The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1962-07-20
THE CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM
PapaI infallibility does not
make councils superfluous

conservation, all that BELTS
them to receive jurisdiction.
The question may be asked:
How are the laity represented
at a council? Pope John XIII,
in an address referring to the
Roman diocesan synod, ex-
pressly stated that ''the laity
are not directly summoned
to take part in the synod"
They are represented through
their bishops. The teaching
body of the Church is in init
mate union with the whole
body of the faithful. Togeth-
er with them the bishops
form an organic body that
preserves and gives express
ion to Christian truth; this
body is the Church.
Those who teach the Faith
are themselves believers and
confessors of that Faith: and
to it all believers testify by
their profession and their
lives. The Holy Spirit, who
anlmates and guides the teach
ing body, also animates and
guides ali believers directly
and inwardly in virtue of the
grace of Baptism, and impow-
ers them to witness actively
to Christian truth. 1t is not
witnessed to exclusively by
the official authentic and
authoritative teaching of the
bishops, but also by the uni
versal and continuous con-
Tossing of the faithful.
THE WHOLE BODY of the
faithful has an important
function in preserving and
developing the Faith. In Bap-
tiSm and Confirmation they
have received the Holy Spirit,
who works in them actively.
The Spirit operates through
His gifts in every. baptized
person in the state of grace.
The gifts of wisdom, under
standing and knowledge pro-
duce an insight into the
truths of faith, a discernment
that often reaches a clarity
and precision astonishing in
laypeople strangers to theol-
ogy.
Plus XII, in his encycli-
Cal Munificentissimus Deus,
strongly emphasized the theol-
ogical Importance of the peo-
pies witness and insight into
the Faith and, at the same
time, stressed the directing
and controlling function of
the teaching Church.
This sense which the peo-
pie have for the Faith must
not be emancipated from the
teaching function of the
Church. The latter takes into
account the sense Of the faith
full and their witness as a
datum of tradition, which has
to be assessed by the teach
ing authority alone.
Thus the bishops are the
primary and official guar
dianS of the Christian revela-
ton, and that is why the early
councils. in their doctrinal
decisions, appealed to Sricp-
ture and to the tradition of
Doctors of the Church and
the Fathers who were bish-
ops. But great Importance at
taches also to the witness of
the faithful in general. 1t con-
stitutes secondary evidence
for the Church's tradition;
and SO, in later times, doc
trinal decisions have often
taken into account the wit
ness of the faithful and re-
garded it as a sign of genuine
tradition.
IN A COUNCIL, the bishops
testify to the belief of the
Church, without in any way
lesSening the independence
and authority of the teaching
body. They do not represent
their people in the way a
parliament represents a coun-
try. It is their episcopal Of
flee, not appointment by the
faithful, that makes them at
the council testes fidei, wit
nesseS to the faith of the
Church.
Bishops alone are the au-
thentic d~octores fidei, teach
ers of the Faith. When assem-
bled in council, they repre-
sent, in their union with the
pope, the whole Church in
the most solemn form. But
the function of theirs which
is mainly stressed by a coun-
Gil is that of JUDGES fidei,
judges in matters of faith; it
is they who decide questions
Of doctrine, Of Christian life
and morals and their deciS-
ions are universally binding.
That is the reason why, even
in the early Church, it was
insisted: Concilia esse epis-
coporum - councils are the
concern of the bishops.