Impeccability is the absence of
sin.
Christianity believes this to be an
attribute of God the Father (logically God cannot sin, it would mean that he would act against his own will and nature) and therefore also an attribute of
Christ.
Roman Catholic Church Teaching
Impeccability and Heaven
Early Christians questioned whether the saints in heaven could sin:
Origen claimed they could.
Roman Catholic doctrine holds that they can not. Although Catholics believe in the gift of
free will, saints in heaven already see God face to face and can not sin, i.e. they remain in God. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states (emphasis added):
:1045 For man, this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation and of which the pilgrim Church has been "in the nature of sacrament." Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, "the holy city" of God, "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly community. The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.
:1060 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. Then the just will reign with Christ for ever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed. God will then be "all in all" (⇒ 1 Cor 15:28), in eternal life.
Impeccability and Purgatory
Thomas Aquinas taught that souls in Purgatory cannot sin (
Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part, Question 83, Article 11, Reply to Objection 3), let alone the saints in heaven. This is the teaching of the Catholic Church, although there are different opinions on the reasons for the impossibility to sin.
Impeccability and the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Roman Catholic church teaches that the Blessed Virgin Mary was, by a special grace of God, without sin her entire life. This included the moment of her conception, so the Virgin was even preserved from original sin.
The Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic dogma that asserts that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved by God from the stain of original sin at the time of her own conception. Some theologians have asserted this special grace extended to impeccability [understood in this context as the inability to sin]; others argue this could not be so: as a person, she would have had free will, and therefore the ability to sin, but through her cooperation avoided it.
While the Roman Catholic Church affirms the sinlessness of Mary, at the Council of Trent it condemned Pelagianism, which holds that a human being could (while alive) become incapable of sinning, as a heresy
Impeccability and the Pope
Impeccability is sometimes confused with
infallibility, especially in discussions of
papal infallibility. Impeccability is an attribute
not claimed by the
pope, and few would deny that there have been "bad" popes -
Saint Peter himself denied Jesus three times. On the other hand,
Pope Gregory VII, intellectual progenitor of the
Ultramontanes and nemesis of the lay faction in the
investiture controversy, voiced an assertion of Papal prerogative beyond even the strongest of modern apologists':
The pope can be judged by no one; the Roman church has never erred and never will err till the end of time; the Roman church was founded by Christ alone; the pope alone can depose and restore bishops; he alone can make new laws, set up new bishoprics and divide old ones. ... He alone can call general councils and authorize canon laws; his legates .. have precedence over all bishops. ... A duly ordained pope is undoubtedly made a saint by the merits of St. Peter.
Nevertheless, in Catholic thought, the exemption of the Roman Church from error extends only to its definitive teachings on faith and morals: not its historical judgments. Similarly, papal "sainthood" does not suggest that popes are free from sin. Quite the contrary, popes frequent the sacrament of Reconciliation (confession) for the forgiveness of their sins, as all other Catholics are required to do. Pope Benedict XVI confesses his sins once a week
See also
Christian perfection
Infallibility of the Church
References
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Summa Theologica
External links
Catechism of the Catholic Church from the official website of the Vatican
Summa Theologica from NewAdvent website
Category:Christian hamartiology
Category:Christian terms
Category:Marian dogmas
Category:Attributes of God in Christian theology
