Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith


The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome, just outside Vatican City. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible for promulgating and defending Catholic doctrine.
This institution was founded by Pope Paul III on 21 July 1542, as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition. It was then renamed in 1908 as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. In 1965, it became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Since 2022, it is named Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is still informally known as the Holy Office in many Catholic countries. The sole objective of the dicastery is to "spread sound Catholic doctrine and defend those points of Christian tradition which seem in danger because of new and unacceptable doctrines."
The congregation employs an advisory board including cardinals, bishops, priests, lay theologians, and canon lawyers. On 1 July 2023, Pope Francis named Argentine archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández as prefect, who took possession of the office in mid-September.

History

On 21 July 1542, Pope Paul III proclaimed the Apostolic Constitution Licet ab initio, establishing the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, staffed by cardinals and other officials whose task it was "to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines." It served as the final court of appeal in trials of heresy and served as an important part of the Counter-Reformation.
This body was renamed the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in 1908 by Pope Pius X. In many Catholic countries, the body is often informally called the Holy Office.
The congregation's name was changed to Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 7 December 1965, at the end of the Second Vatican Council. Soon after the 1983 Code of Canon Law came into effect, the adjective "sacred" was dropped from the names of all Curial Congregations, and so it became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In 2022, the name was changed to Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On September 23, 2024, Pope Francis appointed 28 Italian new consultors of the dicastery.

Timeline

Role

According to the 1988 Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor bonus, article 48, promulgated by John Paul II: "The proper duty of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote and safeguard the doctrine on faith and morals in the whole Catholic world; so it has competence in things that touch this matter in any way."
This includes investigations into grave delicts committed by a cleric against a person under the age of eighteen. These crimes, in Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela a motu proprio of 2001, come under the competency of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In effect, it is the "promoter of justice" that deals with, among other things, the question of Roman [Catholic sex abuse cases|priests accused of paedophilia].
Within the DDF are the International Theological Commission and the Pontifical Biblical Commission. The Prefect of the DDF is ex officio president of these commissions.
On 7 December 2021, Pope Francis promulgated a new version of the "Norms on the Delicts Reserved to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith"; the original version had been first promulgated in 2001 by John Paul II and amended in 2010 by Benedict XVI. The changes of the new version concern "harmonising the norms with the revised Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which was promulgated in May 2021" and adding "numerous normative measures of various kinds issued in previous years, especially since 2016."

Organization

Until 1968, the pope held the title of prefect and appointed a cardinal to preside over the meetings, first as Secretary, then as Pro-Prefect.
Since 1968, the Cardinal head of the dicastery has borne the title of Prefect and the title of Secretary refers to the second highest-ranking officer of the Congregation. As of 2012 the Congregation had a membership of 18 cardinals and a smaller number of non-cardinal bishops, a staff of 38 and 26 consultors.
The work of the CDF is divided into two sections, the doctrinal and the disciplinary. The CDF holds biennial plenary assemblies, and issues documents on doctrinal, disciplinary, and sacramental questions that occasionally include notifications concerning writings by Catholic theologians.
The disciplinary section has responsibility for dealing with credible allegations against clergy. Archbishop Kennedy leads a staff of 16 full-time officials.
On his appointment as prefect, Cardinal Fernández was instructed to focus on the Dicastery's doctrinal work and leave the disciplinary section alone.

Recent canonical judgments and publications

The following is a non-exhaustive list of recent documents and judgments issued by the DDF. Lengthy DDF documents usually have Latin titles. A short document that briefly states objections to one or more writings by a Catholic theologian is typically called a "notification".

2021–present

Secretaries until 1965

When the Supreme Sacred Congregation for the Roman and Universal Inquisition was first established in 1542, it was composed of several cardinal inquisitors styled as "inquisitors-general", who were formally equal to each other, even if some of them were clearly dominant. Until 1968, the pope himself presided over the Congregation. However, from 1564 the daily administration of the affairs of the Congregation was entrusted to the cardinal secretary. This model was retained when the Inquisition was formally renamed as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in 1908.
Unless stated otherwise, the term of office ended with the officeholder's death.
NameFromUntilAppointer
1Antonio Ghislieri
''		14 December 15647 January 1566Pius IV
2Diego de Espinosa8 September 15665 September 1572Pius V
3Scipione Rebiba8 April 157323 July 1577Pius V
4Giacomo Savelli31 July 15775 December 1587Gregory XIII
5Giulio Antonio Santori5 December 15879 May 1602Sixtus V
6Camillo Borghese
'		9 June 160316 May 1605Clement VIII
7Pompeio Arrigoni16 May 16054 April 1616Paul V
8Giovanni Garzia Millini4 April 16162 October 1629Paul V
9Antonio Marcello Barberini2 October 16291 December 1633Urban VIII
10Francesco Barberini1 December 163310 December 1679Urban VIII
11Cesare Facchinetti10 December 167931 January 1683Innocent XI
12Alderano Cybo31 January 168322 July 1700Innocent XI
13Galeazzo Marescotti22 July 17001 January 1716Innocent XII
14Fabrizio Spada1 January 171615 June 1717Clement XI
15Nicolò Acciaioli15 June 171723 February 1719Clement XI
16Francesco del Giudice25 February 171910 October 1725Clement XI
17Fabrizio Paolucci10 October 172512 June 1726Benedict XIII
18Pietro Ottoboni14 June 172629 February 1740Benedict XIII
19Tommaso Ruffo29 August 174016 February 1753Benedict XIV
20Neri Maria Corsini26 February 17536 December 1770Benedict XIV
21Giovanni Francesco Stoppani12 December 177018 November 1774Clement XIV
22Luigi Maria Torregiani22 February 17756 January 1777Pius VI
23Carlo Rezzonico17 January 177726 January 1799Pius VI
24Leonardo Antonelli8 November 180023 January 1811Pius VII
25Giulio Maria della Somaglia20 May 18142 April 1830Pius VII
26Bartolomeo Pacca5 April 183019 April 1844Pius VIII
27Vincenzo Macchi25 April 184430 September 1860Gregory XVI
28Costantino Patrizi Naro10 October 186017 December 1876Pius IX
29Prospero Caterini21 December 187628 October 1881Pius IX
30Antonio Maria Panebianco30 March 188225 January 1883Leo XIII
31Luigi Maria Bilio, CRSP25 January 188330 January 1884Leo XIII
32Raffaele Monaco La Valletta15 February 188414 July 1896Leo XIII
33Lucido Maria Parocchi5 August 189615 January 1903Leo XIII
34Serafino Vannutelli16 January 190330 December 1908Leo XIII
35Mariano Rampolla30 December 190816 December 1913Pius X
36Domenico Ferrata3 January 191410 October 1914Pius X
37Rafael Merry del Val
'		14 October 191426 February 1930Benedict XV
38Donato Sbarretti4 July 19301 April 1939Pius XI
39Francesco Marchetti-Selvaggiani30 April 193913 January 1951Pius XI
40Giuseppe Pizzardo16 February 195112 October 1959Pius XII
41Alfredo Ottaviani7 November 19597 December 1965John XXIII

Prefects since 1965

When Pope Paul VI changed the name of the dicastery on 7 December 1965, he changed the title of the cardinal in charge of the daily administration of the Congregation from secretary to pro-prefect. He continued to reserve the title of prefect to himself until 1968, when he relinquished his role as head of the Congregation and named a prefect.
No.NameFromUntilAppointer
1Alfredo Ottaviani
Pro-Prefect
7 December 19656 January 1968Paul VI
2Franjo Šeper
8 January 196825 November 1981Paul VI
3Joseph Ratzinger

25 November 19812 April 2005John Paul II
4William Levada
13 May 20052 July 2012Benedict XVI
5Gerhard Ludwig Müller
2 July 20122 July 2017Benedict XVI
6Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ
2 July 20171 July 2023Francis
7Víctor Manuel Fernández
1 July 202321 April 2025Francis

Secretaries since 1965

With the December 1965 reorganization of the Holy Office as the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the head of the Congregation was no longer titled secretary. The dicastery's second-in-command, until then titled assessor, was then given the title of secretary, as was already the case with the other Roman Congregations. All but the most recent have been made archbishops upon their appointment. The following have held the title of secretary: