This is the new post for Q and A.
As in past posts, this is an opportunity to ask me theological questions on almost any topic of doctrine or discipline. The post will close after several days.
— Ron Conte
-
Those who reject the Magisterium, grasp at straws seeking its replacement.
-
Click here for a list of my Roman Catholic theology books and booklets, including books about the future.
-
To read the Kindle versions of my books, without a Kindle device, get the free cloud reader — or — any of the free Kindle reading apps.
The CPDV — my conservative Catholic translation of the Bible, from the Latin Vulgate into English, is available at Amazon.com in Kindle format and online here.
Meta
Subscribe to my RSS Feed. (If you use Google Chrome, first add a Chrome RSS reader or extension.)
the reproach of Christ 
Ron, can you give us examples when the Pope is talking (or teaching) non-infallibly and fallibly?
Just to distinguish them.
Thank you.
The Magisterium is exercised either infallibly (no possibility of error) or non-infallibly (limited possibility of error). Infalliblity only occurs with papal infallibility, conciliar infallibility, or the ordinary and universal magisterium. All other teachings are non-infallible.
Is the teaching that everyone is concretely offered a chance of salvation (as in Redemptoris Missio) dogmatically defined? Or is it an opinion too? What is its basis?
It is at least a non-infallible teaching. It is based on the teaching of the universal salvific will of God, which is taught in Scripture:
[1 Timothy 2]
{2:3} For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
{2:4} who wants all men to be saved and to arrive at an acknowledgment of the truth.
Was Pope Sixtus V mistaken when he in his bull “Effraenatam perditissimorum” against abortion wrote “Quis enim non detestetur, tam execrandum facinus, per quod nedum corporum, sed quod gravius est, etiam animarum certa jactura sequitur?” If so, how could a certainly wrong opinion be so universally and strongly held?
The Pope did not exercise infallibility. He did not teach definitively that the souls of the aborted babies are excluded from Heaven forever. His assertions assume that unbaptized babies in the womb cannot go to Heaven, but it was not a magisterial teaching. How can a wrong opinion be so universally and strongly held? Because it is an opinion, not taught as an article of faith.
It is not so unusual for a Pope to make such a mistake. Each Pope has some errors in his understanding of the faith. Pope Sixtus V lived in the late 1500’s, and salvation theology has not yet developed as much as it has today. Saint Thomas made errors, such as that original sin is inherited from the father only, because of his misunderstanding of biology. We cannot expect Popes and Saints to be inerrant, as if they were Christ.
Consider that, in the Epistles, we can discern that Saint Paul expected Christ’s return within the present generation, or that, in the Gospel of John, we learn that many Christians mistakenly thought John would not die before Christ returned. The Scriptures do not teach either error, but we can discern that the errors were found among the early Christians.
I belong to different ministries and this question comes up frequently.
Is it correct to say that through Baptism, in the gift of Sanctifying Grace, we receive the indwelling of the entire Holy Trinity into our soul? But, through unrepentant sinfulness the Holy Trinity leaves.
What happens to those who go to frequent Confessions but lack in actual reformation?
Is it correct to say that through Baptism, in the gift of Sanctifying Grace, we receive the indwelling of the entire Holy Trinity into our soul? — Yes.
But, through unrepentant sinfulness the Holy Trinity leaves. — No. The indwelling is lost, along with love and hope, by any actual mortal sin. Repentance with perfect contrition, or imperfect contrition and confession, returns the person to the state of grace, returns the indwelling, and returns love and hope. Faith is not lost by every mortal sin, but only by ones that gravely offend faith.
What happens to those who go to frequent Confessions but lack in actual reformation? — Confession is ineffective if the person lacks contrition, or if the person does not confess every actual mortal sin, in kind and number, that can be remembered after a diligent examination of conscience.
How adverse does attending Mass have to be to make it a valid excuse to miss? Martyrs died because they attended Mass.
It’s a matter of judgment. The CCC gives examples such as if you are sick, or if you have to care for children or the elderly. So you don’t need a grave reason, merely a just reason.
Hi Ron, can you please give three examples, or points, or teachings that would be Speculative Theology?
Whether the Church possesses the authority to ordain women deacons. When Christ might return, and whether his return for the end of the tribulation coincides with the general Judgment. How prenatals, infants, and young children might be saved, if they die without formal Baptism. How the marital, unitive, and procreative meanings of moral sexual relations are related to one another, and which is primary, if any. Whether the Father is, in any sense, greater than the Son and the Spirit, even though they are co-equal as God. To what extent the ordinary non-infallible Magisterium may err. To what extent a valid Pope may err. To what extent may the faithful licitly disagree with or criticize a teaching of the Pope or the Magisterium. Whether Saint Joseph and John the Baptist were sanctified in the womb, and whether that sanctification is a baptism of desire or of blood. Which persons die in a state of original sin alone. Whether persons who possess sufficient accurate knowledge of Christianity may be saved without converting. Whether atheists may be saved without converting. In what sense the Virgin Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces, and whether there are exceptions to that role (I say there are two exceptions). Whether the Virgin Mary was conceived miraculously and virginally (as I opine) or in the usual way. What are the limits of the human knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What are the two Mediatrix exceptions?
Mary is not the Mediatrix of graces which flow from the Divine Nature to the human nature of Christ in the hypostatic union, and she is not the Mediatrix of graces which she herself receives.
You do not have to use extraordinary measures to preserve life, IIRC. But what decides what is extraordinary?
Here are two hypothetical treatments. They are not realistic, but are intended to illustrate what I mean:
1) A pill that cures the illness. It is produced morally (no fetal tissue or such) and costs ten million dollars.
2) One hundred invasive operations, each of which costs five dollars.
It doesn’t seem right that a treatment which is ordinary for Bill gates would be extraordinary to me. So, what is the definition of extraordinary?
I think that a wealthy person may licitly decline the hypothetical 10 million dollar treatment, as extraordinary. The 100 invasive operations is also extraordinary. I don’t think the definition varies with wealth.
Yes, that is sound practice for a person’s mental heath. Als, trust in God.
Ron,
Catholics, currently, are required to confess grave matter, by kind and number, to a priest in confession.
If I recall some grave matter which I am worried I failed to confess previously, I believe I should mention it at my next confession.
Some priests have discouraged me from raising such matter in confession. One regular confessor strongly discourages mentioning older matters and insists we only deal with matter since one’s last confession.
Does the church teach on the specifics of this matter.
The Council of Trent infallibly taught that, if you confess all the mortal sins that can be remembered after a diligent examination of conscience, then all sins are forgiven, mortal and venial, even mortal sins that you forgot to confess. So you should only confess sins committed since your last good confession.
What do you think about the “Sola Fide”?
http://www.ewtn.com/library/answers/solafide.htm
https://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/JUSTIF.HTM
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/RIGHTEOU.htm
Faith alone has never been a Catholic teaching. It is a misunderstanding of the Bible, which had its beginnings in the Protestant reformation. It was not an idea found among the early Church Fathers.
To go to Heaven, a person must die in the state of grace, which includes all three theological virtues, love, faith, and hope, not faith alone. A person who is not in the state of grace can have faith, possibly, but not love or hope.
The demons believe, and tremble.