Heresy
is defined by the
Catholic Church
as "the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of
baptism
of some truth which is to be believed by
divine and Catholic faith
".
[1]
The term
heresy
connotes both the belief in itself, and the attitude towards said belief.
[2]
Definition and characteristics
[
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]
Definition
[
edit
]
Heresy
has a specific meaning in the Catholic Church when it applies to someone's belief. There are four elements which constitute a person's
formal heresy
:
[3]
- the person in question must have had a
valid
Christian
baptism
- the person claims to still be a Christian
- the person publicly and obstinately denies or positively doubts a truth that the Catholic Church regards as
revealed by God
(through the
Scriptures
or
Sacred tradition
)
- the disbelief must be
morally culpable
, that is, there must be a refusal to accept what is known to be a doctrinal imperative.
Therefore, to become a heretic and thus lose
communion
with the Catholic Church and hence no longer be Catholic, one must deny or question a truth that is taught by the Catholic Church as revealed by God, and at the same time know that the Catholic Church teaches it. However, if the person denied or questioned such a doctrine, but in
good faith
, that person is not considered a formal heretic by the Catholic Church, though it is an expression of
material heresy
.
[3]
Canon
751 of the
Latin Church
's
1983
Code of Canon Law
,
promulgated
by
Pope John Paul II
in 1983, defines heresy as the following: "Heresy is the obstinate denial or doubt after the reception of
baptism
of some truth which is to be believed
by divine and Catholic faith
". Heresy is contrasted with
apostasy
? "the total repudiation of the Christian faith" ?, and with
schism
? " the refusal of submission to the
Supreme Pontiff
or of
communion
with the
members of the Church subject to him
".
[4]
This definition and contrast are reused in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
. The
Catechism
also contrasts heresy with
incredulity
, which is "the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it".
[5]
Formal and material heresy
[
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]
The Catholic Church distinguishes between
formal
and
material
heresy. The difference is the heretic's subjective disposition towards their opinion.
[2]
The heretic who is aware that their belief is at odds with Catholic teaching and yet freely and willingly continues to cling to their belief
pertinaciously
,
[2]
"who denies a necessary truth out of
vincible ignorance
or from an error held out of
bad
or doubtful faith",
[6]
is a formal heretic. This sort of heresy is
sinful
because in this case the heretic freely and knowingly holds an opinion that, in the words of the
Catholic Encyclopedia
, "is destructive of the virtue of Christian faith [...] disturbs the unity, and challenges the Divine authority, of the Church" and "strikes at the very source of faith".
[2]
Material heresy refers to an opinion objectively contradictory to the teachings of the
Church
, which as such is heretical, but which is uttered by a person who does not know the belief is heretical. A person who holds a material heresy may therefore not be a heretic in the strict sense.
[7]
Material heresy is an opinion that is such that by holding it someone "denies a truth that must be held by divine and Catholic faith, but he is such because of
invincible ignorance
or because of an error held in
good faith
.
Good faith
in an erring man is a prudent judgment whereby the one in error thinks that he does not err, but on the contrary, that he is in possession of the truth".
[6]
The opinion of a material heretic may produce the same objective results as formal heresy, but the heretic commits no sin by holding it.
[2]
Manifest, occult, public, and private heresy
[
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]
The Catholic Church distinguishes between
manifest
,
occult
,
public
, and
private
heretics:
[8]
[note 1]
A
manifest heretic
is someone whose error or doubt in faith cannot be hidden by any excuse. But an
occult heretic
is said to be someone whose error or doubt in faith remains sufficiently hidden.
A
public heretic
is someone who openly adheres to some heretical
sect
. But a
private heretic
is a person who does not openly adhere to any heretical sect.
Church membership
[
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]
Robert Bellarmine
and most modern
Catholic theologians
(such as
Palmieri
,
Billot
,
Straub
[
de
]
, and
Mersch
[
Wikidata
]
) consider that occult heretics "remain members of the Church, because the loss of membership of the Church, just as much as its acquisition, on account of the
visibility of the Church
, can only result from external legally ascertainable facts";
Ludwig Ott
deems this opinion as "more probable".
[10]
According to Ott, manifest heretics, even when they are only
heretic materially
, are not part of the Catholic Church. He adds that manifest material heretics "do not belong to the body of the Church, that is to the legal
commonwealth
of the Church. However, this does not prevent them from belonging spiritually to the Church by their desire to belong to the Church (votum Ecclesiae) and through this, achieving
justification
and
salvation
".
[10]
Salaverri and Nicolau give the following summary of theological opinions:
[11]
That
formal and manifest heretics are not
members of the body of the Church, can well be said to be a unanimous opinion among Catholics.
a) That formal, but
occult
, heretics are not members of the Church, is defended by some authors, such as
Suarez
,
Molina
,
Billuart
[
fr
]
,
Franzelin
,
Michelitsch
[
Wikidata
]
,
Stolz
,
Fraghi
[
it
]
,
Journet
,
Zapelena
[
Wikidata
]
, and a few others.
But the contrary opinion is more common
.
b) That
merely material
heretics, even if
manifest
, are members of the Church, is argued by
Franzelin
,
De Groot
[
nl
]
,
D'Herbigny
,
Caperan
[
Wikidata
]
,
Terrien
, and a few others. But the contrary opinion is
more common
.
Salaverri and Nicolau, for their part, consider that material (even if manifest) heretics along with occult heretics are part of the Catholic Church.
[12]
Degrees
[
edit
]
There are four degrees of heresy in the Catholic Church according to the
Catholic Encyclopedia
:
[2]
- Pertinacious
adhesion to a doctrine contradictory to a point of faith clearly defined by the Catholic Church is heresy pure and simple, heresy in the first degree
- If the doctrine in question has not been expressly defined or is not clearly proposed as an article of faith in the ordinary, authorized teaching of the Catholic Church, an opinion opposed to it is styled
sententia haeresi proxima
, that is, an opinion approaching heresy
- Next, a doctrinal proposition, without directly contradicting a received
dogma
, may yet involve logical consequences at variance with revealed truth. Such a proposition is not heretical, it is a
propositio theologice erronea
, that is, erroneous in
theology
- Lastly, the opposition to an article of faith may not be strictly demonstrable, but only reach a certain degree of probability. In that case the doctrine is termed
sententia de haeresi suspecta, haeresim sapiens
(scholarly heretic); that is, an opinion suspected, or savouring, of heresy
Other classifications of
theological censures
exist.
History
[
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]
This 1711 illustration for the
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
depicts the
Holy Ghost
supplying the fire burning books.
In the thirteenth century heresy was defined by
Thomas Aquinas
as "a species of
infidelity
in men who, having professed the
faith
of
Christ
, corrupt its
dogmas
". Aquinas continues:
[2]
The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to
Pagans
and
Jews
; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the
deposit of the faith
, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in
Scripture
and
Tradition
as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval.
Then-Catholic priest
Martin Luther
made comments that were later summarized in the 1520
bull
Exsurge Domine
as: "Haereticos comburi est contra voluntatem Spiritus" ("It is contrary to
the Spirit
to
burn heretics
"). This summary was one of the statements specifically
censured
in this papal bull.
[13]
[14]
When Luther did not accept the bull nor to give a broad recantation of his writings, he was
excommunicated
in the subsequent 1521 papal bull
Decet Romanum Pontificem
.
[
citation needed
]
Jansenism
was an early modern theological movement popular in France in the mid-seventeenth century, that held that only a certain portion of humanity was
predestined
to be saved. The heresy according to Roman Catholic doctrine, lay in denying the role of
free will
in the acceptance and use of
grace
.
The last case of a heretic being executed was that of the schoolmaster
Cayetano Ripoll
, accused of
deism
by the waning
Spanish Inquisition
and hanged to death 26 July 1826 in
Valencia
after a two-year trial.
[15]
Modern Roman Catholic response to Protestantism
[
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]
Some of the doctrines of
Protestantism
that the Catholic Church considers heretical are:
sola scriptura
,
sola fide
, the universal
priesthood of all believers
, and the denial of
transubstantiation
.
[16]
In his book
The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood
,
Cardinal Ratzinger
wrote:
The difficulty in the way of giving an answer is a profound one. Ultimately it is due to the fact that there is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today (one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). It is obvious that the old category of 'heresy' is no longer of any value. Heresy, for Scripture and the
early Church
, includes the idea of a personal decision against the unity of the Church, and heresy's characteristic is pertinacia, the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way. This, however, cannot be regarded as an appropriate description of the spiritual situation of the Protestant Christian. In the course of a now centuries-old history, Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the pertinacia characteristic of heresy. Perhaps we may here invert a saying of
St. Augustine
's: that an old schism becomes a heresy. The very passage of time alters the character of a division, so that an old division is something essentially different from a new one. Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined.
[17]
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Code of Canon Law, Canon 751"
.
Archived
from the original on 2023-03-08
. Retrieved
2023-01-22
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
"Heresy"
.
Catholic Encyclopedia
.
New Advent
. 1912
. Retrieved
6 March
2017
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
a
b
"Dictionary : HERESY"
.
www.catholicculture.org
. Retrieved
2023-01-22
.
- ^
"Code of Canon Law - Book III - The teaching function of the Church (Cann. 747-755)"
.
www.vatican.va
. Retrieved
2023-01-22
.
- ^
"
CCC
, 2089"
. Vatican.va.
- ^
a
b
Salaverri, Joachim; Nicolau, Michaele (2015) [195X]. "Book III ? Chapter I ? Article III ? Thesis 26 - §1047".
Sacrae Theologiae Summa
. Vol. IB: On the Church of Christ, On Holy Scripture. Translated by Baker, Kenneth. Ramsey, New Jersey: Keep the Faith. p. 422.
ISBN
978-0-9912268-7-0
.
OCLC
942788647
.
- ^
Oderberg, David S. (2011).
"heresies"
. In Kurian, George T (ed.).
The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization
. Vol. 1. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 1119.
doi
:
10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0652
.
ISBN
9781405157629
.
Heresy being a choice, the element of intent is essential to culpability. Theologians commonly distinguish between 'formal' and 'material' heresy. The distinction is between the matter of heresy, viz. an utterance expressing a proposition that does in fact contradict a dogma, and the formal element, viz. the utterance of the proposition in full knowledge that it contradicts the faith and that the church has proposed the opposite as a dogma. Hence a theologically uneducated person who denies, say, the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
(
defined in 1950
), in ignorance of its being a dogma, has uttered the matter of heresy, but is in no wise a heretic strictly speaking. If it is pointed out to him that the Assumption is a dogma and he still denies it, though the proof put to him is clear, he will have committed formal heresy, i.e. heresy in the strict sense. Even if a person is doubtful about a proof put to him as to the existence of a dogma, as long as his rule of faith is to believe whatever the church teaches, he cannot be called a heretic even if he denies a
de fide
proposition. In other words, one does not have to be theologically well educated or informed to avoid heresy. Even the simplest peasant, as theologians are fond of putting it, can have the faith and avoid all heresy simply by having the interior disposition, not con- tradicted by habitual external action, to believe whatever the church teaches. Hence the term 'material heretic' is like the term 'rubber duck': a material heretic is not a heretic, he is only responsible for uttering a statement that is, in its content, objectively contrary to the faith. Moreover, canon law requires
pertinacity
, that is, an obstinate refusal to accept church teaching, not a one-off denial or expression of doubt. This follows the instruction of St. Paul in the
letter to Titus
(3:10): 'A man that is a heretic [
haereti'kon
], after the first and second admonition avoid, knowing that such a person is subverted, and sins, being condemned by his own judgment.'
- ^
Salaverri, Joachim; Nicolau, Michaele (2015) [195X]. "Book III ? Chapter I ? Article III - §1047".
Sacrae Theologiae Summa
. Vol. IB: On the Church of Christ, On Holy Scripture. Translated by Baker, Kenneth. Ramsey, New Jersey: Keep the Faith. pp. 422?3.
ISBN
978-0-9912268-7-0
.
OCLC
942788647
.
- ^
van Noort, Gerardus Cornelis (1959) [1957]. "Chapter II ? Article I".
Dogmatic Theology
. Vol. 2: Christ's Church. Translated by Castelot, John Joseph; Murphy, William Robert. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press. p. 237.
The generic terms of the proposition [
Members of the Church are all and only those who have received the sacrament of baptism, and are not separated from the unity of the profession of the faith, or from hierarchical unity.
] (particularly the second part of it) cover a variety of categories of people: 'formal' and 'material' heretics: 'public' and 'occult'?heretics; 'formal' and 'material' schismatics; 'total' and 'partial' excommunicates; etc. Since the theologians are not all of one mind in discussing some of these categories, they differ in some of the theological labels they append to each category considered singly.
- ^
a
b
Ott, Ludwig
(n.d.) [195X]. "Book four ? Part 2 ? Chapter 5 ? §19 - 3.". In Bastible, James (ed.).
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma
. Translated by Lynch, Patrick. Fort Collins, Colorado: Roman Catholic Books. p. 311.
ISBN
978-1-929291-85-4
.
- ^
Salaverri, Joachim; Nicolau, Michaele (2015) [195X]. "Book III ? Chapter I ? Article III ? Thesis 26 - §1052".
Sacrae Theologiae Summa
. Vol. IB: On the Church of Christ, On Holy Scripture. Translated by Baker, Kenneth. Ramsey, New Jersey: Keep the Faith. pp. 424?5.
ISBN
978-0-9912268-7-0
.
OCLC
942788647
.
- ^
Salaverri, Joachim; Nicolau, Michaele (2015) [195X]. "Book III ? Chapter I ? Article III ? Thesis 26 - §1055".
Sacrae Theologiae Summa
. Vol. IB: On the Church of Christ, On Holy Scripture. Translated by Baker, Kenneth. Ramsey, New Jersey: Keep the Faith. pp. 425?6.
ISBN
978-0-9912268-7-0
.
OCLC
942788647
.
In the first part we say
: heretics, apostates and schismatics, who are
formal and manifest
, by that very fact are separated from the Church. [...]
Therefore here
we are not considering
the further questions, which are debated among Catholic authors, about heretics, apostates and schismatics who are merely material or occult
- ^
Fredericq, Paul (1900).
Corpus Documentorum Inquisitionis Haereticae Pravitatis Neerlandicae: Verzameling Van Stukken Pauselijke en Bisschoppelijke Inquisitie in de Nederlanden
(in Dutch). Vol. 4. Vuylsteke.
- ^
Bainton, Roland H.
(1950).
Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther
. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press.
, pp. 145?147.
- ^
"Daily TWiP - The Spanish Inquisition executes its last victim today in 1826"
. 26 July 2010. Archived from
the original
on 1 November 2014
. Retrieved
8 June
2013
.
- ^
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Protestantism"
.
www.newadvent.org
. Retrieved
2023-01-22
.
- ^
Ratzinger, Joseph (1993).
The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood
. Ignatius Press. p. 88.
ISBN
9780898704464
.
Further reading
[
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]