• Biographical booklet
• Altar Card
• Golden Jubilee Book

• Rome the Goal of the Oxford Movement
• Loyalty to the Church of England
• The Cart of Abinadab
• Benediction in the Church of England
• Canterbury and York: Two Provinces of Rome

• Meditations on the Spiritual Life
• The Sacrament of Orders
• What is Catholic Authority?
• The Holy Ghost the Source of Infallibility
• The Popes and The Bible
• The Bishops of London and Benediction

THE older Protestants held that Holy Scripture as the revelation of God, together with an interior personal illumination of the Holy Ghost, is the sole means of certainty in regard to truths of Salvation. It is clear, there-fore, that they had inherited some vestiges of the Catholic truth of Infallibility. Although they mutilated the Canon they still held to the Catholic truth that the Written Tradition of the Scriptures with the Holy Ghost forms the Rule of Faith, and they regarded the Bible as infallible.

Their theory was vitiated by confining the illumination of the Holy Ghost to the individual and ignoring His action in the Church, and it has now deteriorated into a denial that the Church is the infallible Organ of the Holy Ghost for defining and publishing Saving Truth. Private judgment is' made the interpreter of such part of the Written Tradition as the Higher Critics have spared: while the Oral Tradition, and the Living Voice of the Whole Mystical Body of Christ is repudiated, or at best ignored. In this way they miss the great Truth, known only to the Catholic Church, that the Holy Ghost is the Source of that Infallibility with which Christ designed to endow the Church: and that the Head of the Catholic Church in the Chair of Peter is the sole Organ of Infallibility. The Head of the Mystical Body is the one to whom is guaranteed inerrancy in pronouncements on Faith and for safeguarding Morals.

The Catholic Truth of Infallibility has reference to the nature and scope of Revelation, and it is like a Principle of Faith giving infallible certainty in truths of Salvation, which are for all mankind, and which are designed to make all into one in Christ. Infallible truth must necessarily proceed from one authoritative source, as the organ of Revelation. The organ of Revelation is an Hierarchy. It is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is the pattern of the Blessed Trinity. Its unity is as unbreakable as the Unity of the Three Persons. Essential Unity is unbreakable. Such divisions as exist in the Body are due to opposition of wills. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost form the Great Hierarchy of Heaven; and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the Church form the great Hierarchy on Earth. Scripture contains the Written Tradition: the Church inspired by the Holy Ghost continually gives forth the Oral Tradition. The Holy Ghost Who spake by the Prophets speaks no less certainly by the Hierarchy of which the Pope is the visible Head. The Living Voice of the Church accomplishes the object of Revelation. Under God's arrangement Revelation is guaranteed to every generation. Absolute, supernatural, and God-given certainty is the Work of the Holy Ghost in the definition and promulgation of Infallible Truth.

The Holy Ghost is the Source of Infallibility as being the Spirit of Truth. Truth for the Whole Church in Faith and Morals is not given directly to individuals. The delivery of Catholic Truth is not by means of a series of private revelations. The delivery of Revelation through Prophecy has been super-seded. In the Catholic Church the Apostles and Prophets were made the official channels of truth. Everyone who accepted the Christian Revelation at all accepted it as an infallible truth from the Apostles without any written tradition. The office of Apostles and Prophets became merged in the Universal Episcopate with the Pope as Primate of the Whole Church. The Holy Ghost was the Source of Apostolic Truth, and He spake by Prophets and Apostles, and by Councils and Popes, The revelations made to Saints are not used as proofs of truth. How learned or revered soever, no Saint receives revelations which can forthwith be made part of the Faith. We do not quote private revelations to prove dogmas but only to support what is already defined.

It is not in my province to state the exact Subject Matter promulgated: that Matter is, of course, the Deposit, as de-veloped and unfolded by the Church. My business is to show that Infallibility is the Work of the Holy Ghost. And first we must state that we mean by the word Infallibility precisely and only what the Church means by it. There is only one definition of Infallibility which is worth discussing and know-ing. It is the Vatican decree on Infallibility. It says:-

"We teach and define 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 Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority he defines a doctrine regarding faith and morals 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 for defining doctrine regarding faith and morals: and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreform-able of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church But if any one, which may God avert, presume to contradict this our definition: let him be anathema. July'18, 1870."

The phrase and its application most pertinent to my present purpose is contained in the words "By the divine assistance promised to hzm in Blessed Peter". Here is a statement that the divine assistance was promised to the Popes. And it goes on to indicate the purpose for which the Divine Assistance was promised. It is not inspiration, nor the gift of prophecy nor a new revelation, but it is given to the Roman Pontiff as some-thing by which he becomes possessed of that infallibility which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding Faith and Morals.

First let us have before us the promise referred to in the decree. The Divine Assistance was promised to St Peter by our Lord when he said, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren" (St. Luke xxii. 32). In these words we have the explicit promise. Prior to this explicit promise there was the promise implicit in the words, "On this rock I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it" (St Matt xvi, 18).

The explicit promise is interpreted by both Fathers and Councils to mean that there was granted to St. Peter and his successors in his See a guarantee of perpetual stability of faith It would be easy to quote to this effect ,SS. Ambrose, Augustine' Leo, Gelasius, Gregory the Great, Vitalian, Agatho, and Bern-ard I confine myself to a passage from St. Thomas, because at the present time the authority of St. Thomas carries greater conviction than that of almost any other single doctor St Thomas is dealing with the question "whether it belongs to the Sovereign Pontiff to draw up a Symbol of Faith?" His conclusion is that it belongs to him alone. I am the more pleased to quote St. Thomas on this subject because his words may have a corrective effect in two directions. First in the Modernist direction. St. Thomas shows that in itself there is not only no objection to a restatement of a Creed but as in the case of the Creed of Pope Pius V, a new Creed may be rendered necessary by the lapse of time, the rise of heresies and the emergence of clearer Catholic developments of the deposit I make a present of this admission to those Modernists who clamour for a restatement of the Christian Religion, and I make it all the more freely because I hold firmly that the only

Authority competent to issue such a revised or new Creed is the Sovereign Pontiff.

The other direction in which St. Thomas's conclusion may be beneficial is among sound, faithful, orthodox, Anglican theologians who nevertheless have an inhibition regarding the Papacy which keeps them from accepting the fulness ot Catholic Truth. On the subject of Authority they hold to the Creeds and they say that they cannot be supplemented, except by a General Council which should include everybody, except, perhaps, the Pope. Anyhow this prejudice against the Pope is so great that I verily think they would be quite satisfied with the decrees of a General Council of Easterns and Anglicans and without Romans: and they would accept the new Symbol of such a body should the Easterns be got to agree to it. Certainly there are many orthodox Anglicans who will accept Symbols and decrees from any large body so long as the Pope has no leading voice in it.

Yet it is the Pope alone who has the right to draw up a new Creed.

The words of St. Thomas are that "a new edition of the Creed becomes necessary in order to set aside errors that arise. Consequently to publish a new edition of the Symbol belongs to that authority which is empowered to decide matters of faith finally, so that they may be held by all with unshaken faith Now this belongs to the Sovereign Pontiff, to whom the more important and more difficult questions that arise in the Church are referred. Hence our Lord said to Peter when He made Him Sovereign Pontiff (St. Luke xxii, 32) T have prayed for thee Peter, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren'. The reason of this is that there should be but one faith of the Whole Church according to i Cor. i, 10: 'that ye all speak the same thing; and that there be no schisms among you'; and this could not be secured unless any question of faith that may arise be decided by him who presides over the Whole Church, so that the Whole Church may hold firmly to his decision. Consequently it belongs to the sole authority of the Sovereign Pontiff to publish a new edition of the Creed, as do all other matters which concern the Whole Church, such as to convoke a General Council and so forth." Summa II. II: I. 10.

The sum of St. Thomas's clear statement is that to draw up a new Symbol because of the rise of a new heresy, for the more explicit statement of the faith, must belong solely to the Sovereign Pontiff because he is the only one who can. convoke a General Council: and he alone confirms its decrees. Without the Pope's endorsement the decrees of Councils are not valid.

The proof that the Holy Ghost is the Source of Infallibility rests on Christ's Promise that the Father would send the Spirit of Truth to lead the Apostles into all truth. "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth" (John xiv, 16). "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth" (St. John xvi, 13). The Church has always acted on this guarantee as is seen by the fact that General Councils where matters of Faith or Morals are authoritatively defined, were always "assembled in the Holy Ghost". And now there is the clear statement of the Vatican decree that the special assistance of the Holy Ghost is given to the Sovereign Pontiff in defining from the Chair, as Supreme Teacher of the Catholic Church, any matter pertaining to Faith or Morals.

The Pope carries on the tradition of the Apostles, who in the Council of Jerusalem delivered judgment prefaced by the words: "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts XV, 28).

For my own guidance I propose for the question before us to adopt the method of St. Thomas. Let me say that what I have to say is my own: I cannot make St. Thomas or anyone else responsible for it.

Let us propose the question in Thomist fashion. The question is: Whether the Holy Ghost is the Source of In-fallibility ? According to St. Thomas's method we first state the objections. I will answer each objection as it comes, and in so doing I depart in a small detail from St. Thomas's method by which he postpones the answer to the end of the body of the subject.

Objection I. The Holy Ghost is not the Source of Infallibility because it is said by our Lord "My Father will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; . . . Who shall be in you" (St. John xiv. 15, 17). The Father, therefore, is the Source of Infalli-bility, as the sender is the source of the message and of the messenger sent.

The answer to this objection is that the special work of any one of the Three Persons is done in perfect harmony with the purpose and will of the other Two Persons.

Objection II. The Holy Ghost is not the Source of In-fallibility because our Lord says "I will send you the Comforter ... He will guide you into all truth." Our Lord is here the Sender, and the Sender is nearer the Source than the One sent. So that our Lord is the Source of Infallibility.

The answer to this objection is the same as that given to Objection I. It may be said in further explanation that the special personal working attributed to each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity is in harmony with the relationship of each. The Father may be regarded as the Author of the plan by which an Infallible Authority is given to Man. Our Lord is the Active Agent and Maker of it in its structure, for it was He Who said "I will build My Church." And the Holy Ghost is the Immediate and Continuous Source from Whom it is derived to the Church. The Holy Ghost is not less the Source of Infallibility because sent by the Father and the Son. Him-self God, He is equal to the Father, and the Son and He is specifically the Spirit of Truth, that is, the Spirit of Jesus, Who is the Truth. As Jesus is the Word of the Father, the Fountain of Eternal Truth, so the Holy Ghost is the Active Will of both, inspiring the Church with Love and Truth.

Objection III. The Holy Ghost is not the Source of In-fallibility, because He did not come, and He was not sent until after our Lord had said "Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build My Church: and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it"; and also "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke xxii, 32), and later on He said "Feed My Sheep" (St. John xxi, 16), thereby making him Supreme Shepherd. Therefore the Holy Ghost, Who came down at Pentecost and after our Lord's grant of Infallibility and Supreme Jurisdiction to Peter, cannot be the Source of that Infallibility seeing that Christ had already granted it.

The answer to this objection is that the Holy Ghost is not hindered from being the Source of Infallibility by the fact noted by the objector.

Our Lord did all this preparatory work in perfect union with the Holy Ghost. But it was not till the Day of Pentecost that the Church built on Peter became aflame with the light and fire of the Holy Ghost: and not till then did the Church receive from the Holy Ghost her power for the Mission already appointed by Christ when He said "Go into all the World". The third objection therefore falls to the ground because it overlooks the fact that the Work of Christ as Man was done in co-operation with, and was sealed by, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Were this objection valid, it would deny that the Holy Ghost dwells in the Church because Christ had already said I will build My Church". It must also be borne in mind that our Lord made the great promise that He would ask His Father Who would certainly send the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who should lead the Church into all truth. Therefore, whatever our Lord accomplished prior to Pentecost can in no way vitiate the Mission, nor render superfluous the gift of Infallibility through His Spirit.

Objection IV. The Holy Ghost is said to preside at all General Councils of the Church, and He is invoked for the guidance of their discussions. But General Councils come rarely and at long intervals, and as said before, they were posterior to Christ's grant of infallibility to Peter, so that it would appear that infallibility only comes in spasms, while the Holy Ghost perpetually inspires the Catholic Church. There-fore the Holy Ghost is not the Source of Infallibility, especially as General Councils are needed for it. Therefore it would be more correct to say that the General Councils are the Source of Infallibility, and not the Holy Ghost, as it would seem that Infallibility is only needed now and again, when Councils can supply the need, whereas the Holy Ghost is needed always as the Indwelling Spirit of the Church.

On the contrary, I reply that the gift of Infallibility is per-petual, and the Holy Ghost is the perpetual Spirit of Truth in the Church. Were the Holy Ghost to be withdrawn from the Church for a single instant the Church would, as a Catholic Body, cease to exist, and there would be a failure of the gift of Infallibility, which is a gift to the whole body in the person of its Head, the Sovereign Pontiff.

I answer that both the Father and the Son, have given the Church over to the guidance of the Holy Ghost: and the Holy Ghost acts through Organs chosen by the Three Persons. If the Blessed Trinity dwell in the just man, how much more do the Three Persons dwell in the Catholic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ ? Our Lord said "If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode in him" (St. John xiv. 23). The promise that the Blessed Trinity shall dwell in the Catholic Church is implicit in this, and in many other texts of Scripture. It is by the Holy Ghost as the Love of the Father and the Son, that there is a perpetual residence of God the Holy Ghost in the Catholic Church-as God dwells in a Temple. The body of Christians united in Christ forms a temple of the Holy Ghost. "God is in the midst of her". How then can the Church fail to know the truth, seeing that she abides in the Word of Christ and that the Spirit of Truth dwells'm her ? She cannot fail.

The Fifth Objection does not really touch the point at issue. It raises the question of General Councils. The General Coun-cils had no validity until confirmed by the Pope. The Pope with a General Council is the Organ of that Infallibility of which the Holy Ghost is the Source.

As to the notion that Infallibility is in abeyance between one Council and other, it is enough to say that the Vatican decree only speaks of "that infallibility with which Christ designed to endow His Church". It is not contrary to the ways of God that Revelation of Truth is made by leaps and bounds. It is possible to become over obsessed by the Vic-torian idea, then new-fangled and now old-fashioned, that God only works by gradual means. In many things, no doubt He does work gradually. But at great epochs He breaks in at chosen points to make fresh departures for truth. Creation was by leaps and bounds, long periods elapsing before the next great jump was taken. Angels were first made, then Matter and then Man. In the course of prophecy the great interven-tions like revolutions and political explosions which mark dynastic catastrophes are more noticeable than the continuous stream of ordinary events. And so the Holy Ghost, the Source of Infallibility, dwells all the time with the Church: but as it was before, so it is now, "God at sundry times and in divers ways" speaks to us by His Spirit through the ages, by upheavals of opinion and revolutions of thought, leading to new and fuller definitions of dogma.

100 years elapsed between the 4th & 5th Ecumenical Councils
127 years elapsed between the 5th & 6th Ecumenical Councils
100 years elapsed between the 6th & 7th Ecumenical Councils
82 years elapsed between the 7th & 8th Ecumenical Councils
254 years elapsed between the 15th & 16th Ecumenical Councils
80 years elapsed between the 17th & 18th Ecumenical Councils
307 years elapsed between the Trent (19th) & Vatican (20th and last).

No decision of a General Council can take away from a subsequent Council the power of drawing up a new Creed, containing, not indeed a new Faith, but the same Faith with greater explicitness. For every Council has taken into account that a subsequent Council would expound matters more fully than the preceding Council, it if became necessary through the emergence of some heresy.

Infallibility is not Inspiration. The Holy Ghost was the Source of Inspiration of the Scriptures, and He gave assistance to the writers and sometimes revealed to them truths not before known. The writers were inspired as to the Substance and as to the manner of writing. The Popes are by Divine Assistance preserved from error in defining truths already revealed. The Assistance is given as to the Matter and as to the Manner of expounding truths of Salvation already known. This Assist-ance is of the Supernatural Order. Infallibility is not of the Natural Order, but it is of the Order of Grace. It depends simply on the Ordination of God. Infallibility is a charisma, a grace of the Supernatural Order, attached to the Primacy of Peter which is perpetual in his successors. The Infallibility attaches to the individual Pope. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament are there examples of Infallibility depending on number; but in both Infallibility is found to be attached to persons as individuals. The schools of the prophets were not inspired as colleges, but certain prophets and inspired writers were kept from error individually and personally and not as a collective body.

Each Apostle was an inspired Organ of the Holy Ghost.

The analogy of Scripture in regard to inspiration is a warning against making it an objection to the Infallibility of the Popes that the gift of assistance is made to an individual person and not to the corporate body of the Universal Episcopate. The objection falls to the ground because God does give this assist-ance to one person rather than to many, as was the case when He singled out Peter for the original grant of this assistance: and also because we are required as Catholics to accept God's appointment when we know what it is, rather than any other system, however natural. Infallibility is really supernatural and not at all of the order of nature.

Although every sect calling itself Christian rejects papal Infallibility as a blasphemy, nevertheless every Christian body has preserved the traditional Catholic belief in Infallibility itself. Even the rejectors of the Creeds and Sacraments offer mutilated beliefs and insist on their acceptance because of the inherent Infallibility of the propounder. We have an example of an heretical body, the Salvation Army, making through their Hierarchy, the Commissioners, a solemn declaration on the occasion of the election of Evangeline Booth as General of the Army. They signed the following statement that they had the divine assistance in their election.

"This puts on record our confident belief that we have been divinely guided in this matter, and we accept the result" (the election of Commander Evangeline Booth as General) "as a revelation of the Will of God."

The difference between the Infallibility of the Salvation Army and that of the Pope is that the Infallibility of the Pope is based on a definite promise of our Lord to St. Peter by which St. Peter and his successors have the guarantee of Divine Assistance in a specified sphere and under carefully defined circumstances.

The Infallibility of the Salvation Army is an invention of yesterday, without any basis of truth, and without any divine promise. It also implies a denial of the Christian Hierarchy with the Pope at its head. The Apostolic Succession both of the Popes and of all Bishops is vehemently repudiated. A self-constituted infallible body is substituted for the Catholic Church; and for this body is claimed the Divine Assistance in choosing their Pope, General Booth, and even claiming that their choice is the result of a Divine Revelation. Their Infallibility is such as the Church does not claim: for the Church does not claim it as the result of prayer: nor does she claim it as of Divine Inspiration: nor does she regard its exercise as making anything of the nature of a new revelation.

My point really is that it is impossible for any Christian body to avoid regarding either itself or its head or its Conference, Assembly or Union as infallible. No Christian teacher can go forth without an infallible Authority to which he can demand assent.

All non-Catholic bodies shy at definite statements. They will not face facts. Rome is logical: Rome does not shirk definition. Rome is Catholic. Rome defines and legislates for all. By Rome I mean the Roman Pontiffs. The Pope can no more be separated from General Councils than he can be re-garded as separate from the Church: or than a head can be separate from its body.

The Holy Ghost is the Source of Infallibility as the Spirit of Truth dwelling in the Catholic Church. Nevertheless the Pope is the organ and mouthpiece of infallibility. The Holy Ghost dwells in the Catholic Church as in an Hierarchy with the Pope as Head. The Mystical Body of Christ is a visible Body and its Head is visible. The Holy Ghost spoke in the General Councils, and He spoke in the Vatican definition of Infallibility. The Holy Ghost kept the Vatican Council from error in defining Infallibility. Therefore the Source of the definition is the Holy Ghost.

It does not make a man infallible because dwelt in by the Holy Ghost. That the Holy Ghost dwells in the Pope as Head and in the Bishops as Rulers of the Church, and in all Priests, and in all Orders of Christian people and in every individual does not confer upon them such infallibility as Christ designed for His Church as Church. Individual indwelling by the Holy Ghost is a blessed fact; and one to be thankful for: amounting to some help for the conscience to mean what is right as often as possible.

The gift of Infallibility in the Pope is something over and above that indwelling of the Holy Ghost which he shares with all Christians. It is a special assistance

at a certain time: speaking from the chair in Council;
for a certain matter: faith and morals;
for a certain purpose: to define and declare;
and for a certain people: the whole Catholic Church.

To return to our point of departure, namely, Protestant and individual Infallibility. It is put well from the Protestant point of view by Chillingworth in his Religion of Protestants, where he says to his Catholic adversary: "You tell me that men cannot be saved unless they believe in your proposals with an infallible faith. To which end they must believe also your propounder the Church to be simply infallible. Now how is is possible for them to give a rational assent to the Church's Infallibility, unless they have some infallible means to know that she is infallible ? Neither can they know the infallibility of this means but by some other: and so on for ever; until they settle on something self-evident; which in this case is not pretended."

Chillingworth's argument is not against Infallibility, but against certainty. His argument can only mean that there is nothing certain except what is self-evident. On such a principle you cannot be certain of any of the discoveries of science: in fact there is, according to this logic, no knowledge worth the name which everyone does not already possess. Education cannot add to self-evident truth. Here Infallibility is confused with certainty. And it is implied that we can have no certainty without having Infallibility. Whereas I may be certain about many things without having, or claiming any gift of Infalli-bility. The Infallibility of the Pope is a faculty or gift, and it has to do with everything that comes within the Subject Matter of Faith and Morals. An infallible authority cannot err in cases that may arise in the field to which his Infallibility applies. You need not believe in your own Infallibility in order to prove or assent to the Church's Infallibility. Nor need you be infallible to know that God the Holy Ghost is Infallible. Because you accept those truths on the same authority which obliges you to believe all the Articles of the Creed.

THE HOLY GHOST THE SOURCE OF INFALLIBILITY

Protestants retain traces of the Catholic Traditional Truth of Infallibility, e.g., they believe in personal illumination by the Holy Ghost, and in the Written Tradition of Scripture. Individual Infallibility is substituted for the Infallibility of the Church: the only individual Infallibility is that of the Pope as Head of the Church on earth.

The Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Truth is the Source of the Infallibility of the Church with her Head. The Channel of Revelation is no longer Prophecy: nor private revelation: nor through Apostles and Prophets: but by the Universal Epis-copate with the Pope as Primate and Head. The Vatican Decree of 1870 is the safest definition of Infallibility.

The phrase in it germane to our subject is "By the divine assistance promised him in Blessed Peter". The direct promise was "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren",(St. Luke xxii, 32) and the in-direct promise was "and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". (St. Matt. xvi, 18.)

Infallibility is claimed for Peter's successors by Fathers and Councils.

St. Thomas says: Sum. Theo. II. II. I. 10: "To publish a new edition of the Creed belongs to the Sovereign Pontiff alone, because of the promise, T have prayed for thee', because the Pope alone can convoke a Council". No decrees are valid till signed by the Pope.

Christ promised the Holy Ghost to confer Infallibility on the Church with her head "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter . . . even the Spirit of truth." (St. John xiv, 16, 17.). . . "He will guide you" (as a body) "into all truth." (St. John xvi, 13.)

Hence Councils are always assembled "In the Holy Ghost". The First Council of Jerusalem delivered judgment with the preamble "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us". (Acts xv, 28.) The Pope makes no other claim than the traditional one of the special assistance of the Holy Ghost as Supreme Teacher of the Whole Church, from the Chair, in Faith and Morals. The Salvation Army makes the same claim only with additions, claiming a new revelation.

The gift of Infallibility is in perpetuity. To the Whole Church with its Head on earth.

Infallibility, both of the individual and of the Body, is of the Holy Ghost. It was individual for Prophets, e.g., for Isaiah: and for Apostles and especially Peter: and now it is for the Universal Episcopate, and the Pope as a corporate body: and for the Pope as an individual. Our Lord says "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him". (St. John xiv, 23) If the Blessed Trinity comes and dwells in the man who loves God, how much more will the Three Persons dwell in the Pope as the Head and Supreme Teacher, and who has the care of all the Churches ?

Infallibility is not inspiration: nor is it certainty. Objections to Infallibility are often only objections to any sort of certainty, e.g., Chillingworth's famous objection. He said "You must have some means of knowing that the Church is Infallible, then you must know some means of knowing the Infallibility of this means, and so on for ever, till you settle on something self-evident." This is an argument against all certainty except what is self-evident: it puts sciences and education out of court: and it renders increase of knowledge impossible.

A man need not be infallible to know that the Holy Ghost is Infallible, for He is God. You need not be infallible to believe in God. We only want to know in whom does the Holy Ghost speak for the Whole Body. It is not only fhe answer to the question: in whom does the Holy Ghost dwell ? but by whom does He speak now ? In the past He spake "by the Prophets", "by the Apostles", by Peter, and now He speaks by the Pope. We believe by the hearing of faith. The gift of Infallibility is useless unless it be given to someone who can speak now.