Three mistakes within five minutes on the BBC lunchtime news today.

An EU spokesman excused the EU Commission’s mistake in triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol last Friday by saying that “only the pope is infallible”. This is the first mistake. He is not infallible.

The BBC newsreader carried on the theme and asked the BBC European correspondent: “He is – and are they?” The second mistake. The BBC newsreader has the same mistaken idea as the EU spokesman that the Roman Catholic pope in Rome is infallible.

The third mistake? Why does the BBC newsreader use his position as a newsreader to pronounce this false doctrine? Multitudes of Roman Catholics know that their pope is not infallible.

The background to the story was the EU’s disagreement with AstraZeneca about the export of the EU’s coronavirus vaccine supply to Northern Ireland. This led to the EU triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol last Friday, raising tensions by creating a border on the island.

This was dangerous as well as foolish and the EU Commission held fire. In ‘explanation’ the EU spokesman used the excuse that “only the pope is infallible”. If only it was as easy as this to excuse oneself, but one mistake cannot cover for another.

It is time to educate people once more, especially as the BBC website does not draw attention to it.

Links:

7 Aug 2013: Pope Francis’ defective theology.

26 Feb 2018: Donald Trump’s poor theology along with a list of other people’s poor theology.