AGREE TO DISAGREE? THAT IS THE QUESTION!

QUESTION?

Can a Catholic disagree with a Bishop or the Pope on an issue that is not doctrinal?

ANSWER!

Yes, we can disagree with our leaders on policy issues and prudential judgments that they make if we hold a different view based on the evidence we read.

Servant of God Cardinal Raphael Merry del Val (British born Spanish 1865-1930) wrote in his 1902 book The Truth of Papal Claims:

Great as our filial duty of reverence is towards what ever [the pope] may say, great as our duty of obedience must be to the guidance of the Chief Shepherd, we do not hold that every word of his is infallible, or that he must always be right.  Much less do we dream of teaching that he is infallible, or in any degree superior to other men, when he speaks on matters that are scientific, or historical, or political, or that he may not make mistakes of judgment in dealing with contemporary events, with men and things. (p. 19)

[E]ven to-day a Bishop might… expostulate with a Pope, who, in his judgment, might be acting in a way which was liable to mislead those under his own charge… The hypothesis is quite conceivable, and in no way destroys or diminishes the supremacy of the Pope. (p. 74).

* The following memorandum was sent by Cardinal Ratzinger to Cardinal McCarrick and was made public in the first week of July 2004.] In the midst of a debate in the United States over abortion and Communion, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a confidential memorandum entitled Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles. It was leaked to the press, and its genuineness was confirmed by the Holy See. Catholics who wanted to see Catholic pro-abortion politicians held accountable for their reprehensible stance found much of what Ratzinger said heartening, but one statement in the memorandum caused some of them considerable perplexity:

"Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.” This Cardinal later became Pope Benedict XVI. This was written under the Papacy of St John Paul II who approved it. 

The Pope has never threatened to withhold Holy Communion from those Catholic’s who approve of the Iraq War or the Death Penalty because these issues (War & the Death Penalty) are debatable and not morally equivalent to abortion, same sex marriage or the other life issues (euthanasia, embryonic fetal stem cell research, birth control).

We even have a duty to confront our Sacred Pastors with our opinions which pertain to the good of the Church (CCC 907).