Monday, August 15, 2022
Aquinas on St. Paul’s correction of St. Peter
A pope speaks ex
cathedra when he presents some teaching in a formal and definitive manner that
is intended infallibly to settle debate about it once and for all. This is an exercise of what is called the
“extraordinary magisterium,” and Catholics are obligated to give such
declarations their unreserved assent.
The ordinary magisterium of the Church can also teach infallibly under
certain circumstances (which I have discussed elsewhere),
and here too such teaching is owed unreserved assent. Even when the pope or the Church teach about a
matter of faith or morals in a manner that is not infallible, Catholics
normally owe such teaching what is called “religious assent,” an adherence that
is not absolute but nevertheless firm.
Thursday, August 11, 2022
All One in Christ
My new book All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of
Racism and Critical Race Theory is out this month from Ignatius Press. If you are someone who prefers to order
directly from the publisher, you can now do so. You can also order via Amazon
and Barnes
and Noble. In September, a
German translation of the book will be published by Editiones Scholasticae.
Here’s the
table of contents:
1. Church
Teaching against Racism
2. Late
Scholastics and Early Modern Popes against Slavery
3. The
Rights and Duties of Nations and Immigrants
4. What is
Critical Race Theory?
5.
Philosophical Problems with Critical Race Theory
6. Social
Scientific Objections to Critical Race Theory
7. Catholicism versus Critical Race Theory
Friday, August 5, 2022
Benedict contra Benevacantism
I’ve been reading the
second volume of Peter Seewald’s Benedict
XVI: A Life. There is much of
interest in it, including a new interview with Benedict at the very end. Some of what he says is relevant to the
controversy over Benevacantism (also called “Beneplenism” and the “Benedict is
pope (BiP)” thesis), which holds that Benedict never validly resigned and that
Francis is an antipope. I’ve
addressed this topic a couple
of times before and the debate is, in my view, essentially played out. But since a small but significant number of
Catholics remain attracted to this foolish thesis, it seems worthwhile calling
attention to how Benedict’s remarks throw further cold water on it.
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