SENSUS FIDEI AND THE MAGISTERIUM OF POPE FRANCIS
Keywords:
Magisterium, Missionary Church, People of God, Praxis, Sensus Fidei, Theology of the PeopleAbstract
The Second Vatican Council in Lumen gentium teaches that, in virtue of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the whole body of the faithful possesses a sure sense of the faith and it cannot err in matters of belief. This spiritual instinct, sensus fidei, is also a criterion for deciding whether a doctrine belongs to the living faith of the Church. This article, first, examines the notion of sensus fidei in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. It investigates how, according to the Council, the sensus fidei is the gift of the Holy Spirit to all believers and what are its implications for the Church. The second part of the article is dedicated to the idea of sensus fidei in the teachings of Pope Francis. He strongly believes that “the wisdom which the Holy Spirit” has given to the faithful enables them to make their belief a Christian praxis. In the concluding part, the article examines the relevance of this notion for the mission of Church today.
References
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