What is infallible?
And such infallible proclamations are highly uncommon. According to papal historian Michael Walsh there has only been one occasion since the council proclamation when a pope has made an infallible statement. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the assumption of Mary into heaven as a dogma of faith. According to Mr Walsh, it is thought Pope John Paul II wanted to speak infallibly in 1994 when he ruled out the possibility of women ever being ordained, but was advised against it. Pope John Paul apparently wanted to issue an infallible statement about the ordination of women While he decreed that Catholics should not even talk about the issue further, the subject could, theoretically, be debated in the future. Similarly, says Mr Walsh, papal teaching regarding contraception is not considered by many theologians as falling within the realms of papal infallibility. Pope Paul VI’s famous 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which condemned contraception, was not issued in the form of an infallible st
