I guess I should add that, since the Catholic Church is a political organization, "papal infallibility," in my opinion, i.e., the idea of respecting the the pope's final authority on matters of doctrine during his tenure, isn't really all that different from the social contract we make to respect the authority of a fairly elected political leader (like George Bush... the second time around) with whom we may disagree.

Of course since Byzantine history is something we don't learn either, we also don't realize that papal infallibility originated not so much in response to things happening in the West (the Pope wanting to be like a king, or whatever) but in response to what was happening in the East, where the lack of centralization in the Byzantine church made either doctrinal innovation or clerical challenge of the emperor's supposed religious authority practically impossible...