''Pastor aeternus'' ("First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ"), was issued by the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

, July 18, 1870. The document defines four doctrines of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the perpetuity of the

Petrine Primacy The primacy of Peter, also known as Petrine primacy (from the la, Petrus, "Peter"), is the position of preeminence that is attributed to Peter among the Twelve Apostles. Primacy of Peter among the Apostles The '' Evangelical Dictionary of ...

in the Roman pontiffs, the definition of the

papal primacy Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is a Roman Catholic ecclesiological doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. The doctrine is accepted ...

as a

papal supremacy Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of th ...

, and

Papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...

– infallible teaching authority (

magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...

) of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Petrine and papal primacy

There is general agreement among scholars on the preeminence that the historical Peter held among the

disciples A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

of Jesus, making him "the most prominent and influential member of the Twelve during Jesus' ministry and in the early Church".

It was to Simon alone, to whom he had already said You shall be called Cephas, that the Lord,…spoke these words: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".

The

Primacy of Simon Peter The primacy of Peter, also known as Petrine primacy (from the la, Petrus, "Peter"), is the position of preeminence that is attributed to Peter among the Twelve Apostles. Primacy of Peter among the Apostles The '' Evangelical Dictionary of ...

is essential to the vision of

: that is, the idea that the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

by divine institution enjoys delegated authority from Jesus over the entire Church. The primacy of the

Bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

over the whole Catholic Church is derived from the pope's status as successor to Peter as "Prince of the Apostles" and as "

Vicar of Christ Vicar of Christ (from Latin ) is a term used in different ways and with different theological connotations throughout history. The original notion of a vicar is as an "earthly representative of Christ", but it's also used in the sense of "person ...

" (''Vicarius Christi''). The

defined papal primacy in the sense of papal supremacy as an essential institution of the Church that can never be relinquished.

Magisterium

In the Catholic Church, the word "Magisterium" refers to the teaching authority of the church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the

episcopacy A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, which is the aggregation of the current

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s of the church, led by the

(the

), who has authority over the bishops, individually and as a body, as well as over each and every Catholic directly.

That apostolic primacy which the Roman Pontiff possesses as successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles, includes also the supreme power of teaching. This Holy See has always maintained this, the constant custom of the Church demonstrates it, and the ecumenical councils, particularly those in which East and West met in the union of faith and charity, have declared it.

''Ex cathedra''

Literally "from the chair", a theological term which signifies authoritative teaching and is more particularly applied to the definitions given by the Roman pontiff. There is a distinction between the Solemn Magisterium and the Ordinary Magisterium. When the Pope issues a dogmatic definition, he is speaking ''ex cathedra'' in an exercise of the Solemn Magisterium. The second form of Church teaching, the Ordinary Magisterium is continually exercised by the Church especially in her universal teaching regarding with faith and morals. For a Papal statement to be considered "ex cathedra" it must be made by the Pope as supreme teacher and pastor of the entire church; it must be on a matter of faith and morals; and it must be definitive, and applicable to the universal church.

Infallibility

was thus formally defined in 1870, although the tradition behind this view goes back much further. In the conclusion of the fourth chapter of ''Pastor aeternus'', the council declared the following:

...We teach and
define A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional defini ...
that it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Roman pontiff when he speaks ''ex cathedra'', that is when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding
faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...
or
morals Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
to be held by the universal Church, by the Divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals, and that therefore such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, irreformable.

The chapter was subject to two votes in July 1870. In the first on 13 July there were 601 voters: 451 affirmative, 62 conditional affirmative, and 88 negative. The latter groups were then permitted to leave; others left because of the imminent Franco-Prussian War. The final vote on 18 July saw 433 affirmative and only two negative votes, from bishops

Aloisio Riccio Luigi Aloisio Riccio was a Sicilian Bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. He was one of two (the other being Edward Fitzgerald) to vote against the doctrine of papal infallibility, which received 433 votes in support, in the 1870 First Vatican Coun ...

and Edward Fitzgerald. According to Catholic theology, this is an infallible dogmatic definition by an

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote ar ...

. Because the 1870 definition is not seen by Catholics as a creation of the Church, but as the dogmatic definition of a truth about the Church Magisterium, Papal teachings made prior to the 1870 proclamation can, if they meet the criteria set out in the dogmatic definition, be considered infallible. ''

Ineffabilis Deus ( for, , Latin, Ineffable God) is an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius IX.''Ineffabilis Deus''

'' is an example of this.

Opposition and criticism

The Catholic priest August Bernhard Hasler (d. 3 July 1980) wrote a detailed criticism of the

, presenting the passage of the infallibility definition as orchestrated. Mark E. Powell, in his examination of the topic from a Protestant point of view, writes: "August Hasler portrays Pius IX as an uneducated, abusive megalomaniac, and Vatican I as a council that was not free. Hasler, though, is engaged in heated polemic and obviously exaggerates his picture of Pius IX. Accounts like Hasler's, which paint Pius IX and Vatican I in the most negative terms, are adequately refuted by the testimony of participants at Vatican I".Papal Infallibility: A Protestant Evaluation of an Ecumenical Issue
Published by

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is a religious publishing house based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1911 by Dutch American William B. Eerdmans (November 4, 1882 – April 1966) and still independently owned with William's daughte ...

, p. 23

References

External links

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Text with English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pastor Aeternus History of the papacy Catholic theology and doctrine First Vatican Council Latin texts 1870 documents 1870 in Christianity