Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: A New Document In Preparation

While the high prelate finds himself in the eye of the storm since the publication of Fiducia Supplicans and the unearthing of an early work of his which has caused a commotion in the Catholic world, he revealed during an interview that his Dicastery was preparing an important document on societal topics.

No one can miss noticing how quickly things are turning away from the shocking episode of non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, because at the Vatican the pressing issue at the start of the year is to “save private Fernández,” who succeeded in the feat--a few months after his arrival at the Palace of the Holy Office--of creating an outcry among a notable portion of the whole world’s bishops.

“I think that I will no longer be making headlines in the future, because the Dicastery that I lead does not plan to publish controversial documents in the future: at the moment, it is a very important writing on human dignity which is being prepared,” the Prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confided to the EFE news agency on January 12, 2024.

According to Cardinal Fernández, the future document will not only be dedicated to social issues, but will also contian a “powerful critique on an ethical level of issues surrounding sex change, surrogacy, and gender ideology.”

This news comes a few days after the Supreme Pontiff came down--in his address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See--against surrogacy, calling it “deplorable” and encouraging a worldwide prohibition of this practice which is already legal in several countries.

Pope Francis has also often criticized gender ideology, accusing it of being “dangerous” and denouncing it as “one of the most pernicious ideological colonizations,” because it “blurs the differences between men and women.”

In November 2022, Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht (Netherlands) hoped that the Holy Father would write a future encycical on the subject, regretting that “the Church has not yet said much on the subject.” But shortly afterward, the Pope stated that he was not considering such a text.

In the interview granted to EFE, the Prefect of the DDF continued to justify himself in the controversy produced by the publication of the Fiducia Supplicans Declaration: “the Pope wanted at the same time to dismiss the idea that one could grant a blessing to irregular couples as part of the liturgy [editor’s note: as they are doing in Germany, for example] while safeguarding the freedom and spontaneity of this other type of blessing.”

One thing is certain: the “at the same time” proves its power of destruction on both sides of the Alps, and contributes particularly to the loss of authority and credibility. It is, incidentally, quite clear that the authority and credibility of the Prefect of the DDF is seriously damaged, and rightly so.