What Is the Living Magisterium?

In recent years there have been criticisms of the concept of the living magisterium (magisterium vivum). People have said:

[The]… “living Magisterium” is… usurping the true, the real, the actual Magisterium. (“Truth Does Not Change”)

[Things are] … done in the name of a “living magisterium” of today which heretically claims that the magisterium of “yesterday” is dead. (“They Think They’ve Won!”)

Before claims like those can be evaluated, a prior question must be addressed: What is the living magisterium?

1. Pope Leo XIII

A clear statement of Church teaching about the living magisterium can be found in Pope Leo XIII’s 1896 encyclical Satis Cognitum (SC).

The encyclical begins with a focus on Church Unity (SC 1). Leo XIII described unity as involving:

agreement and union of minds… from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. (SC 6)

He notes that there is a problem which hinders the “uniting of minds” in the Church:

The heavenly doctrine of Christ… could not unite the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone… [as] it would… be subject to various and contradictory interpretations. This is… because of the nature of… doctrine… [and] also because of the divergencies of the human mind and of… conflicting passions. From a variety of interpretations… come controversies, dissensions and wranglings. (SC 7)

Leo XIII stated that if God has demanded unity, then God must have provided a solution which would enable it to be achieved. He identified God’s solution as consisting in the following points:

Christ instituted in the Church a living, authoritative and permanent Magisterium. (SC 9)

[I]t… order[s] all that concerns religion… according to its judgment… [to avoid the outcome] that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism… [or] by heresy. (SC 10)

It was… provided by God that the Magisterium… should not end with the life of the Apostles, but that it should be perpetuated. (SC 8)

It is consequently the office of St. Peter to support the Church, and to guard it… with… the power of commanding, forbidding, and judging. (SC 12)

Essentially, Leo XIII is saying that the living magisterium exists in the voice of each living pope (who holds the office of St. Peter). The purpose of the living magisterium is to enable the Church to settle theological disagreements, as and when they occur, so that the Church can fulfil God’s command to ensure unity, by avoiding the risk of individuals or groups splintering into disunity, which would occur if disagreements could not be resolved.

Another important aspect of Leo’s view is that he believes that this doctrine was instituted by Christ. It is therefore a doctrine which belongs to the Church’s Apostolic Tradition.

Leo’s view of the doctrine of the living magisterium was not confined to a single document. He repeated it in multiple contexts.

In 1879 he stated:

Nor would the fruits of heavenly doctrines by which salvation comes to men have long remained had not the Lord Christ appointed an unfailing teaching authority to train the minds to faith. (Aeterni Patris 1)

In 1890 he stated:

Let there be no schisms among you… This cannot be observed save on condition that questions which arise touching faith should be determined by him who presides over the whole Church [i.e., the pope]. (Sapientiae Christianae 23)

And in 1898 he said:

It was obviously necessary that the Divine Founder should take every precaution, lest the treasure of heavenly-given truths, possessed by the Church, should ever be destroyed, which would assuredly have happened, had He left those doctrines to each one’s private judgment. It stands to reason, therefore, that a living, perpetual “magisterium” was necessary in the Church from the beginning. (Caritatis Studium 6)

2. Vatican I

Pope Leo XIII did not invent the doctrine of the living magisterium. Its dogmatic basis can be seen in the words of the First Vatican Council (1870), prior to his papacy.

The Council clarified the role of the papal office as having a supreme jurisdiction. It stated:

If anyone says that the Roman pontiff has… not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern discipline and government… over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema. (Pastor Aeternus 3.9)

The Council also confirmed that the purpose of the pope’s supreme jurisdiction is the preservation of unity in the Church. It said:

In this way, by unity with the Roman pontiff in communion and in profession of the same faith, the church of Christ becomes one flock under one supreme shepherd. This is the teaching of the catholic truth, and no one can depart from it without endangering his faith and salvation. (Pastor Aeternus 3.3 and 3.4)

And:

It has always been necessary for every church–that is to say the faithful throughout the world–to be in agreement with the Roman church because [in that way] … they will grow together into the structure of a single body. (Pastor Aeternus 2.4)

The texts of Vatican I are a response to the Church’s recognition that Scripture imposes a duty on the Church of ensuring that it remains in unity. (See John 17:22; 1 Corinthians 1:10.)

The texts explain that papal supremacy exists in order to settle all disagreements in the Church (whether in matters of faith, morals, discipline or governance), so that the Church can avoid disagreements splintering into disunity.

Although the Council does not use the language of the living magisterium, Vatican I clarified the dogmatic basis of the doctrine of the living magisterium, which Leo XIII explained in his encyclicals.

3. Pope Pius IX

When Pope Leo XIII explained the doctrine of the living magisterium, he also said that it was instituted by Christ. That suggests that the doctrine was part of the Apostolic Tradition of the Church.

A similar understanding of the doctrine is evident in the views of his predecessor Pope Pius IX. Writing in 1846 (before the First Vatican Council of 1870), Pius IX said:

God Himself has set up a living authority… [which] judges… all disputes which concern matters of faith and morals, lest the faithful be swirled around by every wind of doctrine… And this living… authority is active… where Peter is, and Peter speaks in the Roman Pontiff, living at all times in his successors, and making judgment. (Qui Pluribus 10)

He explained the doctrine in his 1853 Inter Multiplices (IM).

That document starts by insisting upon the necessity of unity in the Church. It stated:

For you are wise enough to know how necessary… unity of mind, will, and judgment is, and how it contributes to the prosperity of the Church and the procurement of eternal salvation. This concord of minds and wills must be cultivated among you with all zeal. (IM 3)

Then the document explains that this unity is to be achieved by conforming to the teaching of the Church, as expressed through the voice of the current living pope:

This [papal] chair is the center of Catholic… unity… Every church must agree with it. (IM 1)

We want you to confidently consult Us and this Apostolic See to remove controversy in all matters of whatever kind. (IM 4)

Be vigilant in act and word, so that the faithful may grow in love for this Holy See, venerate it, and accept it with complete obedience… [The faithful] should execute whatever the See itself teaches, determines, and decrees. (IM 7)

Further evidence of ancient sources and references to the doctrine can be found in the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia, which explains the doctrine of the living magisterium in the following words:

[The Church] … cannot dispense with a… Divinely authorized living magistracy for the solution of controversies arising among [the members of the Church].… The living magisterium… makes extensive use of documents of the past, but it does so while judging and interpreting… finding in them its present thought… [and] distinguishing its present thought from what is traditional only in appearance. (“Tradition and Living Magisterium”)

4. Twentieth-Century Papal Teaching Before Vatican II

The doctrine of the living magisterium was taught by each pope in the first half of the twentieth century, although they sometimes used different terminology.

In 1909 Pope Pius X stated:

The… greatest criterion of the faith, the… unassailable test of orthodoxy is obedience to the teaching authority of the Church, which is ever living. (Address to Second Congress of Catholic Universities, 10 May 1909, from Papal Teachings: The Church #716)

In 1914 Pope Benedict XV said:

We… [desire] to prevent… dissensions arising, so that there may be unity of ideas and of action amongst all… Hence… whenever legitimate authority has once given a clear command, let no one transgress that command… but let each one subject his own opinion to the authority of him who is his superior, and obey him as a matter of conscience… All know to whom the teaching authority of the Church has been given by God [i.e., the pope]: he, then, possesses a perfect right to speak as he wishes and when he thinks it opportune. The duty of others is to hearken to him reverently when he speaks and to carry out what he says. (Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum 22)

In 1928 Pope Pius XI stated:

For the teaching authority of the Church [exists]… in order that… doctrines might… be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men. [It]… is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him. (Mortalium Animos 9)

In 1950 Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis (HG):

God has given to His Church a living Teaching Authority [Magisterium vivum] to elucidate and explain what is contained in the deposit of faith only obscurely and implicitly. (HG 21)

Those who… [are in] disagreement… thus…bear witness to the necessity of a living Teaching Authority [magisterii vivi]. (HG 8)

5. What Is the Scope of the Living Magisterium?

In 1890 Pope Leo XIII explained the scope of the living magisterium in these words:

It belongs to the Pope to judge authoritatively… what doctrines are in harmony, and what in disagreement, with them; and… to show forth what things are to be accepted as right… For, otherwise, there would be no sure interpreter of the commands of God, nor would there be any safe guide showing man the way he should live. (Sapientiae Christianae 24)

Leo XIII implied that the papal office can teach and interpret ANY and ALL issues relating to doctrine, otherwise God’s willed unity would be frustrated, as there would be no mechanism within the Church for settling disagreements, and thus avoiding disunity.

In 1950 Pope Pius XII expressed the same understanding of the scope of the living magisterium. He insisted that it applied to issues of “faith and morals” and it includes the power to interpret Scripture and to interpret Tradition. He stated:

[T]his sacred Office of Teacher in matters of faith and morals must be the… universal criterion of truth for all theologians, since to it has been entrusted by Christ Our Lord the whole deposit of faith — Sacred Scripture and divine Tradition — to be preserved, guarded and interpreted. (Humani Generis 18)

Both popes understand the scope of the doctrine of the living magisterium in similarly expansive terms. This is arguably because they are just applying the teaching of Vatican I, that the office of the pope has supreme jurisdiction to settle all disagreements in the Church, whether they arise in matters of faith, morals, discipline or governance. (See section 2.)

6. The Teaching of Vatican II

The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) acknowledged the doctrine of the living magisterium. It stated:

The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on [scriptum vel traditum], has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church. (Dei Verbum 10)

Arguably, Vatican II added nothing significant to prior Church teaching about the living magisterium.

7. Pope Paul VI

Immediately after Vatican II, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre refused to accept all the teaching of the Council. He said that (in his opinion) its teachings did not conform to Tradition.

Following the doctrine of the living magisterium, Pope Paul VI tried to intervene to settle the disagreement, in order to avoid disunity. But Lefebvre refused to accept the pope’s judgement.

Pope Paul VI responded by accusing Lefebvre of holding an incoherent position. That was because Lefebvre was defending one Tradition while at the same time rejecting the Tradition of the doctrine of the living magisterium, as Lefebvre was refusing to accept that the pope can indeed judge and rule on his disagreement about Vatican II.

Pope Paul VI rebuked Lefebvre in the following words:

It is up to the pope… to exercise judgment in order to discern in the traditions of the Church that which cannot be renounced without infidelity to the Lord… Hence tradition is inseparable from the living magisterium of the Church. (Letter to Marcel Lefebvre, 11 October 1976).

In those words, Pope Paul VI echoed the teaching of Leo XIII that the pope has the power to “judge authoritatively… what things are to be accepted as right” (see section 5 above). In insisting that this includes the power to interpret and to judge matters of Tradition, he followed the teaching of Pope Pius XII (see section 5 above).

The point that Pope Paul VI tried to make to Lefebvre was that it does not make sense within Catholic doctrine to oppose Tradition to the living magisterium. That is because the living magisterium is part of the very Tradition of the Church. To reject the living magisterium of a living pope is to reject the Church’s Tradition which teaches that the living pope has the divinely mandated authority and divine assistance to settle theological disagreements about Church Tradition, in order to preserve Church unity.

8. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI

After the pontificate of Paul VI, popes have continued to refer to the living magisterium.

It is mentioned in the 1993 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 85). Pope John Paul II referred to it in his 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor (#27) and in his 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint (#39).

Pope Benedict XVI referred to it in a talk to the International Theological Commission (Address, 1 December 2005). In 2010 he mentioned it in Verbum Domini (#33). He also noted an implication of the doctrine, that:

The Church’s teaching authority cannot be frozen in the year 1962. (Letter, 10 March 2009)

9. The ‘Living Magisterium’ Dilemma

In 2012 the meaning of the doctrine of the living magisterium was queried in “A False Dilemma” (FD). That article illustrated how the doctrine could be used to create a dilemma, which went broadly as follows:

Catholics must accept that the living magisterium is the authoritative interpreter of what counts as Tradition. So, there is a choice:

(A) Be Catholic and accept current papal teaching that Vatican II is in accord with Tradition, or

(B) Be Protestant and reject the teaching of the living magisterium of the current popes. (FD)

Neither option was amenable to the author of the article, so it was suggested that that dilemma is a false dilemma, based on the following faulty reasoning:

[The expression] ‘the living magisterium’ does not mean ‘as opposed to the past magisterium’; it means ‘as opposed to the posthumous magisterium’. This living magisterium is the magisterium of the present, but also that of the past. (FD)

The article concluded that those who think that the dilemma is valid are:

confused… [because] they reduce the living magisterium to the present magisterium. (FD)

But is it really a mark of confusion to view the living magisterium as being expressed through the voice of the present pope? Isn’t that precisely the teaching of the nine popes cited above? (See sections 1–8.)

Furthermore, if the living magisterium was not the present teaching of the current pope, then how could it possibly fulfil the role which Pius IX and Leo XIII described it as having, when they said that it was God’s chosen tool to resolve theological disagreements in the Church, in order to preserve divinely willed unity in the Church?

In case there is any further doubt that the living magisterium exists in the present, it is worth noting that that seems to have been the understanding of the pre-Vatican II Latin manuals of Theology. For example, see Adolphe Tanquerey’s 1919 Latin comment below (with my English translation) about the living magisterium being exercised by the pope in the present now (nunc).

10. Conclusion

What the sections above show, is that the doctrine of the living magisterium is a relatively simple and straightforward idea. It is the view that there is a divinely willed and divinely assisted living voice in the Church, which has the power and the authority to judge and to settle disagreements in the Church, in order to ensure that the Church does not lose the unity which God willed it to have. (See section 1.)

The doctrine of the living magisterium is not an incidental teaching of the Church. It has been taught consistently by at least nine popes, including Popes Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. (See sections 4–8.)

The doctrine of the living magisterium is also an authoritative teaching. It has dogmatic implications, which were clarified by the First Vatican Council. (See section 2.) And Popes Leo XIII and Pius IX also taught that the doctrine was part of the Apostolic Tradition of the Church. (See sections 1 and 3.)

People may choose to respond to the doctrine of the living magisterium in very different ways (by liking, disliking, agreeing with, rejecting, etc.). But hopefully everyone can at least agree on what the content of the actual doctrine is meant to be, especially when it has been so clearly explained by popes like Leo XIII.