Can the Catholic Church change any teachings?

[Holly3278]

Hey everyone. Can the Catholic Church change any teachings? I ask this because I have seen things online where it says that the Catholic Church used to consider suicide to be a sin of despair and now they don’t because of new scientific and psychological evidence. I have also seen other things where people have said that the Catholic Church has changed its teachings. So I ask, is it possible for the Catholic Church to change any of its teachings?

 

[1ke]

Hey everyone. Can the Catholic Church change any teachings?

No Holly.

I ask this because I have seen things online where it says that the Catholic Church used to consider suicide to be a sin of despair and now they don’t because of new scientific and psychological evidence.

No Holly. Suicide is grave matter and right there in the Fifth Commandment where it has always been. Yes, our understanding of mental illness has increased. But, that does not change the objectively grave nature of the act. The Church’s teaching remains the same.

As you know mortal sin requires full knowledge and free will. Psychological issues can diminish those and therefore what is objectively grave matter may or may not be subjectively a sin if a person has diminished mental capacity.

From the Catechism:

2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.

2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law. Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. the Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.

I have also seen other things where people have said that the Catholic Church has changed its teachings. So I ask, is it possible for the Catholic Church to change any of its teachings?

Of course you have, because many people are ignorant and many others have their own agenda. You should stay away from those sites.

 

[robert_chacon]

I think this is a good example of what confuses people who say the Church has changed its doctrine. Under 1ke’s posting of CCC 2283 the Church shows the constant mercy of our Lord. The teaching on suicide hasn’t changed, but I think because we do know more about suicide and mental illness, we realize that someone could commit suicide while not in their right mind. Since a grave sin requires that one recognize its gravity, and that it is in deed wrong, a person with severe depression or other mental illness may not be able to grasp that fact. This is not to say all suicides are due to this situation. So, the teaching on suicide has not changed, but with better understanding of suicide, the Church has elaborated on the sinful nature of suicide. I could be wrong about this particular issue, but if not, I think it is a good example of why will argue the Church has changed her teaching. Its easy for people to see additional information without carefully thinking it through and come to the conclusion that teaching has changed. The Catholic Church requires careful thought! It is not for those who want to simply read a passage in the bible and see a simple answer. Life is not always that simple!

If Im wrong about my explanation of the enhanced discussion by the Church regarding suicide, please correct me , anyone.

 

[Beryllos]

In a way, the church can change its teachings, as indicated in these passages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

There will be no further Revelation

66 “The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

…

Growth in understanding the faith

94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
— “through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts”; it is in particular “theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth.”
— “from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience,” the sacred Scriptures “grow with the one who reads them.”
— “from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth.”

The truth which God reveals to us is eternal, unchanging, immutable. However, our human understanding of the truth can grow and deepen.

 

[eyesopening]

In a way, the church can change its teachings, as indicated in these passages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The truth which God reveals to us is eternal, unchanging, immutable. However, our human understanding of the truth can grow and deepen.

Right. This is why it took us several hundred years to understand the Trinity, Marian Dogmas, etc. A teaching can develop but not change. For example, the Church CANNOT, in say 1900, teach that homosexuality is immoral, but then in 2000 change the teaching and begin teaching that it is moral. A dogma (like the trinity) and doctrine (like moral teachings) cannot change.

Now, there is something called a discipline. These can be changed at the discretion of church authority. A discipline is something like exercises that contribute to the spiritual development of persons. For example, priestly celibacy has long been practiced as a discipline in the Catholic Church. The Church, in other words, thinks that this is a healthy exercise for the betterment of priests. If the pope decided that it was no longer relevant, he could end priestly celibacy. (Actually he could make it optional because no one would be forcing priests to get married.)

 

[TheDoctor]

The Church does not change any of Her doctrines. What she has done and will continue to do over the centuries is further define, elaborate and explain her teachings.

It is important to keep in mind what is a doctrine (such as suicide being a grave sin) and what is a theory (like limbo) or a discipline (like the form of the Mass).

 

[wmw]

Right. This is why it took us several hundred years to understand the Trinity, Marian Dogmas, etc. A teaching can develop but not change. For example, the Church CANNOT, in say 1900, teach that homosexuality is immoral, but then in 2000 change the teaching and begin teaching that it is moral. A dogma (like the trinity) and doctrine (like moral teachings) cannot change.

Now, there is something called a discipline. These can be changed at the discretion of church authority. A discipline is something like exercises that contribute to the spiritual development of persons. For example, priestly celibacy has long been practiced as a discipline in the Catholic Church. The Church, in other words, thinks that this is a healthy exercise for the betterment of priests. If the pope decided that it was no longer relevant, he could end priestly celibacy. (Actually he could make it optional because no one would be forcing priests to get married.)

Yes, this post is what I was thinking as I read the others before it. Celibacy is a good example and has exceptions such as married converted Anglican priests that are allowed to be married Catholic priests. Yet, ordaining women priests, according to JPII, would be outside the Church’s authority to change.

These differences in “teachings” being established by Church prudential authority or established in essential Tradition by Apostolic authority and the Holy Spirit etc. are not obvious and sometimes I think intentionally twisted by Her enemy to sow discord and confusion.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Yes, the Church can (and has) changed at least one teaching - namely Limbo. But I decided to open another thread to discuss this topic.

 

[1ke]

Yes, the Church can (and has) changed at least one teaching - namely Limbo. But I decided to open another thread to discuss this topic.

This is simply NOT true.

A theological speculation is NOT a doctrine.

 

[Holly3278]

Thanks for your help everyone!

One question though. The Church didn’t used to give suicide victims a Catholic burial. Why does the Church do it now? Is that a discipline?

 

[thistle]

This is simply NOT true.

A theological speculation is NOT a doctrine.

I fully agree with you. Limbo for Infants was NEVER a Church teaching. It was only ever a theological hypothesis. Catholics have never been obliged to believe it and they still are not obliged to believe it.

 

[Evan]

Thanks for your help everyone!

One question though. The Church didn’t used to give suicide victims a Catholic burial. Why does the Church do it now? Is that a discipline?

It is a discipline. It was the belief that suicides intentionally murdered themselves as a mortal sin. However, with modern understanding of dispair and how it can come about by various environmental factors, suicides may NOT be in mortal sin.

Thus they may be saved and so may be buried by the Church because we still hold out hope for them as the Church does for all other people.

 

[thistle]

It is a discipline. It was the belief that suicides intentionally murdered themselves as a mortal sin. However, with modern understanding of dispair and how it can come about by various environmental factors, suicides may NOT be in mortal sin.

Thus they may be saved and so may be buried by the Church because we still hold out hope for them as the Church does for all other people.

That is assuming there is reduced culpability for the suicide and assuming they were not already in a state of mortal sin before committing suicide.

 

[Sirach2]

Holly, this article may be a keeper for your files, since it explains the Church’s position clearly. Vatican II’s Dei Verbum is also a good source that explains the development of doctrine.
With regard to this historical condition, it must first be observed that the meaning of the pronouncements of faith depends partly upon the expressive power of the language used at a certain point in time and in particular circumstances. Moreover, it sometimes happens that some dogmatic truth is first expressed incompletely (but not falsely), and at a later date, when considered in a broader context of faith or human knowledge, it receives a fuller and more perfect expression.

In addition, when the Church makes new pronouncements she intends to confirm or clarify what is in some way contained in Sacred Scripture or in previous expressions of Tradition; but at the same time she usually has the intention of solving certain questions or removing certain errors. All these things have to be taken into account in order that these pronouncements may be properly interpreted.

Finally, even though the truths which the Church intends to teach through her dogmatic formulas are distinct from the changeable conceptions of a given epoch and can be expressed without them, nevertheless it can sometimes happen that these truths may be enunciated by the Sacred Magisterium in terms that bear traces of such conceptions.

 

[Sirach2]

Although I referred you to Vatican I’s Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, I did not give the source. I believe the first link I gave you confirms this earlier document in fuller explanation.

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

Chapter II, 8 (b)
This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. (5) For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (see Luke, 2:19, 51) through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through Episcopal succession the sure gift of truth. For as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her.

 

[Evan]

That is assuming there is reduced culpability for the suicide and assuming they were not already in a state of mortal sin before committing suicide.

Of course. That is why I phrased it “May be saved” rather than “Are saved”

I sometimes forget that new people are always joining the Fori and have not yet seen all the details spelled out. Thanks