from himself. Infallibility is what's called a "negative" protection, in the sense that it only PREVENTS things. The charism of infallibility, as understood by the Catholic Church, is the special protection by which the Holy Spirit (i.e. God) prevents the pope (or any official action of the Magisterium, such as a Church council ratified by the pope) from teaching any error as an article of the Faith. It's not any sort of "positive" grace (such as "inspiration"); the Holy Spirit doesn't "give" the pope words to say; the Holy Spirit merely prevents the pope--who might (God forbid) have many erroneous beliefs, even about the Faith--from DEFINING any of those errors as "dogma" (i.e. all Catholics would be bound to believe/accept it, on pain of heresy)

. To put it another way: if the pope doesn't do his homework, the Holy Spirit won't do it for him... and infallibility might result in the pope "staying home" and saying nothing at all. Infallibility is designed to PREVENT error from being introduced into Church dogma; it doesn't ADD anything to it. Think of the "automatic shut-off" on an electric blanket, when it gets too hot; the auto-shutoff doesn't ADD heat to the blanket; it just prevents any heat from getting out of bounds.