If the Church were to repudiate one of
its solemnly taught doctrines, this would entail that the Church has corrupted
or is now corrupting the apostolic deposit of faith, a sin indeed.
Today, however, some Catholic
theologians toss around the term “development” with little concern about
doctrinal corruption. In some circles, the term “development” has come to function
like a magician’s hat that can unproblematically contain almost anything, even
including the occasional (or constant!) rupture of solemnly taught doctrine. In
such cases, the notion of an apostolic deposit of faith has faded into the
mists, to be replaced by the notion that the Church “develops” doctrine by
changing its doctrines to promote a universal religious experience that is
expressed differently in every era. (Matthew Levering, Newman on Doctrinal
Corruption [Park Ridge, Ill.: word on Fire Academic, 2022], 2)
