levels of teaching authority

I am by no means an expert on this issue. There is a very good article on this question by my friend Bob Fastiggi entitled "Capital Punishment, the Magisterium, and Religious Assent." The article was published at 12 Josephinum Journal of Theology 192-213 (Summer/Fall 2005). In this article, he explains the three levels of Church teaching (as set forth in the Profession of Faith). First, are solemn, infallible teachings (e.g., divinity of Christ). Second, are issues definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals (e.g., illicitness of euthanasia, the reservation of priestly ordination to men). Issues in these first two categories are binding on Catholics. Third, are teachings of the Magisterium that have not been definitively proclaimed. Fastiggi places the teachings of JP II and the Catechism on the death penalty in this third category. These teachings are owed the religious submission of intellect and will (as set forth in Lumen Gentium 25).    

Richard M.