The Contradictions of Papal Infallibility
One day the news despatches tell us that the pope is very ill, and the next day they will tell us that he is much better. We would gather, from a summing up of the evidence, that he is in a very critical condition, and that in all probability it will be only a few days till the cardinals of the Roman Church will be summoned to elect a new pope. When they are called to such a work, be the time long or short, they will go as fallible men, having very much the same propensities and weaknesses as the rest of defective fallen humanity. From one of their number of fallible they will elect a pope; and when he is elected, he becomes infallible, or incapable of error when he speaks "ex cathedra." If everything that all the popes have said were a consistent story right through, this would not be such a hard thing to believe. But when one pope will so directly contradict another, how can we believe the assertion of infallibility? What inconsistencies will prejudice compel us to hold!