When is it wrong to think that a pope's teaching is or leads to evil?

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fakename

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That is not just factually wrong, but morally wrong either intrinsically or extrinsically.

(1) When it is non-infallible but still magisterial.

(2) When it is a personal opinion that is open to the prudence of all.

(3) Both are wrong.

I think the questions also can be reduced to asking "Can a pope ever teach (magisterially or otherwise) anything either intrinsically or extrinsically morally wrong?
 
fakename said:
Can a pope ever teach (magisterially or otherwise) anything either intrinsically or extrinsically morally wrong?
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I think it’s possible in theory. The teachings of a Pope are infallible (and thus under the protection of the Holy Spirit) only under certain circumstances. If we claim that the Pope is somehow incapable of teaching any error whatsoever then we essentially claim that everything the Pope teaches is infallible - which is contrary to doctrine.

But finding actual examples is very difficult.

As far as the “otherwise” part, there have been several “bad” Popes (personally sinful men) - I’m sure they taught all sorts of evil things when they took their miters off. But none of these sinful Popes ever attempted to justify his conduct by enshrining it in Magesterial teaching.
 
  1. No, because if the pope is exercising the magisterium, he is by definition exercising the teaching authority of God. God can’t teach something intrinsically evil.
  2. We are supposed to respect the opinions and judgments of the pope and bishops as it applies to faith and morals and insofar as it applies to other things (e.g economics)
  3. It’s about 1 1/2 wrong I think. Not sure about 2. But popes can be heretical.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
  1. No, because if the pope is exercising the magisterium, he is by definition exercising the teaching authority of God. God can’t teach something intrinsically evil.
  2. We are supposed to respect the opinions and judgments of the pope and bishops as it applies to faith and morals and insofar as it applies to other things (e.g economics)
  3. It’s about 1 1/2 wrong I think. Not sure about 2. But popes can be heretical.
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Let me clarify what I was asking on 3 (I wrote it really misleadingly). I meant to ask “are both 1 and 2 wrong?”.

Sorry.

What does “respect” entail? Should what they say take precedence over our opinions?
 
fakename, is there a specific teachings or opinion that you feel is wrong, or are your questions just hypothetical?
 
When is it wrong (to think that a pope’s teaching is or leads to evil)?

(What time is it …) NOW! (?)

When? NOW! It is wrong to think that a Pope’s teaching is, or leads to, evil (IF that teaching is in the realm of faith or morals) because his office is invested with the
charism of infallibility in those cases.

The office has the keys promised to Peter to bind and loose on Earth, and the same would be held in heaven.

Once the Pope speaks his teaching will not be evil nor lead to it.

One might think his teaching is not as complete as it could be perhaps - and reason that
what he is teaching is “for now” with more to come (say). But not that what he teaches is evil or will lead to evil (of his own or by the Church).

Reasoning that people will rebel against a tough teaching and cause evil is another matter.
 
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