h someone else. The Pope has authority
from God Himself, and the priests get theirs through their bishops.
Therefore, to resist or disobey lawful authority is to resist and
disobey God Himself. If one of you were placed in charge of the class in
my absence, he would have lawful authority, and the rest of you should
obey him--not on account of himself, but on account of the authority he
has. Thus the President of the United States, the governor, the mayor,
etc., are only ordinary citizens before their election; but after they
have been elected and placed in office they exercise lawful authority
over us, and we are bound as good citizens and as good Catholics to
respect and obey them.

*124 Q. What do you mean by the infallibility of the Church?
A. By the infallibility of the Church I mean that the Church cannot err
when it teaches a doctrine of faith or morals.

"Infallibility." When we say Church is infallible, we mean that it
cannot make a mistake or err in what it teaches; that the Pope, the head
of the Church, is infallible when he teaches ex cathedra--that is, as
the successor of St. Peter, the vicar of Christ. Cathedra signifies a
seat, ex stands for "out of"; therefore, ex cathedra means out of the
chair or office of St. Peter, because chair is sometimes used for
office. Thus we say the presidential chair is opposed to this or that,
when we intend to say the president, or the one in that office, is
opposed to it. The cathedral is the church in which the bishop usually
officiates, so called on account of the bishop's cathedra, or throne,
being in it.

*125 Q. When does the Church teach infallibly?
A. The Church teaches infallibly when it speaks through the Pope and
bishops united in general council, or through the Pope alone when he
proclaims to all the faithful a doctrine of faith or morals.

But how will we know when the Pope speaks ex cathedra, when he is
speaking daily to people from all parts of the world? To speak ex
cathedra or infallibly, three things are required:

(1) He must speak as the head of the whole Church, not as a private
person; and in certain forms of words by which we know he is speaking ex
cathedra.

(2) What he says must hold good for the whole Church--that is, for all
the faithful, and not merely for this or that particular person or
country.

(3) He must speak on matters of faith or morals--that is, when the Holy
Father tells all the faithful that they are to believe a certain thi