ex cathedra

Latin for “from the chair,” in reference to the chair or throne of a bishop that sits near the altar of his principal church (known as a cathedral). It is from this chair that bishops in the early church would issue solemn teachings or decisions. In modern times the phrase is generally confined to papal pronouncements of the highest authority. Thus the term ex cathedra is in practice used in the same context as papal infallibility and faces the same high threshold of application. Used by itself, the noun cathedra can refer to the bishop’s throne in any cathedral. See papal infallibility.