If the Holy Spirit protects the pope from teaching error, why are ambiguous statements allowed?
Ambiguity is allowed only because it is unavoidable. In a certain deep sense, all teachings of any kind are necessarily ambiguous. A prime example of this would be the Apostle’s creed. One does not gain from a reading of it a clear answer to such questions regarding the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Sacramental Priesthood, the Primacy of Peter, or even the routine authority of a bishop. The creed is ambiguous regarding these doctrines simply because they are not mentioned in it at all. Nevertheless, that ambiguity is precisely why so many of the more “high church” Protestants can recite that creed without a qualm despite their rejection of the above mentioned doctrines. At the opposite extreme would be the case where a doctrinal or moral question is being asked throughout the Church, with factions arguing for different answers, and where the pope speaks about the question in a manner which pretends to address the question while failing to do so. The Church in the days o
