And further--unlike other powers--it can
never be delegated to another. The Pope himself is Infallible, but he
cannot transfer nor communicate his Infallibility, even temporarily or
for some special given occasion, to anyone else who may, in other
respects, represent him, such as a Legate, Ambassador, or Nuncio.
"Neither in conversation," writes the theologian Billuart, "nor in
discussion, nor in interpreting Scripture or the Fathers, nor in
consulting, nor in giving his reasons for the point which he has
defined, nor in answering letters, nor in private deliberations,
supposing he is setting forth his own opinion, is the Pope
infallible." He is not infallible as a theologian, or as a priest, or
a Bishop, or a temporal ruler, or a judge, or a legislator, or in his
political views, or even in the government of the Church: but only
when he teaches the Faithful throughout the world, _ex cathedra_, in
matters of faith or of morals, that is to say, in matters relating to
revealed truth, or to principles of moral conduct.
"It in no way depends upon the caprice of the Pope, or upon his good
pleasure, to make such and such a doctrine the object of a dogmatic
definition.
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