Cathedra
The cathedra ( καθέδρα 'seat, armchair'; adopted into Latin as cathedra 'seat, chair') has been the symbol of the authority of a public official since ancient times (cf. Katheder ). In the church , the cathedra, the bishop's chair , was given a prominent place at the altar and stands for the apostolic authority as well as for the bishop's task of leading and teaching. At the same time, cathedra designates the bishopric in an institutional sense.
Ex cathedra
The term ex cathedra (“from the cathedra”) refers to the bishopric of Rome , whose owner, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church , follows the apostle Peter and has the highest authority over the entire Church. A word from the Pope's ex cathedra is considered an infallible announced doctrinal decision in matters of faith or morals .
When Pope Pius IX. At the First Vatican Council in 1870, the already much older belief in papal infallibility was raised to a formally defined dogma. Among other things, its proclamation ex cathedra [Petri] was stipulated as a condition and certification for an infallible doctrinal decision . Since the Pope speaks by virtue of his authority in all pastoral and dogmatic utterances, further conditions must be added for the infallibility of the definition, which presupposes its irrevocability.
For the period up to 1870 there is great uncertainty as to how many papal definitions meet this criterion; the lists ranged from about 10 to 20 documents. The teaching of Benedict XII was almost always an infallible definition ex cathedra . for Visio beatifica ( Bull Benedictus Deus , 1336) and the five of Innocent X condemned sets Jansenismus (Bull Cum occasione , 1653) considered and occasionally the final formula of the bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII. over the spiritual claim of the papacy (1302 ). According to the First Vatican Council, however, the Pope must clearly mark a proclamation of dogmas as a “truth revealed by God”, so that the number of specific applications is generally reduced to two dogmas today: the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the Assumption of Mary into heaven in 1950 .
Beyond the case of the dogmatic definition , the Church also assumes that the papal and ecclesiastical magisterium is essentially in error with regard to the teachings presented in continuity (cf. Lumen Gentium , 25). The above-mentioned papal decisions are in any case bindingly incorporated into the general, orderly Magisterium of the Church, even if, according to almost general opinion today, they are considered an act of the extraordinary papal magisterium.
The church also continuously expresses itself affirmatively on almost all main questions of faith , such as the resurrection of Jesus , about which there is no definitive dogma, but the truth of which all Christianity depends. Even with the recognition of the establishment of new religious orders as well as with canonizations , the non-defining action of the Pope is considered to be error-free.
See also
Remarks
- ^ W. Pape, Greek-German concise dictionary . Graz, 1954. Volume 1, p. 1282
literature
- Klaus Schatz: Which previous papal teaching decisions are “ex cathedra”? Historical and theological considerations . In: Werner Löser, Karl Lehmann , Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (eds.): History of dogmas and Catholic theology . Echter, Würzburg 1985, ISBN 3-429-00974-X , p. 404-422 (2nd edition, ibid. 1988).
