Home   »  Read   »   American Reform – The Value of Encyclicals in Light of “Humani Generis” — Salaverri, 1952

American Reform – The Value of Encyclicals in Light of “Humani Generis” — Salaverri, 1952

“Concerning the doctrinal value of the Encyclicals, the ‘Humani generis’ teaches us that they are interventions of the Magisterium of the Church itself, by means of which the living Magisterium exercises its ordinary office of sole authentic interpreter of the sources of revelation, to which theologians must adhere as a norm in their investigations, abandoning in particular those methods of exegesis foreign to the principles and norms of hermeneutics proposed in the Encyclicals, and endeavoring to confirm their teachings with theological arguments.”>

Portrait (colorized) of Fr. Joachim Salaverri, distinguished Jesuit theologian and author of the Sacrae Theologiae Summa manuals

Brief Introduction

Beyond the singularly lucid exposition of Father Salaverri, S.J., which follows, interested Catholics will find helpful the treatments gathered below from other approved theologians. These essays address the Catholic Magisterium as such — its criteria for engagement and the forms by which it is exercised. Of particular interest, both Monsignor Fenton and Father Hürth give attention to the Papal Allocution, a form which many Catholics do not realize can, in certain circumstances, engage the Magisterium.>A special thank you is to be awarded to Mario Derksen and for bringing the majority of these texts to the attention of the English-speaking public. For decades, these theological essays have been “lost to history,” yet they are invaluable for making sense of the present Crisis in the Catholic Church.

Originally published in The Journal of American Reform. Read original article