faith and morals

[fhansen]

I’d like some history on the Churches’ doctrine on infallibility concerning faith and morals. It seems that the Church has spoken on a broader range of issues in the past, but was there a point in time when it began to see its’ infallible teaching as pertaining only to those areas? If so, was this first stated at Vat I? Or was the doctrine developed over time and so traceable to an earlier era? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[PBP]

The doctrine of infallibility began when Jesus made Peter our 1st pope. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and promised him the forces of hell would not prevail against the church. This is not a complete answer but its the starting point.

 

[fhansen]

Thank you for that. The reason I ask is because a priest once complained to me about the way Rome had allowed and then reversed their decision on allowing girls to be altar servers. He brought up some other issues like that and basically expressed distrust in the Church. When I offered that these were not matters of faith or morals he said, “Well, you know where that idea came from don’t you? It came as a result of the Galileo flap.” In other words, the doctrine on faith and morals was made up later to allow the Church to save face and still consider itself right. I suggested that, alternatively, it may have simply been a case of the Church learning or relearning Her proper role of teaching infallibly on faith and morals only- and not on other matters. At any rate, in case it comes up again I’d like to be able to respond with whatever the truth may be. When was the term “faith and morals” first used in this way? Was the concept well understood from the beginning or did the Church consider Herself authoritative on other matters as well?

 

[epostle]

Fr. John Hardon:
By development of doctrine, we mean that some divinely revealed truth has become more deeply understood and more clearly perceived than it had been before. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised to send to teach us, the Church comes to see more deeply what she had always believed, and the resulting insights find expression in devotion of the faithful that may have been quite uncommon in the Church’s previous history. The whole spectrum of Christology and Mariology has witnessed such dogmatic progress. Adoration of the Eucharist, therefore, is simply another, though dramatic, example of doctrinal development.

Always implied in such progress is that, objectively, the revealed truth remains constant and unchanged. But through the light of the Holy Spirit, the subjective understanding of the truth becomes more clear, its meaning becomes more certain and its grasp by the believing mind becomes increasingly more firm.
ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/HISTOREA.HTM

 

[Catholic_Dude]

I’d like some history on the Churches’ doctrine on infallibility concerning faith and morals. It seems that the Church has spoken on a broader range of issues in the past, but was there a point in time when it began to see its’ infallible teaching as pertaining only to those areas? If so, was this first stated at Vat I? Or was the doctrine developed over time and so traceable to an earlier era? Any help would be appreciated.

I know the “faith and morals” distinction was explicitly stated in Vatican I, and I am pretty sure the distinction was made during the Council of Trent, how much farther back than that Im not sure.

 

[StCsDavid]

Divino Afflante Spiritu

Encyclical of Pope Pius XII

September 30, 1943.

Inspired by the Divine Spirit, the Sacred Writers composed those books, which God, in His paternal charity towards the human race, deigned to bestow on them in order “to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice: that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work” (1 ) . This heaven-sent treasure Holy Church considers as the most precious source of doctrine on faith and morals. No wonder herefore that, as she received it intact from the hands of the Apostles, so she kept it with all care, defended it from every false and perverse interpretation and used it diligently as an instrument for securing the eternal salvation of souls, as almost countless documents in every age strikingly bear witness.
+++

While this is a latter reference (1943), Pope Pius XII does appear to infer that The Church has regarded scripture as an infallible doctrine from the time of the Apostles.

You can read this entire document where he references the doctrine of faith and morals several times by clicking here

 

[Harsalter]

The reason I ask is because a priest once complained to me about the way Rome had allowed and then reversed their decision on allowing girls to be altar servers.

I was in a large parish in Kentucky just a few months ago, and they were using 100% alter girls. I had never seen this.

But then in America, we allow lay women to distribute Holy Communion. Guess it’s really no different than a lay man doing it. But I really don’t like anyone but a priest to do this, but no one ever asked me…

 

[Janet_S]

You might have alread checked the following references, but I’ll go ahead and mention them anyway in case you haven’t.

First, the Catholic Encyclopedia has a pretty comprehensive section on Infallibility:
newadvent.org/cathen/07790a.htm

Also, you can read the Decrees of Vatican I here:
piar.hu/councils/ecum20.htm

In chapter 4 of the decrees, it mentions prior ecumenical Councils that addressed the issue of papal primacy:

fourth council of Constantinople (AD 869)
second council of Lyons (AD 1274)
council of Florence (AD 1439)

Also, here are two articles about Galileo:
catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0305sbs.asp

catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Issues/GalileoAffair.html

Here is information about Kenneth Howell’s book regarding Galileo. I never read it; I did hear him give a talk about the Galileo affair:
amazon.com/Gods-Two-Books-Copernican-Interpretation/dp/0268010455/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199071682&sr=8-1

I hope some of this helps to answer your question.

 

[fhansen]

Thank you everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut. It appears so far that the doctrine of infallibility on faith and morals was most clearly stated at Vat I but obviously the idea that the Church had teaching authority on matters of faith goes all the way back. And this was understood and at times defined with increasing clarity down through the centuries. I was trying to find out if there was some kind of change or break as a result of the Galileo incident or other such cases since this is what the priest alluded to. If the Church ever officially thought or was otherwise uncertain as to whether or not She could speak authoritatively on other matters I’m not sure but that She was certain of Her mission to rule on matters of faith, later stated as faith and morals, is quite clear. Thanks again, I think I can speak to this issue a lot better now but any other info anyone may have would still be appreciated.