Are Catholics required to blindly believe everything the Pope says? The short answer is no. The longer answer can be found below.
The Pope (AKA: Holy Father, his Holiness, Papa, Vicar of Christ, Pontifex, and Servant of the Servants of God) does represent Christ on earth; however, he is only speaking for Christ in very specific situations. All priests by virtue of receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders become Christ and speak on His behalf whenever we celebrate one of the seven Sacraments. It’s never Fr. Dom celebrating Holy Mass, it is Jesus Christ offering the Sacrifice of the Mass using Fr. Dom as His instrument. The same is true with the Pope, in certain situations the Pope speaks for Christ like when he celebrates any of the seven Sacraments and for bishops when they speak ex cathedra (from their chair). At the end of the day the Pope is the Bishop of Rome, he is the first among equals when it comes to the Episcopacy (all bishops). Every bishop has a Cathedral which is where the bishop’s cathedra (chair) is. If you were to go to Holy Mass at Holy Name Cathedral downtown and Cardinal Cupich was not celebrating the Mass, the priest celebrating would NOT be sitting in the big chair because that’s the Cardinals cathedra (chair).
The Pope is obligated and entrusted with only speaking truth from his cathedra (because the Pope is the supreme teacher of the faith) and when that happens we, as faithful disciples of Jesus, take what the Pope says very seriously. This happens rarely outside of homilies (homilies by the Pope are not to be taken as infallible; however, the Pope should never preach heresy). The last time a Pope said something new ex cathedra that we’re obliged to believe as a dogma of the faith was in 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared it an official teaching of the Church that Our Lady was Assumed into heaven body and soul.
Why do we believe the Pope is infallible when it’s so rare to be used? If there is a development of doctrine or a correction needed, we need an official “yes” or “no” to those needs. For example, it was believed for centuriesthat Mary was assumed into heaven, but after centuries of debate, prayer, and study, the Holy Father discerned to make it official by proclaiming the truth ex cathedra. There was to be no more debate or confusion on the matter. When there’s questions about Tradition or the Scriptures, we need someone to correct and state what is true or false in those questions like in 1994 when St. Pope John Paul II stated, “the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the church’s faithful.” (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, May 22, 1994) This was not a new teaching, rather it was a correction to a question and heresy that was being promoted by small groups within the universal Church (remember, the Church is larger than the United States).
All that being said, the Holy Father is also a human being that is free to have personal opinions. The late great Pope Benedict XVI was a first-class theologian who published many books, even while he was Pope. To help clear confusion between his theological opinions and the Papacy, he would publish all his books under his baptismal name, Joseph Ratzinger. Not too long ago in one of his books, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, Pope Benedict XVI shared how certain animals that are popular in our Nativity Scenes probably weren’t present at the birth of Jesus. I remember the news media going crazy saying stupid stuff like “Catholics can no longer believe animals were present at the birth of Jesus.” This is why it’s important you know how to answer these questions! Pope Benedict didn’t write that book ex cathedra, he wrote it as Joseph Ratzinger sharing a theological opinion. Pope Francis has certainly made statements in press conferences and homilies that have been unclear and confusing, but in those situations he is not speaking ex cathedra, he’s a bishop sharing an opinion. Thankfully the Church does not change on the whims of opinions, we stay strongly rooted in the truth that Jesus Christ is God and that He is risen from the dead.
Do we have to blindly believe everything the Pope says? No. I hope you feel more confident in answering this question next time it comes up.