The Church teaches that interpretation of the Bible must be done within “the living Tradition of the whole Church”. According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and…
Quoth the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: Those who proclaim themselves to be the sole measure of realities and of truth cannot live peacefully in society with their fellow men and cooperate with them. (CSDC §142) Truth…
Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty. [Caritatis in Veritate §21] It seems to me that Pope Benedict…
This is the third post in my series drawn from Pope Benedict XVI’s final encyclical, Caritatis in Veritate. As I mentioned before this is my favorite of Benedict’s encyclicals, and if we are willing to learn I believe that he…
When I was a Protestant I was regularly frustrated by the fact that publishing houses and other non-ecclesial bodies had effectively assumed stewardship of the Bible. Publishers own copyrights on various translations, and Bible societies do the same. I was…
The CCC explicitly declares who its audience is, and perhaps it will seem a bit surprising: “This work is intended primarily for those responsible for catechesis: first of all the bishops, as teachers of the faith and pastors of the…
I have seen some folks suggest that Magisterial infallibility is unnecessary, because we do not need whatever certainty that this charism affords us. The upshot, apparently, is that it’s okay to have a measure of uncertainty associated with the Christian…
The Catechism makes an entirely rational declaration about biblical hermeneutics. [A]ll that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching…
In this last entry in this series (at least for now), Pope John Paul II declares that no man or institution of men has authority to violate the fundamental rights of men. In this way, moral norms, and primarily the…
Simply intending good doesn’t cause what I do to be good. The old saw about the road to hell’s pave-stones is true. In VS §72 the Pope describes what exactly constitutes my actions as good: The morality of acts is…
Aquinas, Etc. 