What to Make of the Ongoing Preoccupation With Synodality, by Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Nov 26, 2024

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org

The “ordinary magisterium” of the Church is a rather flexible and capacious entity. It includes all official ecclesiastical texts which have been formally approved by the Pope. On the other hand, the ordinary magisterium, while requiring obedience, does not rise to the level of infallibility. That requires a more solemn declaration in which the Pope specifies that he is (a) teaching (b) on a matter of faith or morals (c) to the whole Church (d) by virtue of his Petrine authority. Nonetheless, it is presumed (despite being a matter of degree) that a teaching on faith and morals is infallible if it has been taught repeatedly over time by the ordinary magisterium.

This brief overview suggests the caution with which we must respond to something as capacious and procedural as the Final Document of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. While available in Italian, the text is not yet officially available in English (though some provisional translations have been posted by non-authoritative sources). …

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