Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 344 – Part II.

YOUCAT Question n. 344 – Part II. Why does the Church also make declarations about ethical questions and about matters of personal conduct?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Believing is a path. One learns how to stay on this path, in other words, how to act rightly and to lead a good life, only by following the instructions in the Gospel. The teaching authority (Magisterium) of the Church must remind people also about the demands of the natural moral law.    

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2034) The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice" (LG 25). The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for.   

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) There are not two truths. What is humanly right cannot be wrong from the Christian perspective. And what is right according to Christianity cannot be humanly wrong. That is why the Church must teach comprehensively about moral issues.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2035) The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed (Cf. LG 25; CDF, declaration, Mysterium Ecclesiae 3).

(This question: Why does the Church also make declarations about ethical questions and about matters of personal conduct? is continued)