By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — The Catholic Church has come down through the centuries since it was established by Jesus while social settings and conditions changed significantly.
A thousand years ago, Catholics living at a distance from Rome may not even have known who the current Pope was, at least for a while. Today Pope Francis may hold a news conference aboard a jetliner miles above the Earth and words he said have been transmitted to news consumers around the world before he lands.
People’s reaction to reports of those words on radio, television or social media quickly may set the phones ringing at parish and diocesan offices far and wide. So it’s important to understand their context.
“I think the average Catholic believes that whenever the Pope opens his mouth, he’s speaking infallibly,” said Nicole Delaney, JCL, the director of the Tribunal for the Diocese of Phoenix. However, she said, infallible statements are rare, with only one being issued in the last 40 years.
She ran down a list of the various kinds of statements that can be issued, each with a different degree of gravity.
During his lengthy pontificate, Pope John Paul II issued only one infallible statement, Delaney said, while so far Pope Francis has issued none — although Francis added a provision to John Paul II’s statement.
In 1994, John Paul II issued the apostolic constitution Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, which said the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women.
More recently, Francis declared an automatic excommunication of women who attempt to be ordained as priests, and of those who attempt to do so to them, Delaney said.
Delaney spoke to a February 11 session of the Institute of Catholic Theology (ICT) here on the topic, “From Constitutions to Press Conferences: A Look at the Authority of Church Teachings.” The ICT is an evangelization program based at St. Thomas the Apostle Church here.
The diocesan Tribunal deals with applications of Church law, most frequently in the caseload here “parties who have petitioned for an examination of marriages for a possible declaration of nullity,” according to the Phoenix diocesan website.
The website says, “Although the diocesan bishop is the chief judge of the diocese, it is not possible for him to personally adjudicate each case. Under the direction of the judicial vicar (a priest appointed by the bishop to preside over judicial matters), a staff of priests, deacons, and laypeople who have been trained especially for such work carries out the ministry of the Tribunal.”
Delaney, a native of Minnesota, studied theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelicum, in Rome. After completing these studies, she began education in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation with her licentiate, she moved to Arizona to begin working for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Phoenix, the ICT website says.
“Not everything has the same weight in the Church,” she told the ICT session. “. . . It’s not a simple topic.”
People shouldn’t read a canon in isolation, nor a brief part of Scripture, but instead in context, she said.
The bishops don’t always intend to use their full teaching authority when they speak, she said, and each teaching and type of document must be examined in order to determine the proper response to it.
While Catholics are obligated “to maintain communion” with the Church, “There are times when intellectual curiosity is a good thing,” she said.
An infallible pronouncement by the Pope “proclaims by definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held,” she said, and “has to be clear and unambiguous.”
“Being a heretic in the Church is a crime” that can be prosecuted as such in the Church, she said, adding that heresy refers only to Catholics offending against Church teaching. It doesn’t apply to non-Catholics.
However, she said, apostasy is a complete rejection of the Christian, not only Catholic, faith.
A bishop can issue a pastoral letter to the faithful, perhaps on the Eucharist or marriage, Delaney said, but this isn’t an infallible statement.
Meanwhile, an apostolic exhortation “exhorts us to do what we already should be doing,” she said. It’s not a new teaching.
A motu proprio is “the favorite one of Pope Francis,” Delaney said. No one had asked the Pope for this; it’s his own declaration.
Catholics should respect the positions that the Lord has given these religious teachers, “and pray for them,” she said.
Give respect to the Pope, she said, but papal press conferences aren’t infallible pronouncements.
Delaney distributed what she described as an abbreviated glossary of the most common types of documents issued by the Holy See and their descriptions. Some of them are:
Apostolic constitutions (apostolicae constitutiones): solemn, formal documents on matters of highest consequence concerning doctrinal or disciplinary matters, issued by the Pope in his own name. They are published as either universal or particular law of the Church.
Apostolic exhortation (apostolica exhortatio): a papal reflection on a particular topic that does not contain dogmatic definitions or policy directives, addressed to bishops, clergy and all the faithful of the entire Catholic Church. Apostolic exhortations are not legislative documents.
Apostolic letter (apostolica epistola): a formal papal teaching document, not used for dogmatic definitions of doctrine, but to give counsel to the Church on points of doctrine that require deeper explanation in the light of particular circumstances or situations in various parts of the world.
Declaration (declamatio): may be a simple statement of the law, which must be interpreted according to the existing law; or an authoritative declaration that is retroactive and does not require further promulgation; or an extensive declaration, which modifies the law, is not retroactive and must be promulgated according to the law.
Decree (decretum): a statement involving Church law, precepts or judicial decisions on a specific matter. It is an ordinance given by one having the power of jurisdiction (such as a bishop within his particular diocese, the head of an office of the Roman Curia, or the pope), acting administratively to promote compliance with the law. A decree announces that a given document or legislative text is in effect.
Encyclical (encyclica epistola — literally, “circular letter”): a formal apostolic letter issued by the Pope usually addressed to the bishops, clergy, and faithful of the entire Church.
Instruction (instructio): explains or amplifies a document that has legislative force, such as apostolic constitutions, and states how its precepts are to be applied.
Delaney also distributed a sheet on the hierarchy of official teaching in the Church.
The teaching authority ranged across four levels, from the infallible, which is divinely revealed and must be accepted under pain of heresy, to the not-infallible such as the teaching authority of bishops, individually or in episcopal conferences.
Examples of infallible teaching, the information sheet said, include the Nicene Creed, Christological dogmas, and Marian dogmas, and the doctrine of the institution of the sacraments by Christ and their efficacy with regard to grace.
On the level of the not-infallible, which should be received with a sense of religious respect, the sheet said an example would be the pastoral letter of a diocesan bishop.
The Phoenix diocesan website says: “According to the norms of canon law, the Tribunal of the Diocese of Phoenix is the court established by the diocesan bishop in order to adjudicate cases concerning the status of persons, the violation of rights, and the imposition of penalties. The Code of Canon Law and the jurisprudence of the tribunals of the universal Church regulate the legal practice of the Tribunal.”
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