I will say this about Pope Francis: he makes me go back to the basics of my study regarding the moral theology of the Church.
He has done it again in the revision which he recently made to the Catechism regarding what he has called the “inadmissability” of the death penalty.
In my previous post, I observed that Cardinal Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has referred to this revision not as a “contradiction” of traditional Magisterium but an “evolution” of that teaching in light of “the primary responsibility of the public authority to protect the common good in a social context in which the penal sanctions were understood differently, and had developed in an environment in which it was more difficult to guarantee that the criminal could not repeat the crime.”
Now that is one mouthful and I remember from my seminary days that my moral theology Professor always told us the more complicated the reasoning, the less reasonable the argument.
So, I thought I would consider the Pope’s revision and Cardinal Ladaria’s explanation in light of the basic theological method I and my classmates were taught.
I do this in the hope of restating the basic principles from which fundamental or moral theology must proceed if they are to produce any reliable insights into the truths of the Catholic Faith.
The method itself is critical because a failure to observe the principles of theological inquiry not only is a failure to apply the proper method to the science of theology but also because the outcome for failing to observe the proper method in theology would be the same for that of the physical sciences: incorrect results.
So, going back to the basics I learned at the Pontifical Gregorian University where I initiated my theological formation in preparation for the Priesthood, I will state briefly the principles to be observed in the proper study and advancement of our understanding of the truths of the Catholic Faith.
The First Principle: the Necessity of Revelation. Without the Divine Revelation inherent in the Sacred Scriptures, humanity is limited to an inductive reasoning about God from the evidence in creation alone. This “natural theology”, often an extension of human wisdom or philosophy, allows humanity the most narrow of understanding about the Nature and Person of the Eternal Godhead.
The Second Principle: the Affirmation of Revelation. The theological method presupposes authentic Revelation which is affirmed only if it is public and authenticated by Divine Intervention itself.
The Third Principle: Submission to Divine Revelation, that is, trusting in faith that God can never deceive or be deceived and accepting what is Divinely revealed to be factual and credible. As Augustine would paraphrase, theology is “belief seeking understanding" (credo ut intellego). Theology requires faith.
The Fourth Principle: Acceptance of Authority. For theological doctrine to be definitive, an authority which can resolve disputes involving Divine Revelation is an absolute necessity.
Even Divine Revelation, as any truths or facts entrusted to the human community, can gradually change over time due to different circumstances or cultural influences. Only a recognized authority is able to judge whether such changes are either legitimate developments or corruptions of Divinely revealed truths. The Church finds this authority in the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Office of Peter and the Successors of the Apostles, the Bishops.
It is precisely the Magisterium which safeguards the objective meaning of Revelation for all times and protects the truths of the Faith from historical or cultural influences that might corrupt them. If not for this authority, the truths of the Church would be vulnerable by whatever any so-called and self-identified authority one would find convenient at any given time.
Finally, and most pertinent to the matters of the recent revision of the Catechism, the Fifth Principle: the Analogy of the Faith. Theological advancement finds that data of Revelation in three places: Scripture, Tradition and Magisterial pronouncements.
By the principle of the Analogy of Faith, we understand that because God Himself neither deceives nor can be deceived, all three sources must be true and there can be no contradiction among them.
Thus, what the Scripture say is morally right are to be in harmony with what has been communicated to the Church through Tradition. Similarly, what the Magisterium teaches must be in harmony with both Scripture and Tradition.
In applying this theological method to the recent revision of the Catechism regarding the legitimacy of the death penalty, I would observe that both Pope Francis and Cardinal Ladaria have some further explaining.
For, even after what I consider to be a fair and honest reading of that revision, I have this nagging feeling that what is being touted as “enlightenment” may be nothing more than what the present dominant culture is eager to advance.
I respectfully suggest that, until such an explanation is forthcoming, the revision will continue to be, for me at least, unconvincing and a just a bit suspicious of appearing to be an attempt to cater to the more liberal-leaning and shrill voices within the Church.
My thoughts at least.
What thinkest you?
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