Things I don’t know and things I do


Don't knows
Does human activity cause global warming?
I have read some of the scientific literature and I'm inclined to think that it probably does. But I don’t know for sure.

Should the Government make markets a little more free, or increase regulation and taxation a little?
Not my field, I’m afraid. I don’t know.

Should we all use low energy light bulbs to save the planet?
We don’t have much choice now and I’m happy enough with the softer light they give. But on the question of whether they contribute much to saving the planet, I just don’t know.

Do knows
Will the Church one day say that we can be racist?
No. Although it has not been formally defined, the Church’s condemnation of racism is part of the universal ordinary magisterium and therefore infallible teaching. So we know for sure that the Church can never say that.

Will the Church one day say it's OK to be in a homosexual civil partnership?
No. Although it has not been formally defined, the Church’s condemnation of homosexual civil partnerships is part of the universal ordinary magisterium and therefore infallible teaching. So we know for sure that the Church can never say that.

Will the Church one day permit the ordination of women?
No. Although it has not been formally defined, the Church says that it is definitively to be held that she has no power to ordain women, and that this is part of the deposit of faith. This teaching is not from an extraordinary exercise of papal infallibility but is part of the universal ordinary magisterium and therefore infallible teaching. So we know for sure that the Church can never ordain women.

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