While there is not a definitive dogmatic statement on Matthew 24:36, the text you are referring to where Jesus says that “only the Father” knows the exact time of his Parousia excluding the Son, is indirectly touched upon in the Catechism at CCC 472-476.
Most Catholic theologians in history have viewed Jesus’ expression that “neither the Angels, nor the Son” being aware of the time of the Parousia as a Semitic form of hyperbole. In Hebrew, Yiddish, and the Jewish language I was raised speaking, Ladino, it is common to say something that is overly exaggerated to make a point. This appears to be the same thing here.
For instance: In Exodus the narrative states that the Egyptians lose all of their animals due to the Fifth Plague. (Exodus 9:6) But then in the Sixth Plague of boils, the animals of the Egyptians suddenly appear and are inflected with this scourge. (Exodus 9:10) Then comes the Seventh Plague, and though all the animals of the Egptians have died in the Fifth Plague, they die again from being left out in the hail storm. (Exodus 10:25) If that isn’t enough, the firstborn of beasts die in the Tenth Plague too, even though they’ve all been dead since the Fifth Plague killed them all. (Exodus 12:29) These aren’t mistakes in the text, and it is not a literal historical description either. It is the way we who are Jews talk to this day.
I grew up speaking Ladino, and even though we are Hebrew Catholics, it is part of our culture never to be direct when speaking and to exaggerate to make a point from time to time. Talk about confused as a kid! Well, it is just the way Jewish speak works. And guess what, Jesus was a Jew. And yep, his speech in the Gospels is full of this kind of talk too.
What happened to the animals in Egypt? Well, the Egyptians suffered great losses, but they obviously didn’t all die in the Fifth Plague. But it was a great loss, so much so that in Jewish speak we say “and they ALL died. ALL of them!” But they didn’t all die, but you get the picture.
As the CCC brings out, Jesus’ humanity was full humanity, with not only the limited dimensions of it but the obedience to God that humans are obliged to live in before our Creator. As Jesus mentioned in Acts 1:6, 7, it is not a part of the economy of salvation to enlighten humans with the time table of history that belongs only to the juradiction of the Father. As fully human, the Son ‘doesn’t know’ either. Such is even out of the juradiction of what belongs to the Angels!
But this doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t privy to this information. Like the death of “all” the animals in Egypt, Jesus telling his disciples that the Son has no knowledge of the times and seasons of eschatology is hyperbole for: “It is off-limits to humans to know the ‘when’ about things. So DON’T ASK OR TRY TO GUESS!”
