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Document Details : Title: Moving beyond Individual 'Responsible Dissent' to Possible Institutionalization Subtitle: Reflections on Pope Francis's 'Culture of Encounter' and the Image of the Polyhedron Author(s): EJIOWHOR, Martin Owhorchukwu Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Date: 2022 Pages: 323-344 DOI: 10.2143/LS.45.4.3292261 Abstract : This article takes its point of departure in the debate about whether and how 'responsible dissent' from non-infallible magisterial teaching might play a role in the doctrinal development and teaching process of the Roman Catholic Church, properly understood as a deliberative moral community. As scholarly investigations tend to focus on individuals’ dissent, this article investigates how to envision an institutional level. I argue that Pope Francis’s model of the 'culture of encounter' and image of the polyhedron contain the seeds for creating a synodal magisterium, an ecclesial infrastructure that allows for the institutionalization of dissent in the Church. In a final step, this article sheds light on how this synodal magisterium, which implies certain ecclesial dispositions and attitudes in the search for the truth and the exercise of teaching authority, challenges the magisterium to expand the horizon of the Church’s teaching-learning process, thereby opening the possibility of institutionalizing dissent from non-infallible teachings as part of the process of developing the Church’s teachings. |
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