Home Forums Everything Else How does the Catholic Church view the Protestant denominatio Reply To: How does the Catholic Church view the Protestant denominatio

#9113
Anonymous
Inactive

James:

I don’t claim infallibility, nor as I have mentioned before can a computer forum be exhaustive in covering all aspects of any given topic.

Your citation from a secular dictionary does give one aspect of heresy. However if you look in the Catholic Encyclopedia, you will find further (also not exaustive) aspects.

[quote:s7ni6bj0]Both matter and form of heresy admit of degrees which find expression in the following technical formula of theology and canon law. Pertinacious adhesion to a doctrine contradictory to a point of faith clearly defined by the Church is heresy pure and simple, heresy in the first degree. But 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 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. Further, 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; that is, an opinion suspected, or savouring, of heresy[/quote:s7ni6bj0]
[url:s7ni6bj0]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm#REF_III[/url:s7ni6bj0]
As for the section of my comments above, I stand by them, as there was a question in the early 20th Century about Vincible and Invincible Ignorance, which my comment touched upon. That being, if someone is unaware that he or she has denied the teachings of the Catholic Church, or has been prejudiced against hearing the teachings of the Church he or she cannot be held liable. So a Protestant or a Catholic who does not understand the teachings of the Church and is misled into renouncing what he falsely believes is the Catholic Faith is not a formal heretic, because he is rejecting not what the Church teaches, but what he has been falsely led to believe is what the Church teaches.