Just thought I would remind my fellow Catholics of what the CDF actually is and what it does. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith used to be the Inquisition. Yes, it was. It is the oldest of nine congregations in the Roman Curia and is in charge of doctrine, as the name notes. It was established in order to protect the Faith, and was established on July 21, 1542 by Pope Paul III in an Apostolic Constitution, Licet ab initio. Note the date and the Pope at the time.The now CDF was an important tool in the spread of the Counter-Reformation. The CDF was re-established and re-affirmed by Blessed John Paul II with another Apostolic Constitution, Pastor Bonus, June 28, 1988 and it was stated therein that "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." The Cardinal Prefect is Cardinal William Levada. There are about 86 people including priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals in the CDF. I am glad they are there! It looks like in this photo that the Cardinal has carpel tunnel. I hope not from examining so many documents or heresies. Some of the documents in recent times from this Congregation include, from a longer list on wiki:
- Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious
- Dominus Iesus (Declaration on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church; with comments from Congregation officials; August 6, 2000; one of the Congregation's most controversial and debated documents)
- Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons (2002)
- (24 November 2002), arguably the basis for the comments by Cardinal George Pell and those by Archbishop Barry Hickey in June 2007 in Australia to Catholic politicians on their votes ontherapeutic cloning legislation.
- 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."
- On April 5, 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.
- Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization (with press conference transcript; December 3, 2007)
- Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration (with commentary; August 1, 2007)
- Note on the banalization of sexuality, Regarding certain interpretations of "Light of the World" (December 22, 2010)
- Circular Letter to the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences regarding the association Opus Angelorum (October 2, 2010)
- Dignitas Personae (on bioethical questions, with summary and press conference transcript; September 8, 2008)
- Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church (June 29, 2007)
- Notification on the works of the Reverend Father Jon Sobrino, S.J. (with an explanatory note; November 26, 2006)
- Notification regarding the book "Jesus Symbol of God" of the Reverend Father Roger Haight, S.J.
- thanks to wiki
- and many, many, many more...........great reading and indicates the CDF is very busy these days.