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In 1964, Pope Paul VI issued the Second Vatican Council’s “Decree on Ecumenism,” called Unitatis Redintegratio, which translates from Latin as “The Restoration of Unity.” Right there, we see that the whole notion of denominationalism is wrong. And to their credit, the mostly Protestant thinkers involved in the “Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry” document from the World Council of Churches would agree. As most Christians—not just Roman Catholics&md …

The Second Vatican Council was the first ecumenical council in nearly a century and was the most attended ecclesial gathering in Church history. Its business was conducted over four sessions from October 1962 to December 1965; however, the man behind the vision of the council died in the summer of 1963 after the conclusion of the first session and there was serious discussion over whether it should continue. His successor Pope Paul VI (r. 1963-1978) quickly silenced the question concerning the c …

  Identifying Infallible TeachingsSometimes people ask, “Is this document infallible?”The question is problematic because the Magisterium doesn’t issue documents whose teaching is infallible from beginning to end. Instead, it issues documents that contain individual propositions that are infallible.In Ineffabilis Deus (1854) and Munificentissimus Deus (1950)—the documents that defined the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary—only a single sentence …