Was Papal Infallibility Taught by the Early Church?

Papal Infallibility means that the Pope can't make big mistakes when he's talking about important religious things.

Imagine you have a favorite teacher who always knows the right answer, even on really hard questions. That’s kind of like papal infallibility, it means the Pope is seen as someone who can’t make big mistakes when he speaks about important church beliefs.

The early church was like a big group of friends learning together. They didn't have the idea of papal infallibility yet, it came later, like when they started using a new game rule that everyone agreed on.

At first, people thought the Pope was very wise, but they didn’t say he never makes mistakes. It’s like saying your teacher is really smart, but not that they can't ever get a question wrong.

So, papal infallibility wasn’t taught by the early church, it came along later as people started to believe more strongly in the Pope’s role.