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Pluralism (OSV Encyc. 1997)
Salvation comes from Jesus Christ who alone has the words of eternal life (cf. Jn 6:68). Hence arises the vital need to accept his Revelation; "he who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16:15-16).
The truth that saves is something given; it is not invented by us, but revealed by God. It has already in fact been given in its entirety, and so the Church teaches that there can be no new public revelation after the death of the last Apostle (Denz. 3421).
Revelation is complete, doctrine does not increase. However, our understanding of doctrine can and should improve and increase (see 'Development of Doctrine'); or alternatively - God forbid - could weaken or be lost.
While all truth is in Christ and he spoke for all times and situations, he did not directly address all subjects. Nevertheless, his teaching on every single matter connected with salvation is available to us right down to the end of time. Whenever an apparently new question of belief or behavior comes up or an older belief is questioned, Jesus is specially present, just as he promised: "I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20), as is the Spirit of truth, who "will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16:13). To fulfil his promises he set up a hierarchically structured Church, with a special mission to represent him, with a teaching power (Magisterium) that speaks not only in his Name, but with his very Voice: "he who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me" (Lk 10:16).
Our minds therefore have not been left on their own in the challenge of understanding the full content of Christ's revelation and its application to the new circumstances that human history seems to bring up. So, once the Church proposes some definitive teaching on a matter of faith or morals, then the matter should be settled for a Catholic. In such a situation dissent from clear Church teaching would be dissent from Christ; it would mean not believing in (or not heeding) his promise to be present behind that teaching.
From all of this, nevertheless, it does not follow that there is no room for reflection and research or for differing views, in matters of Church doctrine. Even when the substance of a truth of faith has been established, there always remain accidental or marginal aspects which allow different interpretations. In those, research, discussion, new proposals and hypotheses are all legitimate, provided they really range within, and not outside, the terms or limits of the truth already taught.
This possibility that varying interpretations or explanations may be given to aspects of revealed truth is what we call theological pluralism. Pluralism means that the same doctrine can be seen and appreciated in different ways, or various practical conclusions drawn from it. Just as the same physical object - a tree or a building - can be viewed from different angles, and quite different sketches or photos made of it, so the precious truths of our faith, while retaining their objective meaning and content, may open up different aspects of their riches in different ways to different minds.
The work of theological pluralism can gradually establish the inner connections and harmonies between theses that might at first sight seem to be in opposition. A mind open to pluralist possibilities will look for continuity, rather than see rupture, in apparently quite radical developments in Church doctrine. Take an instance such as magisterial teaching on religious tolerance. The preconciliar view tended to work from the thesis that 'error has no rights', whereas modern reflection, without contradicting that, sets out from a different principle in approaching the matter: 'each person has rights', also the person in error (cf. Dignitatis Humanae). The ends of marriage might offer another example. Pre-conciliar teaching proposed a hierarchy of ends: procreation as the primary end, and 'mutual help' and 'sedation of concupiscence' as two secondary ends. Nowadays marriage is assigned two ends on an equal level: procreation/education and the 'good of the spouses' (CCC 2249, 2363; c. 1055). It is not hierarchy but interdependence of the ends that is now emphasized. Whether the teaching on "primary" and "secondary" ends has been completely dropped or not, is a matter of legitimate dispute among theologians.
The difference between pluralism and dissent. Pluralism, fully adhering to all the doctrines proposed by the Church, suggests different interpretations of aspects that do not touch the substance of what is proposed. The true pluralist continues to look to the Magisterium, always ready to accept any indication, or any correction, coming from that charismatic source. Dissent (at times wrongly presented as a type of Pluralism) interprets a doctrine in a way that rejects or contradicts it, at least in some essential aspect.
To accept that Christ really rose from the dead with his human body, while then to offer different suggestions as to the mode of this occurrence, is pluralism, which is equally shown by those who believe in the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, to heaven; some holding that she died first (like her Son). and others that the merits of her Son preserved her from the actual experience of death. To question or deny the reality of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus or of the Assumption of Mary, is dissent; in these two cases it would in fact be heresy, since in each instance a defined dogma is in question (cf. Denz. 10ff, 189, 369, 791, etc.; 3903).
For legitimate pluralism, the Magisterium always remains the common reference point. Claims that this is not according to the rules of equal debate are well founded. Insofar as a debate may at times arise between the Magisterium and some theologians, the debate is not equal, for only the Magisterium possesses the mission to speak in the name of Christ; and it alone was given the charism, the special divine grace and assistance, to do so.
Pluralism, under the Magisterium, is a blessing for the Church. It leads to the enrichment of our understanding of the wonders of the faith, never to its impoverishment.