Cathedra

The cathedra ( altgr. καθῆσθαι "sit", . Griech.lat cathedra " seat, chair " ) is since ancient times the symbol of the authority of a public official (see catheter ). In the Christian church the cathedra of the bishop was given a prominent place at the altar and stands for the apostolic office power of attorney (see Cathedral ). At the same time cathedra called the bishop's seat in the institutional sense.

Ex cathedra

The term ex cathedra - that is, "by the Chair of " - refers to the See of Rome, whose owner is according to the teaching of the Catholic Church in the successor of the Apostle Peter and has the highest authority over the universal Church. A word of the Pope ex cathedra teaching is considered an infallible announced decision in matters of faith or morals.

When Pope Pius IX. at the First Vatican Council of 1870 the already much older belief arose in the infallibility of the Pope to formally defined dogma, was set as a condition for certification and an infallible doctrinal decision inter alia, their pronouncement ex cathedra [ Petri ]. Since the Pope in all pastoral and dogmatic utterances speaks by virtue of his official authority, must for the infallibility of the definition, which requires its irrevocability, still adding more conditions.

For the period to 1870, there is great uncertainty about how many papal definitions meet this criterion; the lists varied between about 10 and 20 documents. Almost always as infallible ex cathedra definition were the teaching of Benedict XII. the beatific vision ( bull Benedictus Deus, 1336 ) and the five condemned by Innocent X. sets of Jansenism called ( bull Cum occasione, 1653), sometimes the final formula of the bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII on the spiritual claim of the papacy (1302 ) considered. According 's First Vatikanischem council the pope a dogma announcement but must clearly identify as such revealed truth of God marked so that the number of specific applications is now generally reduces to two dogmas: 1854 Immaculate Conception and 1950, the corporeal assumption of Mary into heaven.

About the case of the dogmatic definition, the church accepts but also an essential infallibility of the Pope and Magisterium of the Church with regard to the points made in continuity teachings ( cf. Lumen Gentium, 25). The above papal decisions are at any rate received binding in general, ordinary magisterium of the Church, even if it applies today after almost universal view as an act of extraordinary papal Magisterium.

Also almost all the main questions of faith, the Church expresses affirmative continuously, such as about Jesus' resurrection, about which there is no definite dogma, the accuracy of which depends but the whole of Christianity. Even with the recognition of the founding of new religious communities as well as with the Saints of the Pope not defining action is regarded as free from error.