How can Roman Catholic "consensus fidelium" provide genuine assurance of infallibility in situations where anathema is pronounced?
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I created an account just to answer this, because although I may not be a Catholic, but I see that you've raised such a critical question. In essence, I believe your question can be posed as:
"How can a doctrine be considered the absolute truth if people only accept it to avoid being condemned by the church?"
If you're looking for a lengthy, comprehensive answer about the exposition of the Catholic dogma and the technicalities for its infallibility, this wouldn't be it. But if you want to hear an honest answer from a fellow Christian, I'll be giving one.
If your intention is to see that the Catholic church does not condemn a believer for refusing to accept the perpetual virginity of Mary, then yes, I do support your view. Would Jesus kick you out and condemn you for believing that His earthly mother is not a virgin? Let's be frank. Would Jesus be offended just because you only believe that Mary was a virgin at the time of His birth, and not thereafter? If you firmly believe that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, born of the virgin Mary, and you repent of your sins to God every day, wouldn't that be of greatest importance? Would your belief against the perpetual virginity of Mary really affect your faith in Jesus and what He can do in your life?
In all honesty, again if you want to hear what a fellow Christian has to say, doctrines such as the perpetual virginity of Mary are not what a church should be putting energy into debating about. The Church of Jesus Christ was placed in this world to serve one and only one purpose: to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all who has ears to hear. And as Jesus Himself said, “…this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24). Isn't this what every Christian should focus on? Shouldn't we orient our entire lives to wholeheartedly serve that purpose -- to find that one lost sheep?
We must not create more division among our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Christianity is the most divisive religion in the world with tens of thousands of denominations. One may say that the anathema set by the Catholic church was done for the purpose of uniting the church, but nonetheless it has done the exact opposite. It has created "dissident" Christians and caused many to question the governance of the Catholic church who are putting Jesus Christ in a bad light, portraying Him to be petty, oversensitive, and almost vindictive.
Forgive me if I sound a little too blunt but that's just how I have to get my message across. It's time to stop restricting ourselves to the trees and start looking at the forest.
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