When the First Vatican Council met from 1869-1870 one of the subjects that became a dogmatic teaching was the infallibility of the Pope. That means the Pope can not make a mistake and he is perfect. One German priest didn’t buy into that named Ignatius von Döllinger who said, “As a Christian, as a theologian, as a historian, as a citizen I cannot accept this dogma” in a letter to his archbishop on March 28, 1871. He was excommunicated two years later and then became a leading organizer of other bishops and priests who left the faith because of this decree.
