The Fallibility of the Ordinary Magisterium

Seventeenth-century engraving of Pope John XXII

THE FALLIBILITY OF THE ORDINARY MAGISTERIUM

…The Magisterium can only be exercised by the Bishops and the Pope. Individual Bishops, other than the Pope, can only exercise the Magisterium non-infallibly.

…The Magisterium teaches infallibly only under certain conditions; whenever those conditions are lacking, the teaching is non-infallible.

…The Magisterium is limited to teaching the truths found, explicitly or implicitly, in the Deposit of Faith (Tradition and Scripture). Nothing outside of the Deposit of Faith can be taught by the Magisterium, even under the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium.

…Any requirement to adhere to the non-infallible teachings of the Ordinary Magisterium must always necessarily have significant limitations in the type and degree of assent, and must always necessarily permit the possibility of limited faithful dissent. For the non-infallible teachings admit a limited possibility of error, but belief in error is never required by Christ.

…Terminology

…the Magisterium, can be divided into two types: the infallible Sacred Magisterium and the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium. The term ‘the ordinary and universal Magisterium’ is actually a function of the infallible Sacred Magisterium, not the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium. …Whenever the Church teaches infallibly, the teaching falls under the Sacred Magisterium. Whenever the Church teaches non-infallibly, the teaching falls under the Ordinary Magisterium.

…All non-infallible teachings allow for a limited possibility of error.

…The Usefulness of Fallibility

…In truth, it is very beneficial to the faithful that the Magisterium is not infallible in all that it teaches. This lack of complete certainty about every question of faith or morals makes some Catholics nervous. But it is important to the Faith to have unanswered questions or questions with more than one possible answer. This lack of certainty permits differing points of view to develop, and when mature, to contribute to the development of doctrine and to the spiritual life of the faithful.

…happily, the Ordinary Magisterium is non-infallible and can, on occasion, teach something that is in error. Now for such errors to be beneficial to the faithful, the faithful must be able to discuss these errors and so arrive at a more profound understanding of the unfathomable truths of God.

…When Does the Ordinary Magisterium Err?

The Ordinary Magisterium can be exercised by any individual Bishop, or even by the Pope when he teaches non-infallibly. There are many Bishops in the world today. By mere observation it is clear that the teachings of some individual Bishops – teachings that these few Bishops claim are the teaching of Christ – are in fundamental conflict with the teaching of the main body of Bishops and of the Pope, and of the Church throughout its history. Thus it is clear that the Ordinary Magisterium, especially in the case of individual Bishops, can and does err.

…The Limits of Papal Infallibility

…papal infallibility does not apply to every teaching of the Pope, but only to his teachings as leader and teacher of the entire Church on earth. His teachings to a small group, such as to Bishops during an ‘ad limina’ visit are non-infallible. His teachings during sermons, unless the sermon is to the whole world, is not infallible.

…Is it the Teaching of the Magisterium?

In order for a teaching to qualify as a teaching of the Magisterium, it must have been taught by at least one validly ordained Bishop of the Catholic Church. No matter how many laypersons, theologians, religious, deacons, or priests teach an idea, it is not a teaching of the Magisterium unless it has been taught by a Bishop or the Pope.

…The Limits of the Fallible Ordinary Magisterium

…Any individual Bishop, or group of local Bishops, can exercise the fallible Ordinary Magisterium. The Cardinals of the Holy See, and the other Cardinals dispersed through the world, teach under the Ordinary Magisterium. Even the Pope can and does teach from the fallible Ordinary Magisterium, when he is not teaching under any of the three types of infallibility. Priests, deacons, religious, and members of the faithful, including lay theologians, do not and cannot exercise even the fallible Ordinary Magisterium.

Since each and every Bishop worldwide can teach under the Ordinary Magisterium, their teaching on various points of doctrine does not always agree. This variation in the teaching of doctrine by the Bishops occurs because so many Bishops are teaching and each is teaching non-infallibly under the Ordinary Magisterium. This variation in the teachings of individual Bishops has the advantage of allowing the faithful to consider various ideas within the Faith. And it has the disadvantage of causing some confusion on important points of doctrine among the faithful.

…The Magisterium has many teachings which are taught non-infallibly, and some of those teachings are in error, but the errors are limited in scope, pertaining only to certain specific points of doctrine about which the Fathers, Doctors, and Saints of the Church may have disagreed or held some uncertainty or which they did not discuss. In general, the ordinary teachings of the Magisterium are reliable and trustworthy, despite being non-infallible. The vast majority of non-infallible teachings of the Magisterium are also true teachings.

The Ordinary Magisterium is limited in that it cannot teach infallibly. Therefore, its teaching contains some errors and falsehoods. Thus another limit necessarily results: the degree and type of assent, which the faithful owe to a teaching, is significantly different for the Ordinary Magisterium than for the Sacred Magisterium.

…No one is ever required, by the Catholic Faith or by God Himself, to believe any falsehood, to reject any truth, or to adhere to any distortion of doctrine. God cannot require this, for it would contradict His very Nature: God is Truth. The Pope and all the Bishops put together cannot require this, for their authority comes from God.

Now some Bishops or Popes may, at times, state that the faithful are required to believe a particular teaching, but if that teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium is in error, no one is required to believe it.

…Therefore, all of the fallible teachings of the Ordinary Magisterium require a different type of assent: not the full assent of faith, but rather a religious submission of the intellect and will. When a member of the faithful does not understand a teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium to be in error, based on a higher principle from Tradition, Scripture, Magisterium, then it must be believed.

…Now some would require essentially the same assent for ordinary teachings as for infallible teachings. They use different terminology to refer to the two types of assent, but within their descriptions of these two types of assent, there is no practical difference. This approach is incorrect. The Magisterium itself teaches that there are truly two types of assent required. To interpret this teaching in such a way that the differences are negligible or irrelevant is to nullify a teaching of the Magisterium. The type of assent given to ordinary teachings must necessarily be significantly different in degree and type from that required of infallible teachings. For some ordinary teachings of the Magisterium are in error, and will fall away from the teaching of the Magisterium, and were never truly part of the teaching of the Church itself.

…faithful dissent is the duty of every faithful member of the Church. Faithful dissent does not include rejecting any of the truths of Tradition or Scripture, nor can it include ideas which undermine or nullify or ignore the force and meaning of those truths. Faithful dissent does not include rejecting any of the truths of the infallible Sacred Magisterium, nor does it include ideas which undermine or nullify or ignore the force and meaning of those truths. Faithful dissent cannot broadly reject the teachings of the fallible Ordinary Magisterium.

What can faithful dissent do? The faithful can argue against particular teachings of the Ordinary Magisterium, when that argument is based on Tradition, or Scripture, or other teachings of the Magisterium. The faithful can choose to adhere to the teachings of Tradition, Scripture, Magisterium over a particular fallible teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium. Now this most often occurs when one individual Bishop, or perhaps a group of local Bishops, has a teaching that is contrary to the teaching of the universal Church. Occasionally, it may happen that a Pope…teaches non-infallibly and incorrectly. Even then, any faithful Catholic can dissent from a non-infallible teaching as long as the reason for dissent is based on Tradition, Scripture, Magisterium.

Faithful dissent cannot be based on reason alone, for reason is damaged by original sin and by personal sin. Nor can it be based on the ideas of modern secular sinful society (like most unfaithful dissent). Faithful dissent must be based on a more authoritative teaching from infallible Sacred Tradition, or infallible Sacred Scripture, or infallible Sacred Magisterium, or even a more authoritative teaching of Ordinary Magisterium.

…Faithful dissent must also include the understanding that the dissenting Catholic is fallible and may need to amend or retract his or her dissent. The teaching of God contains truths beyond the full reach of the human mind and soul, therefore, any faithful Catholic, dissenting piously from an ordinary teaching, could be in error through a misunderstanding of the mysteries and infinite truths of God.

…Only when a Bishop or Pope asserts that a truth is found in Tradition or Scripture, at least implicitly, can an idea be considered a teaching of the Magisterium. Now this assertion can be implied, as when a Bishop or Pope states or implies that an idea is of Christ, or is part of the Faith, or any such similar statement. If a Bishop or Pope merely mentions an idea, even if he asserts it as true, such is not sufficient to make that mention a teaching of the Magisterium.

…by Ronald L. Conte Jr.

March 3, 2006

http://www.catholicplanet.com/TSM/limits-magisterium.htm

 

—Ronald L. Conte Jr., “The Limits of the Magisterium,” Catholic Planet, March 3, 2006

 

The author discusses extensively, necessarily, a highly nuanced subject.

The fallibility of the Ordinary Magisterium is illustrated in the case of Pope John XXII’s teaching on the beatific vision after death.

POPE JOHN XXII AND THE BEATIFIC VISION

In the last years of John's pontificate there arose a dogmatic conflict about the Beatific Vision…. Before his elevation to the Holy See, he had written a work on this question, in which he stated that the souls of the blessed departed do not see God until after the Last Judgment. After becoming pope, he advanced the same teaching in his sermons. [NOTE: A papal homily is an exercise of the Ordinary Magisterium.] In this he met with strong opposition, many theologians, who adhered to the usual opinion that the blessed departed did see God before the Resurrection of the Body and the Last Judgment, even calling his view heretical. A great commotion was aroused in the University of Paris when the General of the Minorites and a Dominican tried to disseminate there the pope's view. Pope John wrote to King Philip IV on the matter (November, 1333), and emphasized the fact that, as long as the Holy See had not given a decision, the theologians enjoyed perfect freedom in this matter. In December, 1333, the theologians at Paris, after a consultation on the question, decided in favour of the doctrine that the souls of the blessed departed saw God immediately after death or after their complete purification; at the same time they pointed out that the pope had given no decision on this question but only advanced his personal opinion, and now petitioned the pope to confirm their decision. John appointed a commission at Avignon to study the writings of the Fathers, and to discuss further the disputed question. In a consistory held on 3 January, 1334, the pope explicitly declared that he had never meant to teach aught contrary to Holy Scripture or the rule of faith and in fact had not intended to give any decision whatever. Before his death he withdrew his former opinion, and declared his belief that souls separated from their bodies enjoyed in heaven the Beatific Vision.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08431a.htm

 

—Johann Peter Kirsch, “Pope John XXII,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910)  

Only parts of the Magisterium are infallible, and if we were to take into account the entire Magisterium in this respect, only a small proportion.