The Pope obviously has a big job and he has many people he relies on to get things done. In particular, he has what is often called the “Roman Curia”. The Curia consist of various different offices and congregations, councils and commissions.
For example, there is a Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which is responsible for handling doctrinal issues that arise. There is the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments which handles sacramental and liturgical questions.
When you see a headline in the secular press that reads “Vatican states…”, it can mean many things. Sometimes, one of these curial offices have issued an authoritative document. Sometimes, it is simply that a member of one of these offices said something in an interview that is being blown out of proportion. Or sometimes, it is simply refering to an editorial some layman wrote in the quasi-official Vatican newspaper,
L’Osservatore Romano.
So, when you see such a headline, be
very wary that what follows is actually an official statement from the Vatican. Most often, it is
not.
Even amidst documents coming from the Curia, some have more weight than others. For example, a few years back, the media went haywire for the document from the International Theological Commission’s document,
The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized. The secular press touted as though the “Vatican” did a 180 and decided to nix limbo. But this ignores the fact that (1) limbo has never been a part of official Church teaching, and (2) the International Theological Commission is an advisory Commission that the Pope tasks to explore certain theological questions. Their findings aren’t authoritative proclamations of dogma. Certainly, they should not be lightly cast aside, but they are not papal statements.
Contrary to the popular perception, the Catholic Church is not big on hyper-regulation and micro-management. There is no official Vatican view on every conceivable political issue, fantasy novel, blockbuster movie, and fashion trend. Some people seem to want affirmation directly from the Vatican for everything from what music they listen to to what soda they drink. But sometimes we have to use our own God-given gift of discernment to apply the principles of Catholic teaching to specific concrete situations. And sometimes good Catholics disagree.
That is not to say that the Church
does not have official positions on
any issue. She certainly does when it comes to things like contraception, same-sex unions, pornography, in vitro fertilization, etc.
Really, you just have to ask the question and do some leg work. If you ask a question here at CAF, someone should be able to point you to any relevant Church documents.
