The Magisterium

The Church teaches authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord who lives in its midst and continues to work through the various ministries of the Christian community. We call the teaching ministry of the Church the magisterium, a Latin word that means the unit that does the teaching. The Church assumes a magisterial role whenever it teaches what God has revealed to the world.

Magisterium is exercised in various ways and with varying degrees of solemnity. Every family passing on the faith it has received from the previous generation engages in magisterium. The catechists in the parish, those who share faith with the catechumens, those who bring the word of God to the sick and the homebound along with the eucharistic bread, all these are working in the ministry of teaching. The bishop, priest, and deacon in the homily after the Gospel proclamation are exercising magisterium in the Church. Theologians, too, are part of the magisterium when, in faithfulness to the Church and to its doctrine, they explore the inner meaning of divine revelation and seek to articulate it to a changing world and an evolving culture.

There is a more solemn expression of magisterium when the bishops of the Church, in union with the Bishop of Rome, pronounce a teaching to be held by all the faithful; or when the pope alone, in moral union with the body of the world’s bishops, gives a definition of beliefs concerning divine faith or moral guidance meant for the whole Church. On certain occasions and concerning some especially crucial topics, this magisterium is called Extra-Ordinary and is referred to as infallible.

The whole Church as teacher of divine truth rests its claims to that ministry “on the charge given it by Christ: “Go into the whole world and teach the Good News. … And I will be with you until the end of the world.” Christ continues a living ministry of teaching the Gospel through the ministry of the Church which is his body on earth. Christ speaks the words of salvation to our times through the words which we utter in his name.

“He who hears you hears me.” The prophetic voice of the Church must ring out today with faithfulness to the message of the Gospel. The forms of thought and the words need to be framed in the idioms of contemporary culture in order to be understood by the people of our times. New words can be found for old truths.

How can the Church be silent in the face of human hunger for truth, for hope, for the consolation of the love of God?

See: The Catechism: #888-92; 2033,2049-50; 2034,2039