Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 28, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Jul 1, 2023 / 13:22 pm (CNA).
The announcement on July 1 that Pope Francis has named Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was accompanied by a letter the Holy Father addressed to the Argentine theologian.
While Fernández’s appointment came as a surprise to many, the pope’s letter also has attracted attention because of what it reveals about Francis’ vision for the dicastery, one of the most important and powerful offices in the Roman Curia.
The pope says in the letter that the dicastery at times has promoted pursuing “doctrinal errors” over “promoting theological knowledge.”
“What I expect from you is certainly something very different,” Francis said. “I ask you as prefect to dedicate your personal commitment in a more direct way to the main purpose of the dicastery, which is ‘guarding the faith.’”
Quoting from his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which Fernández reportedly helped to draft, Pope Francis emphasizes that the Church grows “‘in her interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth’ without this implying the imposition of a single way of expressing it.”
The pope said that differing “currents of thought in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow.”
“It is good that your task expresses that the Church ‘encourages the charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts’ as long as they are not ‘content with a desk-bound theology’ with a ‘a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything.’”
The Holy See Press Office’s official English translation of the letter is below. Source material appears in footnotes beneath the letter.
Letter of the Holy Father to the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
To His Most Reverend Excellency
Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández
Vatican City, 1 July 2023
Dear Brother,
As the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, I entrust to you a task that I consider very valuable. Its central purpose is to guard the teaching that flows from the faith in order to “to give reasons for our hope, but not as an enemy who critiques and condemns” [1].
The Dicastery over which you will preside in other times came to use immoral methods. Those were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were pursued. What I expect from you is certainly something very different.
You have served as dean of the Faculty of Theology of Buenos Aires, president of the Argentinean Society of Theology and president of the Faith and Culture Commission of the Argentinean Episcopate, in all cases voted by your peers, who have thus valued your theological charisma. As rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina you encouraged a healthy integration of knowledge. On the other hand, you were parish priest of “Santa Teresita” and until now archbishop of La Plata, where you knew how to bring theological knowledge into dialogue with the life of the holy People of God.
Given that for disciplinary matters — especially related to the abuse of minors — a specific Section has recently been created with very competent professionals, I ask you as prefect to dedicate your personal commitment more directly to the main purpose of the Dicastery, which is “keeping the faith” [2].
In order not to limit the significance of this task, it should be added that it is a matter of “increasing the understanding and transmission of the faith in the service of evangelization, so that its light may be a criterion for understanding the meaning of existence, especially in the face of the questions posed by the progress of the sciences and the development of society” [3]. These issues, incorporated in a renewed proclamation of the Gospel message, “become tools of evangelization” [4] because they allow us to enter into conversation with “our present situation, which is in many ways unprecedented in the history of humanity” [5].
Moreover, you know that the Church “grow[s] in her interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth” [6] without this implying the imposition of a single way of expressing it. For “Differing currents of thought in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow” [7]. This harmonious growth will preserve Christian doctrine more effectively than any control mechanism.
It is good that your task expresses that the Church “encourages the charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts” as long as they are not “content with a desk-bound theology” [8], with a “a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything” [9]. It will always be true that reality is superior to the idea. In this sense, we need theology to be attentive to a fundamental criterion: to consider that “all theological notions that ultimately call into question the very omnipotence of God, and his mercy in particular, are inadequate” [10]. We need a way of thinking which can convincingly present a God who loves, who forgives, who saves, who liberates, who promotes people and calls them to fraternal service.
This happens if “the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary” [11]. You are well aware that there is a harmonious order among the truths of our message, and the greatest danger occurs when secondary issues end up overshadowing the central ones.
In the horizon of this richness, your task also implies a special care to verify that the documents of your own Dicastery and of the others have an adequate theological support, are coherent with the rich humus of the perennial teaching of the Church and at the same time take into account the recent Magisterium.
May the Blessed Virgin protect and watch over you in this new mission. Please do not cease to pray for me.
Fraternally,
FRANCIS
Footnotes
[1] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 271.
[2] Motu proprio Fidem Servare (11 February 2022), Introduction.
[3] Ibid., 2.
[4] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 132.
[5] Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (24 May 2015), 17.
[6] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 40.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 133.
[9] Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate (19 March 2018), 39.
[10] International Theological Commission, “The Hope of Salvation for Infants who die without being baptized” (19 April 2007), 2.
[11] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 35.
[…]
After decades of more-loving-and-caring-and-compassionate-than-thou phoniness from lib Catholics about perverse human relationships being made by God, I am still waiting for just one of them to explain to me how one achieves fidelity and wholesomeness and monogamy through “bisexuality.”
There are two ways for a Pope to lead the Body 0f Christ’s Church into hell. One way is for a Pope to directly lead the Body of the Church into hell. The other way is for a Pope to fail to anathematize evildoers who do lead the Body of the Church into hell.
Jesus Commands His Church, that, if her hand, foot or eye, of the Body of His Church is its downfall, Apostolic Successors are Commanded by Jesus to ‘cut them off’ from the life of the Body of the Church and cast them into hell. Jesus teaches that it is better to throw a limb/member of the Body of His Catholic Church into hell than to have evildoers lead the whole Body of His Church into hell by their evildoing.
Matthew 18:5
“Whoever welcomes one such child for my sake welcomes me. On the other hand, it would be better for anyone who leads astray one of these little ones who believes in me, to be drown by a millstone around his neck, in the depths of the sea. What terrible things will come on the world through scandal! It is inevitable that scandal should occur. Nonetheless, woe to that man through whom scandal comes! If your hand or foot is your undoing, cut it off and throw it from you! Better to enter life maimed or crippled than be thrown with two hands or feet into endless fire. If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
ANATHEMA
the formula of anathema which ends with these words: Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N– himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgment.” Whereupon all the assistants respond: “Fiat, fiat, fiat.” The pontiff and the twelve priests then cast to the ground the lighted candles they have been carrying, and notice is sent in writing to the priests and neighboring bishops of the name of the one who has been excommunicated and the cause of his excommunication, in order that they may have no communication with him. Although he is delivered to Satan and his angels, he can still, and is even bound to repent. The Pontifical gives the form for absolving him and reconciling him with the Church. The promulgation of the anathema with such solemnity is well calculated to strike terror to the criminal and bring him to a state of repentance, especially if the Church adds to it the ceremony of the Maranatha…
…He who dares to despise our decision, let him be stricken with anathema maranatha, i.e. may he be damned at the coming of the Lord, may he have his place with Judas Iscariot, he and his companions.
Quoted from: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01455e.htm
Matthew 18:17 Fraternal Correction
“If he ignores them, refer it to the church . If he ignores even the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. I assure you, whatever you declare bound on earth shall be held bound in heaven, and whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be held loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 11:20 Reproaches to Unrepentant Towns.
Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
The eyes of the Body of Jesus’ Church are our Catholic leaders.
Luke 11:34 The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad, then your body is in darkness.
There’s a great line in the movie, “The Young Victoria,” when the maneuver to install Victoria’s mother as regent has finally failed. She, and the one who would control her (John Conroy) are in the palatial residence dialoguing (!) with Victoria’s then trusted advisor, Lord Melbourne. Confidently seated, Melbourne raises his hand for a pause, and delivers the message: “Oh, I see I have not been clear….You have played the game, and lost!”
We can be thankful that there are still 21 successors of the apostles mingled among the 36 imposters, and we might wonder, of Bishop Batzing, just how “personally” he takes to the back seat.
From “whiny” and “somewhat helpless”, nevertheless saving minority faithful German Bishops to Catholic universities offering bed and more for our kids, our Church is at the high water mark of befouled inundation. That Herr Bätzing has the aplomb to take the case for the destruction of the German Church to Rome …Well, what if Martin Luther wished to make his controversial though more reasonable case to this pontiff, could we anticipate approval?
What Luther had to do, leave the Church so as to change it, Bätzing seems convinced he can achieve a more spectacularly unchristian change from within. Yes, we’ve come a long way. And the complacency is fierce.
Adiuva Nos Domine.