DIVERSITY IN TEACHING BY EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES: SOME POSITIVE CONSIDERATIONS

The author first examines the reform agenda of Pope Francis with respect to episcopal conferences and his implied invitation to revisit John Paul II's motu proprio Apostolos suos. The article then looks briefly at the positive attitude and stance that Francis has adopted towards the teaching office of the numerous episcopal conferences. His emphatically pastoral approach to his own ministry provides a stimulus for a reflection on the exercise of his magisterium, which has a particularly pastoral tone. This provides a perspective from which to view the munus docendi of the conferences and a validation for a certain diversity that may occur in their approaches. This exercise of the teaching role of a conference is explored with specific reference to the episcopal conference of the United States, which provides an example for how the magisterium of a conference can make a significant contribution to the Church's teaching on contemporary moral issues.