Abstract
Catherine of Siena was declared doctor of the universal church in 1970 for reasons documented in the record of the canonical process for that declaration. Primary among these reasons were her defense of the papacy and her orthodox fidelity to the magisterium, with emphasis on supernatural inspiration rather than human giftedness as the foundation of her teaching. Beginning from Catherine's own comments on doctors of the church, this essay proposes that a more cogent reason for naming Catherine doctor of the church rests in her pastoral genius grounded in a discipleship that seeks ultimate truth only in the truth that is God. That pastoral genius expresses itself in writings that are at once theologically sound, faithful, and humanly sensitive.
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