Fallible Authority

Suter, Adrian (2017). Fallible Authority. Ecclesiology, 13(2), pp. 161-178. Brill 10.1163/17455316-01302003

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Old Catholic theologians have often underlined the relationship between papal supremacy and infallibility and the priority of the former: The pope has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, therefore he must be obeyed – at the same time, he may be obeyed, because he will not mislead the Church due to his infallibility. The article analyses this relationship, applying differentiations on two axes: On the one hand, Bocheński’s typology of epistemic and deontic authority, on the other hand, the notion of personal, formal and constitutional authority. The fact that the infallibility dogma of Vatican I considers papal authority at the same time as epistemic and constitutional, is identified as a major weakness of the dogma. The article will then approach the question how church leaders should practise their deontic authority in a context where their (and everybody else’s) epistemic authority is considered fallible.

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