gerald o’collins sj comments on the appeal to the cardinals by 45 Catholic academics which seeks a clarification of the teaching of Amoris Laetitia (“The illusion of certainty”, 30 July). He claims that clarifications of teachings and documents are alien to the Church’s usual practice. Anyone who takes the trouble to look in Denzinger, the handbook of Catholic teaching, will see, however, that it is stuffed with clarifications. Nor has the stream of clarificatory verbiage dried up. Indeed, the Vatican Press Office seems recently to have taken on a semi-official function of clarifying papal remarks in real time.

The test of whether a clarification is needed is the degree of confusion a document has generated. If there is broad agreement about what a document means, and the author is happy with this agreement, then further clarification is not necessary.