Follow Up

[Lil Red]

+J.M.J.+
[quote name='Raphael' post='1575259' date='Jun 18 2008, 02:04 PM']All other infallibly defined dogmas of our faith come from an exercise of the Extraordinary Magisterium in the form of Ecumenical Councils.[/quote]
okay, so on morals, has anything been infallibly declared/defined?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I haven't studied this exhaustively, but my understanding follows: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2035) states that infallibility "also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed." So the moral teachings of the Ordinary Universal and Extraordinary Magisterium are infallible, if it is proposed as such (for the Ordinary Magisterium, that would require a consistent belief "everywhere, by the whole Church, and for all time" according to the Vincentian Canon; for the Extraordinary Magisterium, it would require a formal declaration from an Ecumenical Council or fro the Pope speaking ex cathedra). I would say that the Catechism probably intends by its definition to state that a sort of common sense tell us when something is infallible, if it's not explicit. In other words, if something isn't explicitly stated, it may still be infallible if it's clearly a part of infallible Catholic teaching or irrefutably follows from infallible Catholic teaching. For instance, it is infallible that life begins at conception because this is a basic principle of the teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium, and so it's only logical that it is also infallible that abortion is murder. Infallibility doesn't necessarily need to be declared for something to be infallible, because infallibility means that it can't be wrong, which remains true even if not declared. However, it sure helps when things are declared infallible for us, because however illogical some arguments may be, people will argue that something may be wrong even if it's self-evident.

Of course, we're obliged to follow the faith even in non-infallible matters, to various degrees.

The link within this link, as well as my explanation, may be helpful, although I admit that my explanation isn't entirely nuanced: [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=80828&st=80&p=1552464&hl=infallible&#entry1552464"]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?s...p;#entry1552464[/url]

I hope this helps. Hopefully someone smarter than I am will come along.

God bless,

Micah