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" For a community based essentially on shared adherence to the Word of
God and on the resulting certainty of living in the truth, authority
for determining the content to be believed and professed is something
that cannot be renounced. However, this does not entitle one to hold
that the pronouncements and doctrinal decisions of the Magisterium
call for irrevocable assent only when it states them in a solemn
judgment or definitive act, and that, consequently in all other cases
one need only consider the arguments or reasons employed.
In the Encyclicals, 'Veritatis Splendor' and 'Evangelium Vitae', as
well as in the Apostolic Letter 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis', I wished
once again to set forth the constant doctrine of the Church's faith
with an act confirming truths which are clearly witnessed to by
Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the unanimous teaching of the
Pastors. These declarations, by virtue of the authority handed down to
the successor of Peter to 'confirm the brethren' (Luke 22:32), thus
express the common certitude present in the life and teaching of the
Church.
It therefore seems urgently necessary to recover the authentic concept
of authority, not only from the formal juridical standpoint, but more
profoundly, as a means of guaranteeing, safeguarding and guiding the
Christian community in fidelity to and continuity with Tradition, to
make it possible for believers to be in contact with the preaching of
the Apostles and with the source of the Christian reality itself "
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