LifeSiteNews on Cardinal Koovakad and the “Spirit of Assisi”: the quote is right, the account of “ordinary Magisterium” is not

In his lecture, after quoting Magnifica Humanitas 223, Cardinal Koovakad wrote: “Con queste parole il 27 ottobre 1986 entra nell’insegnamento ordinario del Magistero. Non è più soltanto un evento da ricordare: è un criterio con cui leggere il presente” (with these words 27 October 1986 enters the ordinary teaching of the Magisterium; it is no longer only an event to remember but a criterion for reading the present) (lecture). LifeSiteNews quotes this sentence accurately. The encyclical’s paragraph speaks of the “spirit of Assisi” as showing that believers can draw on their traditions’ sources “where there is no room for ‘sanctified hatred’” (n. 223).

Lumen Gentium 25 asks for “religious submission of mind and will… to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra” (vatican.va). The Holy See itself calls non-definitive papal documents “ordinary” teaching: in 2023 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith described Amoris laetitia as a document “of the ordinary pontifical magisterium, to which all are called to offer the homage of intellect and will” (Vatican News).