Ccc 99

[Byzantine]

Could you explain CCC 99 to me, considering that there are many claiming the name "Catholic" while clearly contradicting the Faith? I've got several theories to explain this, but I'd like an official answer. Thanks!

[phatcatholic]

CCC 99 itself doesn't seem to have any bearing upon people who are, as you put it, "claiming the name 'Catholic' while clearly contradicting the Faith." Here is CCC 99:
[indent=1]
Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.[/indent]

No. 99 comes from the "In Brief" section, in which a few statements are made in summary of the preceding paragraphs. It appears to be a summary of nos. 91-94, which read as follows:
[indent=1]
[b]The supernatural sense of faith[/b][/indent]

[indent=1][b]91[/b] All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them[sup]53[/sup] and guides them into all truth.[sup]54[/sup][/indent]
[indent=1]
[b]92[/b] "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith ([i]sensus fidei[/i]) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals."[sup]55[/sup]

[b]93[/b] "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority ([i]Magisterium[/i]),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life."[sup]56[/sup][/indent]

[indent=1][b]Growth in understanding the faith[/b][/indent]

[indent=1][b]94[/b] Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
- "through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts";[sup]57[/sup] it is in particular "theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth".[sup]58[/sup]
- "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience",[sup]59[/sup] the sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them."[sup]60[/sup]
- "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".[sup]61[/sup][/indent]

This section [i]does[/i] have bearing upon the issue you have raised. Many Catholics who are not of one mind with the Church attempt to validate their contradictory views by saying that these views came about by the legitimate use of their conscience, or by their own feeling of being led by the Spirit, or by their adoption of what they think "most Catholics" believe or practice. We must inform such people that one's conscience must be properly formed by the teaching of the Church in order for it to lead a person to the truth, that the Spirit does not contradict itself and so will never "inspire" someone to hold a position contrary to Church teaching, and that the [i]sensus fidei[/i] is not the [i]zeitgeist[/i], or popular movement of the times but what the Church has [i]always[/i] believed and professed. In so doing, we ensure that people are better able "to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation."