What is Ex Cathedra?

"From the Chair"

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It is when a pope pronounces a new doctrine to overrule the Bible. He claims infallibility when he speaks ex cathedra, or ‘from the chair’, as the head of the church. The pictures above show the so-called chair of St. Peter, far above the altar, that represents the pope’s authority. No wonder Daniel said he would have a look more stout than his fellows and speak great words against the most High (Dan 7:8,11,20,25). No wonder John said he would speak great things and blaspheme God (Rev 13:5-6). But it was Paul that prophesied of his ex cathedra, or sitting, pronouncements in describing the Man of Sin.

 

“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” II Thess 2:4

 

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Literally “from the chair”, a theological term which signifies authoritative teaching and is more particularly applied to the definitions given by the Roman pontiff. Originally the name of the seat occupied by a professor or a bishop, cathedra was used later on to denote the magisterium, or teaching authority. The phrase ex cathedra occurs in the writings of the medieval theologians, and more frequently in the discussions which arose after the Reformation in regard to the papal prerogatives. But its present meaning was formally determined by the Vatican Council, Sess. IV, Const. de Ecclesia Christi, c. iv: “We teach and define that it is a dogma Divinely revealed that the Roman pontiff when he speaks ex cathedra, that is when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals, and that therefore such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves and not from the consent of the Church irreformable.”