The Weight of Magisterial Documents - Updated Aug 13, 2014

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JMJ

A friend gave me some insights to the weight assigned to various documents and teachings of the Church.

I'm pressed for time, so here's a couple of references that I found.  I hope to examine them in more detail later.

Sources are at the end of the post.

P^3

update at end.

First, let’s review a very general discussion of the relative weight of magisterial teachings given by Helen Hull Hitchcock in her article The Authority of Church Documents. Here’s an abbreviated list and description of the different types of documents issued by the Holy See, based on Hitchcock’s article (I’ve omitted a couple of her categories; see the article for all the details):

Apostolic constitutions (apostolicae constitutiones): solemn, formal documents on matters of highest consequence concerning doctrinal or disciplinary matters, issued by the pope in his own name. They are published as either universal or particular law of the Church. (Examples: the Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium; Constitution on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.)

Apostolic exhortation (apostolica exhortatio): a papal reflection on a particular topic that does not contain dogmatic definitions or policy directives, addressed to bishops, clergy and all the faithful of the entire Catholic Church. Apostolic exhortations are not legislative documents. (Example: Familiaris Consortio, on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World.)

Apostolic letter (apostolica epistola): a formal papal teaching document, not used for dogmatic definitions of doctrine, but to give counsel to the Church on points of doctrine that require deeper explanation in the light of particular circumstances or situations in various parts of the world.

Encyclical (encyclica epistola - literally, "circular letter"): a formal apostolic letter issued by the pope usually addressed to the bishops, clergy and faithful of the entire Church. Example, Humanae vitae, concerning the Church's teaching on birth control issued in 1968 by Pope Paul VI.

Instruction (instructio): explains or amplifies a document that has legislative force, such as apostolic constitutions, and states how its precepts are to be applied. (e.g., Liturgiam authenticam, on liturgical translation, an Instruction on the correct implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.)

Institutio: instituted arrangement or regular method, rules (as in Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani).

Motu proprio (literally, by one's own initiative): a legislative document or decree issued by the pope on his own initiative, not in response to a request. (Examples: Apostolos Suos; Misericordia Dei.)

A reader of this blog, in his own research on the topic of papal infallibility, consulted a number of sources, including (but not limited to): Dr. Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma; Father Michael Müller's work, God the Teacher of Mankind: Or, Popular Catholic Theology, Apologetical, Dogmatical, Moral, Liturgical, Pastoral, and Ascetical, Vol I: The Church and Her Enemies; and Monsignor G. Van Noort's Dogmatic Theology, Vol II: Christ's Church. He has provided me with this valuable summary:

Theologians have derived four criteria for determining the infallibility of any statement made by a Pope.

1. What the Pope says cannot be new, because "the Holy Spirit was promised to the successor of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine".

2. The Pope must be speaking "in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority".

-- This means that the pope is not infallible in his opinion, nor in his conversation, nor when writing a book of theology as a private doctor, etc. In general there are certain forms of communication which are considered, and for the most part, have always been considered by their very nature forms of communication in which the Holy Father exercises "his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority". Some of these forms are encyclical letters, consistorial allocutions, apostolic letters, and apostolic constitutions.

3. The Pope must be clearly defining "a doctrine concerning faith or morals".
-- "A doctrine", i.e. a singular issue on faith or morals is defined; therefore an entire catechism can never be considered protected by the charism of papal infallibility no matter how strongly worded the Pope recommended a catechism to be used for learning and teaching the Faith.

4. The Pope must clearly indicate that this definition is "to be held by the whole Church".

-- This has usually been held by theologians to be clearly indicated by an imposition of a penalty for not holding to the definition, e.g. "should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: let him be anathema."

-- Also, the concept of the whole Church is to be understood as not just geographical throughout the whole world, but also temporally throughout the span of time; hence the fact that such papal declarations are "irreformable". This also means that exceptions granted for a particular group, or for a particular time are not infallible. Therefore, an indult for communion in the hand is not to be considered as a practice protected by the infallibility of the Holy Ghost because the Pope granted an official indult.

http://philotheaonphire.blogspot.ca/2012/07/the-magisterial-weight-of-theology-of.html

http://www.adoremus.org/0902AuthorityChurchDoc.html

Update:

I've attached a list of the theological grades of certainty.

1. Divine Faith (de fide)
1. applies to truths immediately revealed by God (on God's authority)
2. occasionally explicitly in scripture, Jesus is Divine, but the Church comes along and defines it this is called Divine and Ecclesiastical Faith
2. Ecclesiastical Faith (de fide)
1. truths not immediately revealed by God, but on the authority of the infallible Church (eg artificial birth control)
3. Proximate to the Faith
1. something always thought to be revealed but never formally defined as dogma. (eg co-redemptrix, Baptism of Desire)
4. Theologically Certain
1. Always dealing with deduction, syllogisms
2. Whether deductions can ever be de fide?
1. We must distinguish what kind
1. MP as Minor (inclusive of virtual revelation)
1. Christ was a man
2. Man has will
3. Christ had a human will (can be defined de fide)
2. Not MP (connexive virtual revelation)
1. cannot be de fide
5. Common Opinion (would be rash to deny it)
1. Accepted by most theologians.
1. Christ has infused knowledge. 
1. divine and human knowledge are absolutlely certain, but it is possible that He had infused knowledge but it is not certain
6. More Probable (probabilior)
7. Probable (probabilis)
8. Well founded (you can make an argument)
9. Pius opinion (sounds right)
10. Tolerated opinion
1. its not condemned but that's all you can say (eg 3 days of darkness)