Infallibility of The Church - Consequences For Ecumenism

Consequences For Ecumenism

The Catholic Church, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the various Protestant denominations are divided by their different views on infallibility. The ecumenical movement, which hopes to reunify all of Christianity, has found that this is one of the most divisive of issues between churches. This term unfortunately has often been misunderstood by most Christian denominations. Infallibility cannot be understood properly unless a sound comprehension of the administration and theology of each Christian group has firstly been understood. For example, many Protestants and Eastern Orthodox believers have the belief that papal infallibility refers to papal impeccability (meaning that the pope cannot sin). This, however, is not the teaching of papal infallibility.