“That teaching isn’t infallible, so I don’t have to accept it”
This argument shows up constantly in Catholic discussions, especially when a particular teaching is unpopular. But while it sounds theologically informed, it actually misunderstands how the Church has always understood her own teaching authority.
In this video, Pedro Gabriel looks at:
– Why “not infallible” does not mean “optional”
– Why most Church teaching is non-infallible, but still authoritative
– How popes teach authoritatively even outside ex cathedra definitions
– The different levels of magisterial authority
– When papal statements are magisterial, and when they are not
Drawing from the Church’s own documents, this video explains why the common appeal to infallibility often functions as a way to avoid assent rather than a legitimate theological distinction.
Pedro Gabriel, MD, is a Catholic layman and physician, born and residing in Portugal. He is a medical oncologist, currently employed in a Portuguese public hospital. A published writer of Catholic novels with a Tolkienite flavor, he is also a parish reader and a former catechist. He seeks to better understand the relationship of God and Man by putting the lens on the frailty of the human condition, be it physical and spiritual. He also wishes to provide a fresh perspective of current Church and World affairs from the point of view of a small western European country, highly secularized but also highly Catholic by tradition.
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