D'artagnan wrote:As I understand it, the Pope has major authority for interpreting Catholic dogma. The current Pope has been conservative in this regard, but others have been less so. Was it Pope John XXIII who initiated the change from Latin masses to masses in the language of each culture? I'm not sure, but that's an example of how a Pope does more than participate in ceremonial events...
Well reforming the Mass didn't really involve any interpretation of dogma just a change of Church policy. The current pope has also reformed the Mass... making it more "conservative." Some of the changes from the Mass as we know it post-Vatican II are being rolled back. It's a very good move IMO. The current Mass drifts way too far from the original. When the English translation is finished, Catholics in America will have to relearn the Mass for the first time in almost 40 years.
The last dogma declared by the pope was the Assumption of Mary in 1950. It was already the commonly held belief (among not just Catholics but the Orthodox as well) but the pope offically declared it as part of the Catholic faith:
"Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith."
