is your opinion that this is an uninteresting semantic point as an expert in semantics or as an expert in catholic theology i ask because in english dissent and criticism while closely related are not synonyms and in catholic theology dissent is a term of art that describes rejection of a binding teaching a catholic is free to drive an suv support a war or support the death penalty because there is no binding teaching forbidding any of them even though one or more popes have taken personal positions opposing them e g while the church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace not war and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia i have on my to do list a section for this article delineating what is and is not binding on catholics but in the interim let me make crystal clear that the section describes criticism not dissent