Dear Jonathan:

Your question about Pope Honorius us really about the the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility. This is perhaps the most misunderstood Catholic Doctrine there is among Protestants (and even some Catholics). Thus, I must give some background before answering your question directly.

The charism of Infallibility that God has given to the Pope is limited, operable only under certain conditions, and is effectual regardless of the impeccability of the man sitting in the Chair of Peter.

Infallibility has nothing to do with impeccability. Thus, a sinful, even evil, Pope can still issue an Infallible declaration and that declaration will be valid.

Also, infallibility does not extend to opinions of the Pope or even ordinary beliefs or teachings of the Pope. If a Pope were to teach that 1 + 1 = 5 he would be wrong. If a Pope were to declare that abortion was okay, he would be wrong and his declaration invalid. If a Pope were to declare that women may be ordained priests, he would be wrong and his declaration would be invalid.

A Pope cannot infallibly proclaim a doctrine that contradicts the historic teaching of the Faith. If he tries to officially change dogma, he will not succeed because God promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church and God is not a liar.

In fact, we did have a Pope who tried. Pope Vigilius (537-555) actually murdered Pope Silverius in order to make way for his election as Pope. Vigilius was in conspiracy with Empress Theodora to attempt to bring the Church into the Monophysite heresy.

But once Vigilius sat in "the chair" -- the Chair of Peter -- something happened to him. The Holy Spirit, true to His word was not going to allow Vigilius to bring the Church into heresy. Suddenly, as Vigilius sat in the Papal chair, he was inspired to change his mind.

He wrote to the Empress to tell her that he could not go through with the plan, that he had to uphold the teachings of his predecessors.

Theodora was livid with anger. She banished Pope Vigilius into exile. Years later after Theodora died Vigilius was allowed to return home to Rome, but died on the trip.

There are other lessor examples of the Holy Spirit protecting the Church as Christ promised.

Because Christ is not a liar, if somehow Satan himself were to be elected Pope, he could not officially change Catholic dogma. He could certainly cause a lot of problems, but it would be impossible for him to change dogma. God protects His Bride.

Important to note, that outside of the very limited, and very rare, formal and infallible declarations by a Pope or a Council, neither a Pope nor Council is error free. All decisions made outside of the strict criteria for infallibility are subject to possible error and mistake.

Now what is the Charism of Infallibility?

The first hint of this doctrine comes from the mouth of Jesus himself. In Matthew chapter 23 Jesus warns the disciplines not to follow the Pharisees in their hypocrisies, but he orders the disciples to OBEY the Pharisees when they "sit in the chair of Moses."

Here we have the same things. When sitting in "the Chair" the leader is to be obeyed, but the leader's personal behavior may be lacking and should not be modeled.

The Chair of Moses was the Papacy during the Mosaic period of the Old Testament. Moses was Pope, as were his successors. ("Pope" merely means "father" and in this context means "father-leader" or "paterfamilias").

When Jesus brought the New Covenant, a new Chair had to be established. Jesus established that chair of authority upon Peter (and his successors). This is proven by the fact that Jesus quotes the words (in Matt. 16) used to appoint a Prime Minister (an office of succession) in Isaiah 22:21-23. The King always has his Prime Minister. And that Prime Minister is called "father" (pope) and is given the keys to the Kingdom to whatever he locks is locked and whatever he unlocks is unlocked.

Jesus quoted directly from this passage in Isaiah thus proving that He established a new chair of authority to replace the chair of Moses -- the Chair of Peter.

One of the reasons God has always had a Pope (in the Old and New Testaments) is that the Pope is the symbol of unity. The Church is to be one, not many. The Pope is that central figure of unity. As the symbol of unity God gives the Pope the charism of infallibility in order to guarantee the Faith.

In otherwords, the Pope (and the Magisterium in union with him) act sort of like a Supreme Court. When there are doctrinal disputes that cannot be resolved by the theologians and scholars, the Magisterium decides the issue once-and-for-all.

Without this "buck stops here", this "supreme court", this "ultimate authority on earth," this "Prime Ministry of the King" we would have a mess. People would interpret the Bible in 1000s of different ways. The Faith would no longer be guaranteed, but would devolve into a hodgepodge of opinions that no one could know for sure was true.

That is what happened with the Protestant Revolution. We now have about 30,000 different Christian groups all claiming to have the true interpretation of the Christian faith, but often contradicting each other on significant points of doctrine. The non-Catholic groups have no "supreme court" to guarantee their faith. They have only their own opinions based upon what they believe was the Holy Spirit revealing to them the truth. But does the Holy Spirit give 30,000 different answers? No. There is but ONE baptism, and ONE faith that is the True Faith. That True Faith has been guaranteed through God's system of the Father-Leader (Prime Minister), the Pope.

God in His love for us, and in His knowledge of human weakness was not so cruel as to leave us alone with our opinions. He gave us a Pope and Magisterium, just as He had done with Moses and those in the Old Testament, so that the Faith could be guaranteed and affirmed in the face of doctrinal disagreements between people who may honestly disagree with each other.

This is the reason why the Catholic Church is the only Church on the planet that has never changed its dogma. Every denomination in existence has changed its fundamental doctrine in some way, except the Catholic Church.

For example, before 1930 all Christian denominations thought contraception was sin. Today, only the Catholic Church still believes that. We never changed with the "winds of doctrine" and fads of our times.

Some denominations have gone over the deep end with changes from that of their founders -- such as into homosexual marriages, abortion, and other abominations.

All denominations, except Catholics, have made significant changes in their doctrines over the years. Catholics have stayed true due to the Papacy that God always establishes (in both Old and New Testaments) and the charism of infallibility that guarantees the faith.

Now the formal definition of Infallibility:

From the Father Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:

Freedom from error in teaching the universal Church in matters of faith or morals. As defined by the First Vatican Council, "The Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra -- that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and teacher 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 therefore such definitions are irreformable of themselves, and not in virtue of consent of the Church" (Denzinger 3074).

The bearer of the infallibility is every lawful Pope as successor of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. But the Pope alone is infallible, not others to whom he delegates a part of his teaching authority, for example, the Roman congregations.

The object of his infallibility is his teaching of faith and morals. This means especially revealed doctrine like the Incarnation. But it also includes any nonrevealed teaching that is in any way connected with revelation.

The condition of the infallibility is that the Pope speaks ex cathedra. For this is required that:

1. he have the intention of declaring something unchangeably true; and

2. he speak as shepherd and teacher of all the faithful with the full weight of his apostolic authority, and not merely as a private theologian or even merely for the people of Rome or some particular segment of the Church of God.

The source of the infallibility is the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit, who protects the supreme teacher of the Church from error and therefore from misleading the people of God.

As a result, the ex cathedra pronouncements of the Pope are unchangeable "of themselves," that is, not because others in the Church either first instructed the Pope or agree to what he says. (Etym. Latin in-, not + fallibilis; from fallere, to deceive: infallibilis, not able to deceive, or err.)

The object of consideration must be a topic of faith and morals applicable to the whole Church and which has been taught since the beginning of the Church.

 An Infallible statement cannot invent a new doctrine, it can only definitively define a doctrine that has always been taught by the Church since the beginning, but because there is some dispute in its definition needs a "supreme court" to once-and-for-all settle the issues and declare a absolute definition.

Now Concerning Pope Honorius and Monophysitism/Monothelitism

Monothelitism was a heresy that began in the seventh century out of an attempt to conciliate the Monophysites. The Monothelites recognized the orthodox doctrine of Christ's two natures but taught that these two natures had a common will and a common activity. Thus, this notion, too, contradicted the historic teaching of the Church that Christ.

This simple Chart may help:

Catholic doctrine:

Christ was one person with with natures (human and divine) and two wills (human and divine).

Monophysites:

Christ was one person with one nature. His humanity being totally absorbed in his divinity.

Monothelites:

Christ was one person with two natures, but one single will.

The Catholic Doctrine had always been held, and thus Monothelitism represented a departure of the faith.

Pope Honorius did not embrace Monothelitism. He was, however, negligent in defending the Faith. The 6th Ecumenical Council signed off on a condemnation of Honorius in haste and with reflecting on the actual evidence. The whole account is rather complicated but Warren H. Carroll, in his most definitive History of Christianity, Vol. 2, "The Building of Christendom" summarizes the case:

Everything we know and can conclude about the thought and actions of Pope St. Leo II regarding the decrees of the Sixth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in 680 and 681 must be drawn from his five extant letters...

Pope Leo II wrote that Pope Honorius was condemned because "he permitted the immaculate faith to be subverted"... that Honorius was condemned for negligence in not denouncing heresy, and for using an expression which the heretics were able to employ to advance their cause, thereby allowing the Faith to be stained....

Despite all of this, the fact remains that no decree of a council has effect in the Catholic Church unless and until it is confirmed by the reigning Pope, and only in the form that he confirms it....Pope Honorius, therefore, was never condemned for heresy by the supreme Church authority, but only for negligence allowing a heresy to spread and grow, when he should have denounced it...

What all this means is that Pope Honorius did not do his job properly to protect the Faith, but that he did NOT propose heresy.

In any event, Pope Honorius did not make any declarations that constituted infallibility about monothelitism. If he had tried, God would have intervened like He did with Pope Vigilius. And if Pope Honorius ignored those inspirations to change his mind and tried to go ahead officially declaring a heresy, God would have probably struck him dead.

However God would have handle it, God would NEVER allow an infallible statement to be heretical. That is impossible. I know that because God is not a liar.

God bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary