“The notion that moral failures by Catholic leaders down through the centuries entail that the Church has formally defined and promulgated false doctrine was not only never part of the apostolic deposit, but is contrary to the very narrative of the apostles, according to which the apostasy of Judas does not nullify the authority and veracity of Christ’s teaching or the subsequent conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. The notion that moral failures by Church leaders entail that the Church has defined and promulgated false doctrine does not come from Christ, is not of apostolic origin, was never believed by all the faithful or affirmed by any council or by any Church Father, but is a mere tradition of certain unauthorized men. What is present in the apostolic deposit, and has been taught by the Church Fathers and the faithful and the councils, is the doctrine of the indefectibility of the Church, on the basis of Christ’s promise to be with her to the end of the age, to guide her into all truth by His Spirit, to establish her upon a rock whose faith He prayed would fail not, to be her living Head, to establish her perpetually as a light to the nations, and the pillar and bulwark of Truth.”
from comment 242 here: http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2012/11/how-the-church-won-an-interview-with-jason-stellman/
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