On this blog, I have previously addressed a concerning error regarding the extent of the protection against error afforded the Pope by the Holy Spirit in his non-infallible ordinary magisterium, which has been promoted by a small coterie of theologians based on an idiosyncratic understanding of the First Vatican Council. While these misguided efforts had … Continue reading A Misidentified Dogma – Misadventures in Peer Review

The concept of Synodality, especially as the next gathering of the Synod of Bishops fast approaches, can sometimes feel like it presages dramatic and unprecedented changes to the Church. Pope Francis has over recent years spoken of Synodality as a “constitutive element of the Church”, said with St John Chrysostom that the “Church and Synod … Continue reading St. Robert Bellarmine on Synodality

In an era of misinformation and false news, where errors commonly go viral on social media but their corrections almost never do, seeking to combat distortions of the truth can seem a Sisyphean task. However when such misrepresentations occur in published books, which have some pretentions to scholarly creditability, it may still be a worthwhile … Continue reading Bad Arguments for a Good Cause – Sloppy Scholarship in Support of Amoris Laetitia

A constant topic of discussion within the Church, is the development of doctrine, and how it may or may not apply to the various matters of controversy ongoing at any given time. But what is less discussed, despite being more foundational and perhaps important, is what actually is the Catholic doctrine on the development of … Continue reading The Catholic Doctrine on the Development of Doctrine

Over recent years, the extent of the protection against error afforded the Pope by the Holy Spirit in his non-infallible ordinary magisterium has been a matter of controversy, with contributions made from a number of perspectives. In this debate I have numbered myself amongst those arguing for a more rather than less expansive understanding of … Continue reading Friends Don’t Let Friends Accidentally Dogmatize the Extreme Opinion of Albert Pighius

Critics of Pope Francis, and his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, have often complained that his teaching on the divorced and remarried contradicts the Council of Trent (Session 6, Canon 18): “If any one saith, that the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him … Continue reading Gaudete et Exsultate – Impossibility and the Divine Law

“An invalid marriage is generally a matter of public record, but it may not be a matter of public knowledge. The very mention of the word "public" brings up the familiar discussion on whether the norm of canon 1037 or 2197 should be applied. Scandal arises not from records in archives, but from the knowledge … Continue reading Amoris Laetitia and the 1917 Code of Canon Law

1. THE BACKGROUND[1] Dr Gerhard Höver, a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy of Life since 25 July 2017[2], recently published an article called “Time is greater than space”: Moral-theological reflections on the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation[3]. This article, which has elicited some negative public commentary, argues in the words of its abstract that based on … Continue reading Time is Greater than Space – A Review of Gerhard Höver

The ability of Pope Francis to alter the sacramental discipline of the Church in relation to the divorced and remarried is sometimes defended on the basis that, in the details of its application, this discipline has been subject to alteration before Amoris Laetitia. A valid example which can be given in favour of this argument … Continue reading History of the Brother and Sister Solution

It has sometimes been said, rightly or wrongly I don’t know, that the Reformation could be understood in a sense as an argument between different aspects drawn from the thought of St Augustine of Hippo. Whatever the truth of that assertion, I think it may be possible to similarly think of the arguments regarding Holy … Continue reading Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1991 Tablet Correspondence