Also from Donum Veritatis 24, and as a corollary to Principle # 3, we have the following:
The Church’s Magisterium cannot be habitually mistaken in its prudential judgments.
This is opposed to those who maintain submission to the Church’s teachings but scoff at all the Church’s pastoral decisions over the past fifty years. While this or that decision can be shortsighted, one cannot take the whole trend of the Church’s pastoral activity over an extended period of time as gravely mistaken. This Principle is relevant to our blog inasmuch as many magisterial documents concern not doctrine but practice.
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