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Ordinary Magisterium |
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The Church as teacher – magister – hands on the doctrine of salvation to each generation. Her Magisterium, or teaching office, is exercised when, in the name of Jesus and with his presence and protection, she teaches truths that need to be believed and practiced (faith and morals) if one is to get to heaven: “Go and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:18-20); “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:15-16). The Magisterium can be “ordinary” or “extraordinary.” Both express the truth revealed by God, and so call for our response. The Magisterium is sometimes exercised through a solemn proclamation of dogma by the Pope (with or without the participation of the whole Catholic hierarchy) or by an ecumenical council. The ordinary Magisterium is that exercised by the Pope alone or by the bishops teaching in communion with him, “when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a ‘definitive manner,’ they propose . . . a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals” (CCC 892). The teaching of the ordinary Magisterium of the bishops in union with the Pope is also infallible under certain conditions (cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 25), although greater light may be cast on it in consequence of the constant prayer and theological reflection that should characterize the life of the whole Church. The conditions are: that the bishops be in communion with one another and the Pope; that they teach authoritatively on a matter of faith or morals; that they agree in one judgment; and that they propose this as something to be held definitively.
See: Infallibility; Magisterium; Pope. |
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