Some Thoughts From Newman

To add to the discussion of the doctrine of papal infallibility, here are a couple of quotes from the Venerable John Henry Newman:

What I believe about the Pope, I believe, as I believe any other doctrine, – because the Church teaches it – but, for me, the Church directs me to the Pope not the Pope directs me to the Church.  – from Letters and Diaries, Vol. XXII, p.95

 Its communion with the see of St. Peter is not a 'Note of the Church'. How then do I know which is the true Church? I know it by the tokens of its unity, its apostolicity, its pretensions etc etc. I admit that there are able men who have been led into the Church through belief in the Pope's prerogatives. But a man need not believe in the jus divinum of the see of St. Peter in order to submit himself to the church which is in communion with it. This was my own case. I did not distinctly believe in the jus divinum of the Holy See till I joined the Church. I then believed in it as I believed in any other doctrine of the Church, because she was the Church, the oracle of Christ. I believed in the seven sacraments forthwith, because she taught them de fide; and for the same reason I believed in the jus divinum of the Papacy forthwith.  – from Letters and Diaries, Vol. XX, p.308