Infallible?

Pope's gaffes spook Vatican

Correspondents in Yaounde | March 21, 2009

Article from: The Australian

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25216429-2703,00.html

Maybe someone can help me out with this. A few days ago I read the article that said the Pope was apologizing for some of the statements and decisions he's made recently. In essence he said he "misspoke".

Perhaps I'm simply confused, but I had understood one of the precepts of the Catholic faith to be based upon the "infallibility of the Papacy". Is this incorrect? I had thought that the premise was that the Pope was a direct lineage from God, and that the Pope essentially had a "direct line" to the boss. By virtue of that "direct line" the Pope COULD NOT "misspeak" because every utterance, every word from his lips, essentially is coming directly from God, who is omnipotent and all knowing.

Is this a misunderstanding on my part?