Formal and Virtual Revelation

Cases of supposed virtual revelation that are actually formal

We distinguish between truths that are brought about by “formal revelation” and truths that are brought about by “virtual revelation.” The former are immediately given to us by God in Divine Revelation and the latter are given to us by God in Divine Revelation only in their principles, human reason intervening in drawing forth the conclusion by the light of human reason.

There is a significant disagreement among theologians over the manner in which the latter can be said to bind us to the assent of faith when proposed by the Church, i.e., can these virtually revealed truths become the subject of a dogmatic definition of the Church. Famously, Fr. Francisco Marin-Sola wrote his work titled The Homogeneous Evolution of Catholic Dogma defending the definability of theological conclusions and Fr. Réginald Schultes opposed him.

I am not here to adjudicate this issue (although I agree with Fr. Sola on this issue in particular). Rather, following Scheeben, I want to discuss some instances of the first type that one may be liable to place within the second type.