The Authority of Papal Congregations

This is a heady posting. It delves into the Ordinary Magisterium, which is the day to day teaching of the Church. The Ordinary Magisterium has possibly fallible teachings which are also possibly infallible. In short, we do not know their nature unless we do an exhaustive theological survey, the college of bishops and the pope, or the pope alone states so, possibly by his "manner of speaking" (Lumen Gentium, 25, 1).

There are two general levels of teaching:

1. Infallible Magisterium: These are infallible teachings and contain two general levels, the Universal Ordinary Magisterium (the pope and bishops throughout the world teaching together) and the Extraordinary Magisterium (Church Councils, Papal Definitions).
2. Ordinary Magisterium: These are day to day teachings, which have the possibility of being infallible, however, could be fallible (contain error).

This article is not intended to be exhaustive, but to speak in general terms. I will try to boil these concepts to some main points.

Main Points
A great article on the authority of Ordinary Magisterial Teachings (possibly fallible) including Papal Congregations is found here. In it you will find a quote of what Blessed Pope Pius the IX, a great pope according to many accounts and his encyclicals, said about Papal congregations in an apostolic letter, which I have extended below:

"it is not sufficient for learned Catholics to accept and revere the aforesaid dogmas of the Church...it is also necessary to subject themselves to the decisions pertaining to doctrine which are issued by the Pontifical congregations..." (Pius IX, Tuas Libenter, Enchiridion Symbolorum).

It is assumed by some that Pontifical Congregations are to be ignored. However, Pius IX has explicitly taught otherwise, as quoted above. Pius the IX also goes on to speak of theological truths being binding (called sense of the faithful), but I will not address that here.

This seems to suggest that the teachings of Congregations belong to the Ordinary Magisterium, which is still binding on Catholics in various degrees. This is probably because they have the consent of the pope to engage in their activities, it is from him that they derive their authority.

Correction
The article above, states that such teachings are not infallible, however, that is an incorrect statement.  Just because a teaching is not infallibly defined or proposed does not mean it is not infallible, just that it has not been infallibly proposed, spoken or defined. We should reserve judgement on whether it is infallible or not, because the pope could later state it is so, or a theological survey and statement by the pope could reveal it is.

The Bottom Line
We are to treat Congregational Documents (especially from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) as being part of the Ordinary Magisterium, which requires at least religious assent.  You cannot marginalize this teaching because it does not agree with your training or opinion.

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