T.J. WalsheApologeticsChapter 21

The Institution of the Church — Part II: Infallibility and the Marks of the Church

IV.—Testimony of Christ regarding the infallibility of the Church.

Doctrinal infallibility implies not only truth of statement or fact, but also a divinely given source of truth. It differs from Inspiration which implies a positive impulse to write infallibly, and from Revelation which supposes the manifestation of a truth hitherto unknown.

Modernists and Rationalists deny to the Church the endowment of infallibility. (In their view dogma changes in accordance with the advance of philosophy and science).

1° Christ conferred the prerogative of infallibility on the College of the Apostles and their successors.

(A) When He sent them to preach the Gospel throughout the world, He added: “I am with you all days” (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20). The special assistance of Christ in the teaching of the truths of Faith is a guarantee of infallibility. In Mark xvi. 16 Christ bids the Apostles “go throughout the world and preach the Gospel,” and He adds: “He who believeth not shall be condemned.”

(B) Christ promised the gift of infallibility to the College of Apostles when He said: “I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever—the Spirit of truth. He will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind whatsoever I shall have said to you” (John xiv. 16, 17, 26). “When the Spirit of truth is come, He will teach you all truth” (John xvi. 13).

(C) The Apostles understood the promises of Christ in this sense. In formulating decrees they wrote: “It has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us” (Acts xv. 28); in preaching they claimed, “we are witnesses of these things and of the Holy Ghost” (Acts v. 32); in the condemnation of errors they said, “though an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. i. 8). St. Paul speaks of the Church as “Church of the living God, pillar and ground of truth” (1 Tim. iii. 15). No longer are we “children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. iv. 14). “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned whether by word of mouth or by our epistle” (2 Thess. ii. 14).

Later, the Fathers in refuting heresies argue from the infallible magisterium of the Church—teaching of Apostles and bishops—of which teaching œcumenical councils are regarded as the authentic expression.

2° Christ conferred the gift of infallibility directly and immediately on Peter and his successors.

The Bishops of the Church, assembled at the Vatican Council, to whom the gift of infallibility has been promised, solemnly declared that on Peter and his successors the gift of infallibility was conferred when he received primacy of magisterium and of jurisdiction.

(A) “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. xvi. 18). If Peter when he speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith were not infallible, the foundation of the Church would not be stable.

(B) “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren” (Luke xxii. 32). Peter could not truly and effectively confirm the faith of his brethren, if he could err in matters of faith, or if his definitions were not themselves infallible apart from the consent of the Church.

In the first four centuries, the Roman Church was regarded as the centre of unity and source of orthodoxy. St. Irenæus wrote his book Adversus Hæreses about A.D. 180. In Book III. ch. 3 he writes: “With this (Roman) Church all churches—the faithful everywhere—must agree because of its more powerful leadership.” He goes on to say: “through the instrumentality of this Church the tradition, handed down by the Apostles, has been maintained by the faithful everywhere.” From the Fifth Century onwards the prerogative of infallibility has been more and more clearly affirmed by Popes, Fathers of the Church and Councils.

V.—Christ furnished His Church with visible marks.

(A) Marks are visible signs whereby the Church of Christ is differentiated from other visible societies. These marks are essential properties and belong exclusively to the Church.

The Church in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol (A.D. 381) mentions four marks: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, Apostolicity (D. 86).

When Christ instituted the Church as a visible society, in which authority is exercised in a visible way (in teaching, ruling, sanctifying by the administration of Sacraments) He wished the members to be united by visible bonds—by the external profession of the same Faith, by external obedience to the same pastors, by participation in the same Sacraments.

1° Unity.

Unity is a visible property whereby the Church in her profession of Faith, in government and worship is undivided in herself, and differentiated from other societies.

Unity is a consequence of the hierarchical and monarchical constitution of the Church, placed under one Supreme Head. Christ compared the Church to a kingdom, a city, a flock, a house—all which figures suggest unity. He said: “every kingdom, divided against itself, shall be made desolate” (Matt. xii. 25). Again He said: “Other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John x. 16). Immediately before His passion He made this solemn prayer: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we also are one” (John xvii. 11). “Not for them only do I pray, but for them also who, through their word, shall believe in Me, that they may be one as thou Father in me and I in thee, that they may be one in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one as we also are one. I in them and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one, and the world may know that Thou hast sent Me” (John xvii. 20-23).

Unity belongs to the Church essentially from the standpoint of the Church’s constitutive form.

Christ desired unity (1) in profession of Faith: “teach ye all nations … to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20); (2) in government: “Thou art Peter … to thee I will give the keys … feed my sheep” (Matt. xvi. 18-19; John xxi. 17); (3) in worship—unity of baptism: “baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. xxviii. 19); Unity of the Eucharist: “Do this in commemoration of Me” (Luke xxii. 19).

Hence in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts iv. 32) it is said of the nascent Church: “The multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul.” (St. Paul teaches the same doctrine, especially in Eph. iv. 3-17, and St. John in 2 John i. 10, 11.)

2° Christ wished that His Church should be characterised by manifest and extraordinary sanctity.

Sanctity implies innocence of life and firm union with God. A society is said to be visibly and eminently holy if it has principles and means efficacious for the attainment of sanctity, and de facto shows continuously the fruits of extraordinary sanctity—shows in many members a high degree of virtue, and in some heroic virtue, beyond the natural moral capability of humanity. These virtues are visible in their effects—wholehearted love of God, great self-denial, great charity towards others.

Sanctity belongs essentially to the Church from the standpoint of the Church’s end or aim.

Our Lord prayed that this mark should be conferred upon His Church: “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given me … sanctify them in truth … for them do I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John xvii. 11, 17-21). Already at the beginning of His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, He had said: “Unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. v. 20), and in His explanation of the New Law, He commended in the Beatitudes and Counsels, a lofty standard of virtue—of humility, chastity, self-denial, charity, charity even towards enemies. To procure this sanctity He instituted the Eucharist: “The bread which I shall give is My flesh for the life of the world … he who eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life … he abideth in Me and I in him” (John vi. 52-57). He promised the Holy Ghost: “I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever” (John xiv. 16).

Our Lord wished the sanctity of the Church to be visible: “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all who are in the house” (Matt. v. 14, 15). “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit” (Matt. vii. 17). “I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John xv. 16). “I am come to cast fire on earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?” (Luke xii. 49). Our Lord prophesied that the preachers of the Faith should manifest extraordinary signs of their own sanctity, and extraordinary signs of the Divine origin of the Gospel: “In My name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark xvi. 17, 18). These promises have been fulfilled as may be seen by reading the lives of missionaries of the Faith. St. Paul alludes to this note of sanctity in Eph. v. 25-27. The sanctity of the Church will be consummated in heaven. On earth there are, in the Church, sinners as well as saints, just as the cockle grows amongst the wheat (Matt. xiii. 30).

3° Christ wished that His Church should be Catholic or universal—spread throughout the whole world.

The word “catholicity” (καθ’ ὅλον) means universality. Virtual Catholicity (catholicitas juris) is the aptitude of the Church to spread to all nations. Actual Catholicity (Catholicitas de facto) implies the Church’s visible progressive diffusion, so that amongst the principal races a notable number should gradually become members of the Church. This progressive Catholicity is called formal inasmuch as it is associated with the mark of unity. The mark of Catholicity belongs essentially to the Church from the standpoint of membership, i.e., of material cause.

Our Lord on many occasions signified His wish that the Church should be universal, not only de jure but de facto.

(1) Catholicity de jure.

Christ compares the Church to a grain of mustard seed, which when grown up “is greater than all herbs and becometh a tree” (Matt. xiii. 32).

“God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish” (John iii. 16).

St. Paul writes of Christ “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all” (1 Tim. ii. 4-6).

(2) Catholicity de facto is ordained by Christ.

“You shall be my witnesses … even to the uttermost ends of the earth” (Acts i. 8). “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark xvi. 15). “Go teach all nations … I am with you all days even to the end of the world” (Matt. xxviii. 19). “Many shall come from the East and the West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. viii. 11, 12). In the parable of the Sower: “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world” (Matt. xiii. 37, 38). On the feast of Pentecost, the disciples began to speak in various tongues (Acts ii. 4, 8). Peter is sent by the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles (Acts x. 20). Paul becomes Apostle of the Gentiles: “As many as have been baptised in Christ have put on Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek … you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. iii. 27, 28).

Christ did not foretell an absolute and physical, but a moral and relative, catholicity: “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil” (John iii. 19). “Many false prophets shall arise and shall seduce many … the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matt. xxiv. 11, 12). Nevertheless “this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come” (Matt. xxiv. 14).

4° Christ wished that His Church should be Apostolic—that it should be the same society as that which the Apostles founded.

Apostolicity is a question of the legitimate, public, never interrupted succession of pastors from the time of the Apostles—a succession in the identity of Faith, Sacraments and rule. Hence Apostolicity must be not only material but formal succession, involving the notes of unity and catholicity.

The succession is visible especially as regards rule. This note of the Church is taken from the standpoint of its efficient instrumental cause—the Apostles.

Apostolicity is an essential property of the Church of Christ. He made His Church a hierarchical perpetual society, in which authority and jurisdiction might be transmitted without interruption.

“Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. xvi. 18). Hence a Church, not built on this foundation, separated from the authority of Peter and his successors, is not the true Church of Christ. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and domestics of God, built upon the foundation of Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone” (Eph. ii. 19, 20). St. Paul asks in regard to preachers of the Faith: “How shall they preach unless they be sent?” (Rom. x. 15). Hence as recorded in Acts xiv. 22, Paul and Barnabas “ordained to them priests in every Church,” and Paul wrote to Titus: “For this cause I left thee in Crete … that thou shouldest ordain priests in every city as I also appointed thee” (Titus i. 5).

5° Conclusion.

The association of these four marks in the Catholic Church constitutes a great moral miracle, which proves it to be the Church of Christ. Unity is its formal, sanctity its final, Catholicity its material, and Apostolicity its efficient instrumental cause.

VI.—The testimony of Christ regarding the Church is in complete accord with His preaching.

Christ preached the Kingdom of God, salvation for all, the Eucharist, remission of sins, etc. How could this doctrine of Christ be preserved and propagated, unless there be an authority which we can trust? A religious society, like every other society, cannot persist without a living Supreme Authority. Dogmas are difficult to grasp and therefore easily misunderstood; precepts are austere and consequently easily neglected; rites may degenerate into superstition; sacred Scripture, though inspired, requires a living infallible magisterium for its interpretation. Thus the testimony of Christ regarding the Church is in absolute agreement with His doctrine.