Comparative Confessions
Catholicism
Catholic theology: authority, dogmas defined since the Reformation, Vatican II
Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian tradition, numbering some 1.3 billion faithful. Its self-understanding is ecclesiologically normative: the Catholic Church is the Church of Christ in its institutional and sacramental fullness.
Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium
Three pillars sustain Catholic authority. Holy Scripture is inspired and canonical. Apostolic Tradition is transmitted as a living reality in the life of the Church. The Magisterium, the pope with the bishops in communion with him, authentically interprets Scripture and Tradition, and does so infallibly in ex cathedra definitions. Trent in 1546 and Vatican I in 1870 gave this structure its formal shape.
Sola Scriptura denies that Tradition and Magisterium are independent sources of revelation: they stand under the authority of Scripture as norma normans. Traditions may err, and councils may err, as Luther maintained at Leipzig in 1519. The Church recognises Scripture; it does not constitute it. Westminster I §4 grounds scriptural authority in God alone, not in the testimony of the Church.
Orthodoxy accepts Scripture together with Tradition but rejects the papal Magisterium as an infallible interpretive organ. Reception by the people of God is the criterion of conciliar truth: Florence in 1439 was rejected by the Orthodox faithful notwithstanding the bishops’ signatures. Infallibility belongs to the whole Church, not to the pope alone.
Dogmas defined since the Reformation
| Dogma | Date | Content | Protestant and Orthodox reception |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transubstantiation | Lateran IV, 1215 | The bread and wine become substantially the body and blood of Christ, in Aristotelian categories. | Rejected by Protestants as resting on philosophical categories without scriptural warrant. Luther held sacramental union, Calvin a spiritual presence. |
| Infused justification | Trent, sess. VI, 1547 | Justification is a real inward transformation by the infusion of grace, not a forensic declaration only. | Rejected by Lutherans and Reformed, who hold sola fide and forensic imputation. The Joint Declaration of 1999 achieved partial consensus. |
| Papal infallibility | Vatican I, 1870 | The pope is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals. | Rejected by Protestants and Orthodox alike. For Orthodoxy it is the principal obstacle to reunion; for Protestants it accords to one man the authority of the Word of God. |
| Immaculate Conception | Pius IX, 1854 | Mary was preserved from original sin from her conception, by anticipated application of Christ’s merit. | Not received by Protestants; debated within Orthodoxy, which does not define it in the Roman sense. |
| Bodily Assumption | Pius XII, 1950 | Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven; the only dogma defined in the twentieth century. | Rejected by Protestants as lacking scriptural warrant. Orthodoxy celebrates the Dormition liturgically without dogmatising its mode. |
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
Convoked by John XXIII and concluded by Paul VI, Vatican II is the most consequential event in twentieth-century Catholicism. It defined no new dogma but reoriented the Church’s self-understanding in its relation to the world, to other churches and to other religions.
| Document | Subject | Principal contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Dei Verbum (1965) | Revelation and Scripture | Scripture is given renewed prominence; Tradition and Magisterium are said to serve the Word; the faithful are encouraged to read the Bible. |
| Lumen Gentium (1964) | The Church | The Church as people of God and Body of Christ; the common priesthood of the faithful; episcopal collegiality; the Church of Christ “subsists in” rather than simply “is” the Catholic Church. |
| Gaudium et Spes (1965) | The Church in the modern world | Engagement with modernity, the sciences and atheism; the promotion of social justice; the dignity of the human person. |
| Unitatis Redintegratio (1964) | Ecumenism | Separated Christians are recognised as brethren in imperfect communion; the ecumenical movement is affirmed. |
| Nostra Aetate (1965) | Non-Christian religions | Repudiation of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Christ; recognition of value in other religions; the end of supersessionist theology in its harsher forms. |
| Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) | Liturgy | Liturgical reform: vernacular languages, active participation of the faithful, simplification of the rites. |
The post-conciliar hermeneutical dispute
Vatican II gave rise to a contested hermeneutic. A “hermeneutic of rupture,” favoured by progressives, holds that the Council broke with the preceding tradition. A “hermeneutic of continuity,” articulated by Benedict XVI in 2005, holds that the Council must be read within the whole of Catholic Tradition. The magisterium of John Paul II and Benedict XVI opted explicitly for the second. The pontificate of Francis has introduced further emphases, notably synodality, attention to the periphery, and ecology in Laudato Si’ (2015).
Bibliography
- Flannery, Austin, ed. Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Northport: Costello, 1975.
- Ratzinger, Joseph. Principles of Catholic Theology. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1987.
- O’Collins, Gerald. Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Sullivan, Francis A. Magisterium: Teaching Authority in the Catholic Church. New York: Paulist, 1983.
Quiz — Catholicism
What does the Tridentine decree De canonicis Scripturis (1546) affirm?
- That Scripture alone is the rule of faith
- That Scripture and apostolic Tradition are received with equal piety and reverence
- That Tradition takes precedence over Scripture in cases of conflict
- That the Hebrew canon is to be preferred to the Septuagint
Trent, sess. IV: pari pietatis affectu ac reverentia (DH 1501)