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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

What if one pope contradicts another?

Question:

If a pope gives a statement on an issue that is the complete opposite of that of a past pope, which of them is correct?

Answer:

First, we must determine whether it is a matter of doctrine or morals. If it is not, popes are free to disagree with each other. If it is, we must determine if one or both of the popes is speaking merely as a private theologian. If one of them was speaking definitively in his capacity as pope, then the presumption of correctness would go to him. We must also consider the possibility that what appears to be a contradiction between past and present popes may not be. Popes can state the same truth in a variety of ways without contradicting each other. There may also be theological development that will give nuances to earlier doctrinal pronouncements.

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