Much less prominent that day was another brief papal statement at the audience.

Their position would be strengthened by any papal statement that supported the wider intepretation of infallibity in the area of morality.

Mr. Grisez said he did not believe that the papal statement would silence many moralists of other views.

An encyclical is the most authoritative form of papal statement.

Some commentators still continue to try to show that the document is fully consistent with the 19th century papal statements on these issues.

But even a papal statement is not likely to close the debate.

The Holy See has given no complete list of papal statements considered to be infallible.

The Pope said Catholics must obey the church on all matters and not just on issues of strong papal statements.

Reading encyclicals and other papal statements often requires interpretive skills to determine just exactly what is said.

The outcome is invariably a papal statement that may or may not reflect the synod's concerns.