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 Ecclesiâ 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."
