INFALLIBILITY

It seems that all my life I've dreamed of an “infallible” leader. Someone who is always right, always guides his/her followers in the right direction. Of course, such a hope runs headlong into the reality that each and every one of us humans have been marred by sin and are limited by the finiteness innate in the human condition.

But I hope. And I think millions of us have and do. In the Roman Catholic Church there is a doctrine popularly known as “the infallibility of the pope”. The Roman Catholic Church believes, not that whatever the man who holds that office says is the truth but that the man chosen by its college of cardinals will consistently know and express the God-given doctrinal tradition of the church. Its not a thing with which someone is to become a winner at horse races.

An accurate account of history will show that even the man carefully chosen by wise leaders in the church has often fallen short of perfect knowledge and action. That is found only in God. But Catholics, and in fact, all of us hope. We want for there to be an infallible human. Because if there is one there could be two, and you or I could be the second.

But God calls us to something better. We are invited to have as our leader the One who did the will of the Father in the power of the Spirit. He calls to us, “Follow me”.