from: http://home.att.net/~rayfontaine/page_24.htm

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Nature's God Discusses Papal Infallibility with the Pope

An Essay by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - in April 2003

In October 1992, Pope John Paul II published his Catechism of the
Catholic Church. In paragraph 891, he wrote, "the Roman Pontiff enjoys
infallibility when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful,
he proclaims a doctrine pertaining to faith and morals." Here the Pope
was quoting the Ecumenical Councils of Vatican I (1870) and Vatican II
(1964). Of the 2865 paragraphs in the Pope's catechism, none troubled me
more that this one on papal infallibility. It stuck in my craw,
sometimes disturbing my sleep. Last night it switched on a dramatic
dream about God discussing papal infallibility with the Pope.

God first greeted Pope John Paul II. After some small talk, God
said, "You still claim that you and your church are infallible when
proclaiming dogmas and morals. You realize, don't you John, that a
single screw-up in the church's history would blow your infallibility
and credibility sky-high."

"Yes" replied the Pope, "but I don't recall any such error."

"What about the Galileo gaffe? Didn't your Church condemn and
silence that great astronomer for endorsing the theory that the earth
rotates around the sun?"

"The Church goofed then, I admit, but that error was about a
physical phenomenon, not a supernatural event that only you could know
and reveal, such as the Assumption of Mary."

"So you believe," God said, "that, after Mary died, I took her up
into heaven body and soul. You also think that I revealed this event to
someone. To whom? Your Bible doesn't mention anyone nor do the early
Christian writers."

"I agree," said the Pope. "But in the year 625, bishop Theoteknos
reported that a group of Christians celebrated Mary's Assumption into
heaven. As you well know, that belief and devotion later spread
throughout the Church. Pope Pius XII believed that, by allowing this
devotion to thrive more than a millenium, you, my Lord, were testifying
to its truth. So on November 1, 1950, the Pope, relying on his
infallibility, defined Mary's Assumption as a dogma of faith nevermore
to be questioned by Catholics."

"My oh my," God exclaimed, "how you humans can twist the facts,
oftentimes putting the cart before the horse. Faith follows revelation,
not vice versa. Let me set you straight, John. I did not take Mary up to
heaven, nor did I reveal such an event to anyone, nor was Pope Pius XII
infallible and nor are you, John. Sorry.

"Surely, my Lord," said the Pope, "you can't expect me to declare
that Popes are not infallible."

"Why not?" said God, "In 1969, your church bravely removed hundreds
of saints from the Roman calendar. The Church admitted that there was
little or no evidence that many saints, such as Saint Christopher and
Saint Ursula, ever existed. For hundreds more, nothing but their
existence was known - surely not their thousands of miracles. That
admission was a giant step in the right direction. You could make an
even greater step towards the truth by renouncing your infallibility."

"I can't do that," said the Pope. "That would be ecclesial suicide.
The cardinals, led by Cardinal Ratzinger, would quickly declare me
insane and replace me with a more docile and timid Pope."

"If truth matters more than your tiara," said God, "you could make
this confession. On March 2, 2000, you delivered an extraordinary
address to all Catholics and the world. You acknowledged that the
Church, including Popes, had made mistakes, terrible mistakes and sins
of devastating consequences, torturing and killing thousands of
non-believers. That confession of errors and sins took courage. You must
go further and admit untruths in the Church's teachings and in its claim
to infallibility. DO IT." With that order, God disappeared from my dream
which continued in a surreal scene.

A somber Pope summoned his Swiss guards and ordered them to gather
all the copies of his Catechism of the Catholic Church in and around
Rome. Within seconds, the guards returned with a truckload of books and
the Pope said, "Dump them in a heap in front of the basilica. Then the
Pope removed his tiara and doused the books, not with holy water, but
with kerosene. He struck a match and set the pile ablaze. The flames
rose heavenwards, "for God to see" said the Pope. Just in time the Pope
snatched a book to read again paragraph 47: "The Church teaches that the
one true God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty from his
works (all of nature) by the natural light of human reason."

At that moment my dream ended leaving me with the hope that the Pope
will follow through in real life. Time is running out for him and for
me, both of us in our eighties . But it would take only seconds for Pope
John Paul XII to proclaim on the Internet that Popes and the Church are
not infallible.