Cathedra Sentence Examples

The pope when teaching ex cathedra acts as head of the whole episcopal body and of the whole Church.

The Apostolic Letters alone may be ex cathedra documents, and may have the privilege of infallibility, if the matter admit of it.

It was provided that the hundred court of Powdershire should always be held there and two fairs at the feasts of St Peter in Cathedra and St Barnabas, both of which are still held, and a Tuesday market (now held on Friday) and that it should be a free borough rendering a yearly rent to the earl of Cornwall.

The insignia (pontificalia or pontificals) of the Roman Catholic bishop are (I) a ring with a jewel, symbolizing fidelity to the church, (2) the pastoral staff, (3) the pectoral cross, (4) the vestments, consisting of the caligae, stockings and sandals, the tunicle, and purple gloves, (5) the mitre, symbol of the royal priesthood, (6) the throne (cathedra), surmounted by a baldachin or canopy, on the gospel side of the choir in the cathedral church.

He was absent from the important sitting of the 18th of June 1870, and did not send in his submission to the decrees until 1871, when he explained in a pastoral letter that the dogma "referred only to doctrine given forth ex cathedra, and therein to the definitions proper duly, but not to its proofs or explanations."

To issue an infallible statement " you make a dogmatic statement ' ex cathedra ' from the chair of Peter " .

His pronouncements are held to be infallible when he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals ex cathedra to be held by the universal church (see Infallibility and Vatican Council).

On the 18th of July the pope's decrees were declared " irreformable of themselves, irrespectively of the consent of the Church," always provided that they dealt with doctrines of faith and morals, and were delivered ex cathedra - that is, with the intention of binding the consciences of all Catholics.

The second and decisive victory followed at the Vatican Council (1870), which, at the cost of a small secession of distinguished men, declared the pope personally infallible (see Infallibility) and irreformable as often as he rules ex cathedra points of faith or morals.

But when does the pope speak ex cathedra, and how is it to be distinguished when he is exercising his infallibility?

Again, popularly, an unproved ex cathedra statement of any kind is called " dogmatic," with perhaps an insinuation that it is being obstinately adhered to without, or beyond, or in defiance of, obtainable evidence.

The statement in one of his works that the pope could err in matters of faith ("haeresim per suam determinationem aut Decretalem asserendo") has attracted attention; but as it is a private opinion, not an ex cathedra pronouncement, it is held not to prejudice the dogma of papal infallibility.