DEGREES OF INFALLIBILITY. Perfect
infallibility belongs to God, the Eternal Truth, but rational creatures may
enjoy a certain immunity from error,--an immunity which they hold as a gift
from God. This communicated infallibility is either natural or supernatural.
Natural infallibility is immunity from error which all men possess in
regard to certain self-evident truths. We know from experience that there are
certain truths so evident that no one having the use of reason can mistake or
misunderstand them. Supernatural infallibility is an immunity from error
maintained by special assistance of the Holy Spirit. This special gift may
concern the teaching of truths without error, and is then known as active infallibility,
or infallibility in teaching. When its purpose is to prevent error in
the acceptance of truths taught, it is called passive infallibility, or infallibility
in believing. The Church possesses both active and passive infallibility. (E.
Sylvester Berry, The Church of Christ: An Apologetic and Dogmatic Treatise
[Frederick County, Md.: Mount Saint Mary's Seminary, 1955; repr., Eugene,
Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2009], 248)
