Obsequium religiosum

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Obsequium religiosum is a Latin phrase meaning religious submission or religious assent, particularly in the theology of the Catholic Church.

[edit] Second Vatican Council

The term is used in the document Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council regarding the duty of the faithful to give assent with "religious submission" to the ordinary magisterium of the Church. Ordinary magisterium is a reference to the authoritative teachings of the Holy See which have not been defined infallibly, or "ex cathedra."

The phrase appears in Lumen Gentium, 25a in the following context, here translated as both religious assent and religious submission:

Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.