Sorry for the obscure title, but I didn’t want it to be so long.
I’m reading Pope St. Pius X’s Apostolic Constitution Lamentabili Sane Exitu, in which certain propositions are denounced and condemned.
The first of these propositions condemned reads as follows:
The ecclesiastical law which prescribes that books concerning the Divine Scriptures are subject to previous examination does not apply to critical scholars and students of scientific exegesis of the Old and New Testament.
I was wondering why this is no longer enforced? Surely quite a bit of rubbish could be done away with! I have a feeling, though, it’s just beyond the Church’s scope to do so?
Hi Cutler!
I hope you find a happy home in the Catholic Church.
I think that the principle claim that’s being condemned here is the notion that the scientific and scholarly conclusions of textual critics and exegetes trump the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Magisterium. It’s a role reversal that seeks to give autonomy to the scholars such that they can follow the data wherever they think it leads to the disregard of the doctrine and practice of the church.
The canons regarding this are found
here. There is also
an instruction from the CDF about this. The following book helped me locate these resources:
The Permission to Publish.
Here is a statement from the Congregation for Divine Worship that has direct relevance to this proposition of
Lamentabili Sane and the work of critical scholars:
“Determining which texts belong to the Church’s canon and which texts are prescribed for the Sacred Liturgy, however, lie outside the area of competence of biblical scholars in general, or of textual critics in particular. It is the Church herself, on the basis of her tradition, that has established the canon, and it is the competent ecclesiastical authority that prescribes the use of specific texts for liturgical use. As regards the rites of the Latin Church, that authority is the Holy See” (
Translations and the Consultation of the Nova Vulgata).
And I think that this thought from Pope Benedict has direct bearing upon the sentiment expressed by
Lamentabili Sane towards exegetes:
“Whenever Sacred Scripture is separated from the living voice of the Church, it falls prey to disputes among experts.
“Of course, all they have to tell us is important and invaluable; the work of scholars is a considerable help in understanding the living process in which the Scriptures developed, hence, also in grasping their historical richness.
“Yet science alone cannot provide us with a definitive and binding interpretation; it is unable to offer us, in its interpretation, that certainty with which we can live and for which we can even die. A greater mandate is necessary for this, which cannot derive from human abilities alone. The voice of the living Church is essential for this, of the Church entrusted until the end of time to Peter and to the College of the Apostles.
“This power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism” (
Homily, 5/7/2005).
Here are a couple of other more recent references to other sections of
Lamentabili Sane:
“Thus, however much the Sacred Magisterium avails itself of the contemplation, life and study of the faithful, its office is not reduced merely to ratifying the assent already expressed by the latter; indeed, in the interpretation and explanation of the written or transmitted Word of God, the Magisterium can anticipate or demand their assent (cf.
Lamentabili Sane, 6)” (
Mysterium Ecclesiae).
“The dogmatic pragmatism of the early years of this century, which viewed the truths of faith as nothing more than rules of conduct, has already been refuted and rejected (cf.
Lamentabili Sane, 26)” (
Fides et Ratio).
With love in Christ,
Pete
