The Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. The term is derived from magister, the Latin word for teacher. Depending on the manner in which statements from the Magisterium are issued, they are either of the "Extraordinary Magisterium" or of the "Ordinary and Universal Magisterium." Further division of the Magisterium will be explained.
The selections in this section of our site are mostly excerpts from the Extraordinary Magisterium, but are not limited to it. They also include less authoritative statements from the Holy See as well as (in the future) theological treatises on the nature of the Magisterium.
The Church's Magisterium is exercised in several different modes:
1. Extraordinary Magisterium. This is always infallible, and is exercised in two distinct modes:
A. Solemn papal definitions (e.g., Bl. Pius IX's definition of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius XII's definition of the Assumption) are always infallible. This is the doctrine defined by Pastor Aeternus (Chapter 4), the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from Vatican I. Solemn papal definitions are referred to as ex cathedra definitions (from the chair [of Peter]).
B. Solemn definitions of ecumenical councils (e.g., the definition of Chalcedon that there are two natures in the one divine Person of Christ) are also infallible: "The college of bishops also possesses infallibility in teaching when the bishops gathered together in an ecumenical council exercise the magisterium as teachers and judges of faith and morals who declare for the universal Church that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held definitively. ..." 1 This infallibility is, of course, not independent of the Pope, as the ecumenical character of a council is determined by papal authority.
2. Ordinary Magisterium denotes the non-solemn use of the teaching authority of the Church. It is thus divided:
A. Ordinary and Universal Magisterium. Vatican I gave this mode of teaching an authority equal to that of solemn definitions. In other words, the faithful are as bound to believe the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium as they are the Solemn Magisterium because it is infallible. "Wherefore, by divine and catholic faith all those things are to be believed which are contained in the word of God as found in scripture and tradition, and which are proposed by the church as matters to be believed as divinely revealed, whether by her solemn judgment or in her ordinary and universal magisterium." 2 Vatican II's Lumen Gentium explained how this mode is exercised:
"...the bishops... proclaim infallibly the doctrine of Christ on the following conditions: namely, when, even though dispersed throughout the world but preserving for all that amongst themselves and with Peter's successor the bond of communion, in their authoritative teaching concerning matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement that a particular teaching is to be held definitively and absolutely." 3
Furious debates in various circles have arisen regarding the exact determinants for this category of infallible teaching. One area of contention between traditional theologians and liberals is whether the "universal" in "Ordinary and Universal" encompasses both a universality of space and time, or a universality of space only. In other words, does "universal" mean, "what was believed always, everywhere, and by everyone," (St. Vincent of Lerins) or does it mean "everywhere" only? Without a doubt, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary fall squarely in the traditional camp on this point. Catholicism is fundamentally a "traditional" religion, i.e., a Sacred Deposit entrusted by God to men and passed down through the ages.
The Fathers of the First Vatican Council certainly give us good reason to hold this position, since the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius references the famous Commonitorium of St. Vincent of Lerins: "May understanding, knowledge and wisdom increase as ages and centuries roll along, and greatly and vigorously flourish, in each and all, in the individual and the whole church: but this only in its own proper kind, that is to say, in the same doctrine, the same sense, and the same understanding."
B. Authentic Magisterium (or simply, "Ordinary Magisterium" without the "Universal"). This is the level at which most teaching is done on a day-to-day basis. This level of teaching, not guaranteed infallibility, does not merit the assensus fidei (the assent of faith), but it must be given the assensus religious (religious assent). Here is how the Code of Canon Law explains it: "Although not an assent of faith, a religious submission of the intellect and will must be given to a doctrine which the Supreme Pontiff or the college of bishops declares concerning faith or morals when they exercise the authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act; therefore, the Christian faithful are to take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it." 4
If there is serious reason to believe that what is advanced in this mode of magisterial teaching is at variance with something infallibly taught, then it is the novelty that must be set aside in favor of that which is clearly infallible. Even Vatican II's Dei Verbum says that the Magisterium is "not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it." While moral theologians speak of an "obsequious silence" that should usually be kept in such a situation, they nonetheless countenance the possibility that the faithful can be put in a position of rejecting novelties coming forth from bishops and even popes.
1 Codx Iuris Canonici (CIC), Can. 749 §2.
2 Dei Filius, Chapter 3. Cf. also Can. 750 §1, which says the same thing almost verbatim.
3 Lumen Gentium, No. 25.
See these Catholic Encyclopedia articles for more information.
Tradition and Living Magisterium
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