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Letter: Loyally taking the Pope at his word

Mr Hugh Mackenzie
Thursday 02 June 1994 23:02 BST
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Sir: Father Michael O'Dowd (Letters, 1 June) takes a rigidly legalistic view of papal authority in reducing firm statements that might be classified as 'non-infallible' to fallibly trying to 'shout the loudest'. He seems to come close to that extremely modern minimalism in the Catholic Church which sees any such non ex cathedra papal teaching simply as 'the Pope's private opinion however extravagantly conveyed'. (Vincent McLaughlin, also letters, 1 June.) The Church's Second Vatican Council states:

loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given in a special way to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra, in such wise . . . that one sincerely adhere to decisions made by him, comformably with the manifest mind and intention. ( Dogmatic Constitution on the Church n25, 1964)

Last Monday, the Pope constitutionally confirmed and committed the Catholic tradition to the maleness of the priesthood - almost as strongly as it is, one might say, to the femaleness of motherhood (cf, past and future statements on actual and proposed methods of baby creation). The hope of the Church's 'loyal' subjects must now surely be for ever more fruitful work in vindicating the profound and prophetic character of this latest witness to an unsympathetic world.

Yours faithfully,

HUGH MACKENZIE

Venerable Collegio Inglese

Rome

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