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 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

  • On May 18, 2024, the Dicastery Prefect Víctor Manuel Fernández published a 2024 text signed by Pope Francis which replaced the 1978 Norms regarding the manner of proceeding in the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations rulings. The pope set new norms and guidelines for Catholic bishops in discerning claims of private revelation such as Marian apparitions. Fernández enumerated six possible conclusions for alleged supernatural phenomena discernment.
  • Dignitas Infinita, promulgated April 8, 2024: condemns war, poverty, racism, sex reassignment, abortion, euthanasia, gender theory, surrogacy, discrimination against migrants and discrimination against homosexuals.
  • Fiducia supplicans, promulgated 18 December 2023: establishes a series of clarifications and reforms on the so-called "irregular relationships." Namely, those who establish a monogamous and emotional bond that lasts over time and who have not contracted marriage without making any changes to the marriage institution as being between a man and a woman.
  • Responsum of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith affirming that a transgender person can receive baptism, and that transgender people, as well as "cohabiting homosexuals", can be godparents and witnesses of matrimony even after undergoing hormone treatment and sex-reassignment surgery. Furthermore, the child of a homosexual couple can be baptized provided that there is a "founded hope" that the child will be brought up in the Catholic religion.
  • "Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex," wherein the Church reaffirmed the view that "Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex".

    2011–2020

  • Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery is required to sign four fidelity oaths or not return to ministry.
  • "Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious"

    2001–2010

  • Dignitas Personae
  • On 5 April 2008, as a result of "grave reservations" by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the Mormon practice of posthumous rebaptism, Catholic dioceses throughout the world were directed not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah for microfilming or digitizing.
  • On 28 September 2007, Gaston Hebert, the then apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Little Rock, stated that six Arkansas nuns were excommunicated for heresy. They refused to recant the doctrines of the Community of the Lady of All Nations. The nuns are members of the Good Shepherd Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs. Sister Mary Theresa Dionne, 82, one of the six, said they will still live at the convent property, which they own. The sect believes that its 86-year-old founder, Marie Paule Giguere, is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.
  • In an April 2007 address to chaplains, Archbishop Amato denounced same-sex marriage and abortion and criticized the Italian media's coverage of them, saying that they are evils "that remain almost invisible" due to media presentation of them as "expression of human progress".
  • "Notification on the works of the Reverend Father Jon Sobrino, SJ"
  • "Notification regarding the book Jesus Symbol of God of the Reverend Father Roger Haight, SJ"
  • "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the collaboration of men and women in the Church and in the world"
  • "Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life"
  • "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons"
  • "Note on the Force of the Doctrinal Decrees Concerning the Thought and Work of the Reverend Father Antonio Rosmini Serbati"
  • "Notification on the book Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism by the Reverend Father Jacques Dupuis, SJ"

    1991–2000

  • "Notification concerning some writings of Professor Dr.
  • Dominus Iesus
  • "Notification regarding Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and the Reverend Father Robert Nugent, SDS"
  • "Considerations on The Primacy of the Successor of Peter in the mystery of the Church"
  • "Notification concerning the writings of the Reverend Father Anthony De Mello, SJ"
  • "Notification concerning the text Mary and Human Liberation by the Reverend Father Tissa Balasuriya, OMI"
  • "Notification on the writings and activities of Mrs. Vassula Ryden"
  • "Decree on the doctrine and customs of the Association italic=no"