What are the levels of church doctrine

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I understand we have the Canon Law, and I know there are bulls and encyclicals, but I really don’t have a clear understanding of the various doctrines, and ways the church communicates the doctrines or their place and importance and impact on catholics. Can someone please break this down for me?
 
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith spells this out quite nicely in their Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei. For some reason, the Vatican website conflated Professio Fidei, the Oath of Fidelity, Ad Tuendam Fidem, and this Commentary all on one page (probably because they’re all related). The Commentary is about halfway down the page.

The Commentary is where they really get into specifics about the levels, but it helps to be familiar with the previous documents because that is the reference point of the Commentary.

I always issue a caution that we ought to be careful about getting too wrapped up in what the “levels” are. It’s not as though we only have to believe what’s on the first level and the rest is all up for grabs. As Catholics, we are to believe it all as it is all true. Some truths are simply “central” because they form the foundation. That doesn’t make the other truths any less true.
 
couponfit said:
I understand we have the Canon Law, and I know there are bulls and encyclicals, but I really don’t have a clear understanding of the various doctrines, and ways the church communicates the doctrines or their place and importance and impact on catholics. Can someone please break this down for me?
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Joe 5859 is right.
What you ask may be interesting but whether a doctrine is infallible or non-infallible we are still obliged to believe them.
The main difference is that if you reject an infallible teaching you have committed heresy and a mortal sin whereas if you reject a non-infallible teaching you have not committed heresy but have still committed a mortal sin.
 
I agree with what has been posted. The things you list are not really the teachings, but where the teachings are found.

So, the importance is:
What we teach
How we teach it

In other words, we have Changed the liturgy of the Mass, even though it is important, but have NEVER changed ANYTHING we have taught.

Blessings.
 
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