Canon
1323 (1917 Code of Canon Law):
English:
§ 1. All of those things are to be believed with a divine
and Catholic faith that are contained in the written word of God or in
tradition and that the Church proposes as worthy of belief, as divinely
revealed, whether by solemn judgment or by her ordinary and universal
magisterium.
§ 2. It belongs to an Ecumenical Council or to the Roman
Pontiff speaking from the chair to pronounce solemnly this sort of judgment.
§ 3. A thing is not understood as dogmatically defined or
declared unless this is manifestly established. (The 1917 or
Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law: In English Translation with Extensive Scholarly
Apparatus [trans. Edward N. Peters; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001],
445-46)
Latin:
§ 1. Fide divina et catholica ea omnia credenda sunt quae
verbo Dei scripto vel tradito continentur et ab Ecclesia sive sollemni iudicio
sive ordinario et universali magisterio tanquam divinitus revelata credenda
proponuntur.
§ 2. Sollemne huiusmodi iudicium pronuntiare proprium est
tum Oecumenici Concilii tum Romani Pontificis ex cathedra loquentis.
§ 3. Declarata seu definita dogmatice res nulla
intelligitur, nisi id manifeste constiterit. (Benedicti Papae XV and PII X
Pontificis Maximi, Codex Iuris Canonici [Neo-Eboraci: P. J. Kenedy &
Sons, 1918], 383–84)
Canons
749-750 (1983 Code of Canon Law):
English:
can.
749
§1.† By virtue of his office, the Supreme Pontiff possesses infallibility in teaching
when as the supreme pastor and teacher of all the Christian faithful, who
strengthens his brothers and sisters in the faith, he proclaims by definitive
act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held.
§2.† The college of bishops also possesses infallibility
in teaching when the bishops gathered together in an ecumenical council
exercise the magisterium as teachers and judges of faith and morals who declare
for the universal Church that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held
definitively; or when dispersed throughout the world but preserving the bond of
communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter and teaching
authentically together with the Roman Pontiff matters of faith or morals, they
agree that a particular proposition is to be held definitively.
§3.† No doctrine is understood as defined infallibly
unless this is manifestly evident.
can.
750
§1.† A person must believe with divine and Catholic faith all those things
contained in the word of God, written or handed on, that is, in the one deposit
of faith entrusted to the Church, and at the same time proposed as divinely
revealed either by the solemn magisterium of the Church or by its ordinary and
universal magisterium which is manifested by the common adherence of the
Christian faithful under the leadership of the sacred magisterium; therefore
all are bound to avoid any doctrines whatsoever contrary to them.
§2. Each and every thing which is proposed definitively
by the magisterium of the Church concerning the doctrine of faith and morals,
that is, each and every thing which is required to safeguard reverently and to
expound faithfully the same deposit of faith, is also to be firmly embraced and
retained; therefore, one who rejects those propositions which are to be held
definitively is opposed to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. (Code
of Canon Law: New English Translation [Washington, D. C.: Canon Law Society
of America, 1998], 245-47)
Latin:
can.
749
§ 1. Infallibiitate in magisterio, vi muneris sui gaudet Summus Pontifex quando
ut supremus omnium christifidelium Pastor et Doctor, cuius est fratres suos in
fide confirmare, doctrinam de fide vel de moribus tenendam definitivo actus
proclamat.
§ 2. Infallibiitate in magisterio pollet quoque Collegium
Episcoporum quando magisterium exercent Episcopi in Concilio Oecumenico
coadunati, qui, ut fidei et morum doctores et iudices, pro universa Ecclesia
doctrinam de fide vel de moribus definitive tenendam declarant aut quando per
orbem dispersi, communionis nexum inter se et cum Petri successore servantes,
una cum eodem Romano Pontifice authentice res fidei vel morum docentes, in unam
sententiam tamquam definitive tenendam conveniunt.
§ 3. Infallibiliter definita nulla intellegitur doctrina,
nisi id manifesto constiterit.
can.
750
§ 1. Fide divina et catholica ea omnia credenda sunt quae verbo Dei scripto vel
tradito, uno scilicet fidei deposito Ecclesiae commisso, continentur, et
insimul ut divinitus revelata proponuntur sive ab Ecclesiae magisterio
sollemni, sive ab eius magisterio ordinario et universali, quod quidem communi
adhaesione christifidelium sub ductu sacri magisterii manifestatur; tenentur
igitur omnes quascumque devitare doctrinas iisdem contrarias.
§ 2. Firmiter etiam amplectenda ac retinenda sunt omnia
et singula quae circa doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab Ecclesiae magisterio
definitive proponuntur, scilicet quae ad idem fidei depositum sancte
custodiendum et fideliter exponendum requiruntur; ideoque doctrinae Ecclesiae
catholicae adversatur qui easdem propositiones definitive tenendas recusat. (Codex
Iuris Canonici [Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1989], Logos ed.)
On the Eastern Rite
Churches, see Code
of Canons of the Eastern Churches on the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff.
Elsewhere, in Tuas libenter
(December 21, 1863), Pope Pius IX taught the following concerning the authority
of the universal ordinary magisterium and the consensus of theologians:
1680
[DS 2876] Nor, are We ignorant that in Germany also there
prevailed a false opinion against the old school, and against the teaching of
those supreme doctors [see n. 1713], whom the universal Church venerates
because of their admirable wisdom and sanctity of life. By this false opinion
the authority of the Church itself is called into danger, especially since the
Church, not only through so many continuous centuries has permitted that
theological science be cultivated according to the method and the principles of
these same Doctors, sanctioned by the common consent of all Catholic schools,
but it (the Church) also very often extolled their theological doctrine with
the highest praises, and strongly recommended it as a very strong buttress of
faith and a formidable armory against its enemies.…
1681
[DS 2877] Indeed, since all the men of this assembly, as you
write, have asserted that the progress of science and its happy result in
avoiding and refuting the errors of our most wretched age depend entirely on a
close adherence to revealed truths which the Catholic Church teaches, they
themselves have recognized and professed that truth, which true Catholics
devoted to cultivating and setting forth knowledge, have always held and handed
down. And so, relying on this truth, these wise and truly Catholic men could cultivate
these sciences in safety, explain them, and make them useful and certain. And
this could not be achieved if the light of human reason, circumscribed by
limits in investigating those truths also which it can attain by its own powers
and faculties, did not venerate above all, as is just, the infallible and
uncreated light of the divine intellect which shines forth wonderfully
everywhere in Christian revelation. For, although those natural disciplines
rely on their own proper principles, apprehended by reason, nevertheless,
Catholic students of these disciplines should have divine revelation before
their eyes as a guiding star, by whose light they may guard against the
quicksands of errors, when they discover that in their investigations and
interpretations they can be led by them (natural principles)—as often
happens—to profess those things which are more or less opposed to the
infallible truth of things which have been revealed by God.
1682
[DS 2878] Hence, We do not doubt that the men of this assembly,
knowing and professing the truth mentioned above, have wished at one and the
same time clearly to reject and repudiate that recent and preposterous method
of philosophizing which, even if it admits divine revelation as an historical
fact, nevertheless, submits the ineffable truths made known by divine
revelation to the investigations of human reason; just as if those truths had
been subject to reason, or, as if reason, by its own powers and principles, could
attain understanding and knowledge of all the supernal truths and mysteries of
our holy faith, which are so far above human reason that it can never be made
fit to understand or demonstrate them by its own powers, and on its own natural
principles [see n. 1709]. Indeed, We honor with due praise the men of this same
convention because, rejecting, as We think, the false distinction between
philosopher and philosophy, about which We have spoken in our other letter to
you [see n. 1674], they have realized and professed that all Catholics in their
learned interpretations should in conscience obey the dogmatic decrees of the
infallible Catholic Church.
1683
[DS 2879] While, in truth, We laud these men with due praise
because they professed the truth which necessarily arises from their obligation
to the Catholic faith, We wish to persuade Ourselves that they did not wish to
confine the obligation, by which Catholic teachers and writers are absolutely
bound, only to those decrees which are set forth by the infallible judgment of
the Church as dogmas of faith to be believed by all [see n. 1722]. And We
persuade Ourselves, also, that they did not wish to declare that that perfect
adhesion to revealed truths, which they recognized as absolutely necessary to
attain true progress in the sciences and to refute errors, could be obtained if
faith and obedience were given only to the dogmas expressly defined by the
Church. For, even if it were a matter concerning that subjection which is to be
manifested by an act of divine faith, nevertheless, it would not have to be
limited to those matters which have been defined by express decrees of the
ecumenical Councils, or of the Roman Pontiffs and of this See, but would have
to be extended also to those matters which are handed down as divinely revealed
by the ordinary teaching power of the whole Church spread throughout the world,
and therefore, by universal and common consent are held by Catholic theologians
to belong to faith.
1684
[DS 2880] But, since it is a matter of that subjection by which in
conscience all those Catholics are bound who work in the speculative sciences,
in order that they may bring new advantages to the Church by their writings, on
that account, then, the men of that same convention should recognize that it is
not sufficient for learned Catholics to accept and revere the aforesaid dogmas
of the Church, but that it is also necessary to subject themselves to the
decisions pertaining to doctrine which are issued by the Pontifical
Congregations, and also to those forms of doctrine which are held by the common
and constant consent of Catholics as theological truths and conclusions, so
certain that opinions opposed to these same forms of doctrine, although they
cannot be called heretical, nevertheless deserve some theological censure. (Henry
Denzinger and Karl Rahner, The Sources of Catholic Dogma [trans. Roy J.
Deferrari; St. Louis, Miss.: B. Herder Book Co., 1954], 426-28)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift
card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift
Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
