Abstract

Jörgen Vijgen:
St. Thomas Aquinas and the Magisterium
(FKTh 2026-1, p. 1–14)

This study seeks to undertake a comparative reading of Veritatis splendor (1993) and Amoris laetitia (2015) in order to bring to light the tension between a genuine reception of the doctrinal authority of St. Thomas Aquinas and a fragmentary recourse to what may be termed a Thomism à la carte. The justification for such an inquiry lies in the fact that both documents, as is widely attested, summon the Thomistic corpus not merely as ornament, but as an essential interlocutor in the unfolding of their fundamental argumentative trajectories. My purpose, however, is not to rehearse once more the contested question of whether Amoris laetitia can be situated within the hermeneutic of continuity vis-à-vis prior magisterial teaching. Rather, the inquiry aims to disclose the divergent modalities by which each text engages the Thomistic heritage – whether as a living authority integrated into the fabric of doctrinal reasoning, or as a resource selectively appropriated in service of a prior pastoral or rhetorical orientation.