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Questions / The Church and the Pope

What is the Magisterium?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Catholic Answers

Video: Catholic Answers Focus: Is a Church Magisterium Unbiblical?, Catholic Answers Live, published Jun 17, 2020. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: The living teaching office: the Pope and bishops in communion with him, tasked with faithfully interpreting God’s Word. CCC 85 CCC 100

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

The task of authentically interpreting God’s Word belongs to the Magisterium: the Pope and the bishops in communion with him. CCC 100

It exercises that authority in the name of Jesus Christ. CCC 85

Our words

Think of it as the Church’s memory and conscience, keeping the faith the same faith from one century to the next.

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Sources on this page

How we know · 2 Catechism paragraphs
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 85, 100 (official text on vatican.va).

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