> Excuse me Bill if I jump in from the sidelines, but isn't that beside
> the
> point. If the Church en masse decides on some article of faith isn't
> that
> article then required of every member of the church, regardless of
> scriptural
> support.
Perhaps so. Actually the priest Pat was quoting had misinformed her in
two ways, A) that belief in Christ's descent to the place of the dead
is not required of Catholics and B) that the doctrine is not mentioned
in the Bible.
For Catholics, though, the deciding factor is not the opinion of "the
Church en masse". Cf. the definition of the doctrine of Papal
Infallibility of 1870:
"We [i.e. Pope Pius IX] . . . teach and define as a dogma divinely
revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra (that is,
when - fulfilling the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians -
on his supreme Apostolical authority, he defines a doctrine concerning
faith or moral to be held by the Universal Church), through the divine
assistance promised him in blessed Peter, is endowed with that
infallibility, with which the Divine Redeemer has willed that His
Church - in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals - should be
equipped: and therefore, that such definitions of the Roman Pontiff of
themselves - and not by virtue of the consent of the Church - are
irreformable.
"If any one shall presume (which God forbid!) to contradict this our
definition; let him be anathema."
Bill.
>
> mark
>
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