Amidst this dead of night within the Church — wherein all seems obscured by a disorienting darkness; by mists and shadows; by strange and unfamiliar shapes and sounds that unsettle our senses, challenge our confidence and shake the very foundations of our faith — I want to affirm that the Church’s Magisterium, nevertheless, remains a stalwart and immovable guide. The Magisterium of the Church is and always will be a light in the darkness. It remains now, as ever, an infallible means of dispelling falsehood, confusion and error and of bringing forth the clarity of truth. But in order to see this we must understand the Magisterium properly.
To begin with, I would like to give a brief summary of the three levels of magisterial authority:
1. The Extraordinary (or Solemn) Magisterium: This category of magisterial teaching is infallible and is the easiest to identify as being such because of its explicit and definitive nature. It is exercised by either the pope alone (e.g., the papal definitions of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), or by the whole college of bishops, with the pope as their head — as, for example, when specific doctrines are defined in an ecumenical council (e.g., the Council of Florence on the necessity of the Church for salvation, Vatican I on papal infallibility, etc.).
2. The Ordinary and Universal Magisterium: This category, like the first, is also infallible but lacks the explicit character of the former. It is expressed when the entire episcopacy of the universal Church, under the headship of the pope, agree that a doctrine concerning faith or morals is to be definitively held by all the faithful.
3. The Ordinary Magisterium: Referred to, at times, as the Authentic Magisterium, this level of magisterial authority, exercised by the pope and bishops, consists of all other magisterial acts that fall outside of the first two categories. Unlike the Extraordinary Magisterium or the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium, it is not infallible. Its teachings, nevertheless — according to Canon 752 of the Code of Canon Law — are to be received with a “religious submission of the intellect and will”. Lacking the safeguard of infallibility, teachings emanating from the Ordinary Magisterium, could, in theory, be erroneous. The benefit of the doubt should, however, still be offered to the pope and bishops who exercise it.
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