Moral Law and Pastoral Praxis from Veritatis Splendor to the Magisterium of Francis

Thirty years ago, Pope John Paul II’s Veritatis Splendor confronted what it considered a moral crisis in which freedom, understood as autonomy without limits, led to the denial of the objective truth, especially the truth of revelation and natural law. Therefore, it strongly reaffirmed the relationship of faith to moral law and the doctrine of intrinsically evil acts, unlawful in all circumstances. The text rejected so-called “pastoral solutions,” which postulated exceptions to moral absolutes by exaggerating the singularity of concrete situations. Pope Francis’s magisterium addresses a different problem: the inherent complexity and fragility of the human condition in this world. For this reason, he is primarily concerned with the dangers of rigorism and legalism, as can be seen in the exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate . The declaration Dignitas Infinita , with its unconditional condemnation of acts that violate human dignity, may open a way for overcoming the tension between the teachings of the two pontiffs and contributing to a renewal of moral theology and pastoral praxis which avoids the danger of both rigorism and overburdening personal consciences for lack of clear normative references.