A couple days ago we had a brief discussion of Truth. Since then, I stumbled across a post about that very subject.
Unsurprisingly, not all truth is equal. All might be equally true at some point in time, but some truth is more True than others. A leading authority on Truth wrote an extensive document on that very topic not too long ago. In Unitatis Redintegratio (in English; you can find the original Latin near the link, if you just have to catch all the nuance), the Second Vatican Council says:
Moreover, in ecumenical dialogue, Catholic theologians standing fast by the teaching of the Church and investigating the divine mysteries with the separated brethren must proceed with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility. When comparing doctrines with one another, they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a “hierarchy” of truths, since they vary in their relation to the fundamental Christian faith. Thus the way will be opened by which through fraternal rivalry all will be stirred to a deeper understanding and a clearer presentation of the unfathomable riches of Christ.
This strongly implies that some truths are closer to the Truth than are others. More recently, Pope JP2 clarified this in the Profession of Faith, wherein he referenced yet another document written by another famous guy, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, aka B16.
B16 shows why he was the natural choice to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Ratzinger explains that there are three distinct levels of Magisterial teaching, signified by each of the three paragraphs: (1) those truths which are divinely revealed, (2) those which are definitively proposed, and (3) those which belong to the authentic ordinary Magisterium.
To the first category belong:
To the truths of the first paragraph belong the articles of faith of the Creed, the various Christological dogmas and Marian dogmas; the doctrine of the institution of the sacraments by Christ and their efficacy with regard to grace; the doctrine of the real and substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the sacrificial nature of the eucharistic celebration; the foundation of the Church by the will of Christ; the doctrine on the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff; the doctrine on the existence of original sin; the doctrine on the immortality of the spiritual soul and on the immediate recompense after death; the absence of error in the inspired sacred texts; the doctrine on the grave immorality of direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being.
Most of the above are relatively uncontroversial, except for the last point. There are few Catholics who question even slightly the above, except for that pesky last point. Those people are not Catholic; at best they are Protestant – at worst they are heretics. Put another way, a person cannot dispute any of the above points, in any fashion or degree whatsoever, and consider him/herself to be Catholic. These are each and together “all or nothing” propositions.
The second category are not much more flexible:
A similar process can be observed in the more recent teaching regarding the doctrine that priestly ordination is reserved only to men. The Supreme Pontiff, while not wishing to proceed to a dogmatic definition, intended to reaffirm that this doctrine is to be held definitively, since, founded on the written Word of God, constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. As the prior example illustrates, this does not foreclose the possibility that, in the future, the consciousness of the Church might progress to the point where this teaching could be defined as a doctrine to be believed as divinely revealed.
Basically, these are those things that we know are true and are necessarily true, but have not yet been Divinely revealed. These may ultimately become truths of the first category – just not yet.
Finally, we have the “Ordinary Magisterium” or the teaching authority of the Church based upon the Grace the Holy Spirit gave her and continues to give her through the ages.
After all of the above follow what I call “natural truths” or what we experience in daily life. Examples are things like the sun rising in the East or days follow nights.
Put another way: Truths are immutable and will never change; truths are true – given similar surrounding conditions – but might change dramatically if those surrounding conditions change.
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