The Magisterium
Who decides what the Church teaches?
Main teaching: De fide
The big question
Scripture and Tradition carry God’s revelation. But people read Scripture in very different ways, and arguments about what Tradition really says can go on for ever. Someone has to be able to say, with authority, what God has revealed. Who is that, and why should anyone trust them?
What the Church teaches
Christ gave the apostles, and the bishops who succeed them, authority to teach in his name. This teaching office is called the Magisterium, from the Latin for “teacher”. It is exercised by the Pope and by the bishops in communion with him.
The Magisterium serves the word of God; it is not above it. It teaches only what has been handed on, listens to it devoutly, guards it, and explains it faithfully (Dei Verbum 10; CCC 86).
The Church’s teaching office is protected from error when it proposes a teaching as definitively to be held. This protection is called infallibility. It belongs:
- to the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when as shepherd and teacher of all Christians he defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church (Pastor Aeternus ch. 4; DH 3074);
- to the bishops together with the Pope, whether gathered in an ecumenical council or dispersed throughout the world, when they agree in teaching a matter of faith or morals as definitively to be held (Lumen Gentium 25; CCC 891).
How sure is this? De fide. The infallibility of the Pope was defined by Vatican I (1870). That what the Church proposes as revealed, whether by solemn judgement or by her ordinary and universal teaching, is to be believed with divine and catholic faith was also defined there (Dei Filius ch. 3; DH 3011). See CCC 888–892.
Where it comes from
Scripture. Christ sends the apostles with his own authority: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16). He commands them to teach all nations and promises to be with them “always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20), a promise that reaches beyond the apostles’ own lifetimes. He promises them the Spirit of truth, who “will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).
To Peter in particular he says, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), and, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32). St Paul calls the Church “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
The early Church. St Irenaeus (died about 202) pointed to the succession of bishops from the apostles, and especially to the church of Rome, as the guarantee of true teaching against the Gnostics (Against Heresies 3.3). St Augustine (died 430) went as far as to say that he would not believe the Gospel unless the authority of the Catholic Church moved him to (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5.6).
How theologians explain it
Why a living teacher is needed. A book cannot settle a dispute about its own meaning. Christ did not leave his Church only a text; he left a body of teachers with his authority. The manuals call this the proximate rule of faith: the living Church proposing what God has revealed, measured always by the remote rule, Scripture and Tradition.
Extraordinary and ordinary teaching. The Magisterium teaches in two ways:
| How it teaches | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
| Extraordinary (solemn) | A formal definition by an ecumenical council or by the Pope ex cathedra | Nicaea on Christ’s divinity (325); the Immaculate Conception (1854) |
| Ordinary | The day-to-day teaching of the Pope and bishops in preaching, catechisms and documents | Most of what Catholics believe has never needed a formal definition |
The ordinary teaching is infallible too, when the bishops throughout the world, in communion with the Pope, agree in teaching something as definitively to be held. Much of the faith, such as the reality of the Resurrection, has always been taught this way without any special definition.
Infallibility is a protection, not an inspiration. Vatican I is careful here: the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter so that they might reveal new doctrine, but so that they might faithfully guard and explain the revelation handed down by the apostles (Pastor Aeternus ch. 4; DH 3070). Infallibility works negatively. It keeps the Church from defining something false; it does not guarantee that every statement is wise, well-timed or well-expressed.
Not every teaching has the same weight. Not everything the Magisterium teaches is infallible, but Catholics owe all of it some form of assent. Lesson 1.5 explains the three levels the Church distinguishes.
Philosophy bridge
The philosophy course’s treatment of knowledge by testimony helps here. Most of what anyone knows rests on trusted witnesses, and believing a reliable witness is fully rational. The Magisterium is the witness Christ appointed for his own teaching.
What the Church does not claim
- Not that the Pope is sinless. Infallibility concerns teaching, not personal holiness. Popes go to confession like everyone else.
- Not that everything a Pope says is infallible. Interviews, homilies, opinions on science or politics, and most documents are not ex cathedra. Only two papal definitions are universally agreed to be ex cathedra: the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).
- Not that the Pope can change the faith. He is bound by Scripture, Tradition and earlier definitions. Infallibility guards the deposit of faith; it gives no power to alter it.
- Not that bishops can teach anything they like. A bishop teaches with authority only in communion with the Pope and the rest of the bishops, and only in matters of faith and morals.
Check your understanding
- What does the word Magisterium mean, and who exercises it?
Show answer
It comes from the Latin for “teacher” and means the Church’s teaching office. It is exercised by the Pope and the bishops in communion with him.
- List the conditions for a papal ex cathedra definition.
Show answer
The Pope must speak as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, using his supreme apostolic authority, to define a doctrine of faith or morals, as something to be held by the whole Church.
- Why does Vatican I say infallibility is not a gift of new revelation?
Show answer
Because the Holy Spirit was promised to Peter’s successors so that they would faithfully guard and explain what the apostles handed down, not so that they could make known new doctrine. Revelation was completed with the apostles (Lesson 1.1).
- A classmate says, “The Pope said in an interview that he likes a certain football team, so Catholics have to support it.” What is wrong with this?
Show answer
An interview remark is not an ex cathedra definition, and a football team is not a matter of faith or morals. Infallibility applies only to definitive teaching on faith and morals.
- Explain the difference between the extraordinary and ordinary Magisterium, with an example of each.
Show answer
The extraordinary Magisterium teaches by solemn definition, through an ecumenical council or a Pope speaking ex cathedra: for example, Nicaea defining that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, or Pius IX defining the Immaculate Conception. The ordinary Magisterium is the everyday teaching of the Pope and bishops; when the bishops worldwide agree in teaching something as definitive, it too is infallible, as with the bodily resurrection of Christ.