Disagreeing with The Pope

About this sermon

Can Catholics disagree with the Pope? The answer is yes—but only with serious qualifications. Support the channel by visiting: https://brianholdsworth.ca/help In this video, I explain the difference between the Pope’s personal opinions, prudential judgments, authentic magisterial teaching, ordinary magisterium, extraordinary magisterium, and the kind of religious submission Catholics owe to Church teaching. Using recent reactions to Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical as the backdrop, I walk through how Catholics should think about papal authority without falling into either extreme: treating every papal statement as infallible, or dismissing the Pope whenever we disagree. 00:00 – Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical and the rush to react 00:54 – Can Catholics disagree with the Pope? 01:55 – What the magisterium actually is 02:20 – Not every papal statement is magisterial 02:58 – The confusion caused by interviews and press conferences 03:49 – Principles vs. prudential applications 04:47 – Papal opinions on politics are not always binding 07:12 – Encyclicals can contain both teaching and opinion 07:44 – Ordinary vs. extraordinary magisterium 08:51 – What religious submission really means 10:15 – Legitimate areas of disagreement 11:46 – A hierarchy for evaluating papal statements 13:00 – Why humility is usually safer than public dissent Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/