(Unofficial America translation)July, 2023
Dear Brother,
I entrust to you, as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a task that I consider invaluable. It has as its main purpose to safeguard the teaching that comes from the faith “to give reasons for our hope, but not as an enemy who critiques and condemns” (Evangelii Gaudium, 271).
The dicastery that you will preside over in other epochs came to use immoral methods. Those were times when more than promoting theological knowledge they chased after possible doctrinal errors. What I expect from you is something without doubt much different.
You were dean of the Faculty of Theology of Buenos Aires, President of the Argentine Society of Theology and you are president of the Commission of Faith and Culture of the Argentine Bishops, and in all cases voted by your peers, who in this way have appreciated your theological charism. 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 up to now archbishop of La Plata, where you knew how to put in dialogue theological knowledge with the life of the holy People of God.
Given that for disciplinary questions—related especially to the abuse of minors—there was recently created [in the dicastery] a specific section with very competent professionals, I ask you that as prefect you dedicate your personal commitment in a more direct way to the principal aim of the dicastery which is “to safeguard the faith”
So as not to limit the significance of this task, it should be added that it deals with “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.” (
Fidem Servare, n.2).
These questions, received in a renewed announcement of the gospel message, “become tools of evangelization” (
EG 132), because they permit us to enter in conversation with “our present situation, which is in many ways unprecedented in the history of humanity.” (
LS 17).
Furthermore, you know that the church “needs to grow in her interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth” (EG 40), without this implying imposing one way of expressing it. Because “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.” (EG 40). This harmonious growth helps to preserve the Christian doctrine more effectively than any mechanism of control.
It is good that your task expresses that the church “encourages the charism of the theologians and their effort for theological research” in a way that “is not content with a theology of the desk” and with “a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything.”(
Gaudete et Exsultate, 39). It will be certain always that reality is superior to the idea. In this sense, we need a theology that is attentive to the fundamental criterion: consider “all theological notions that ultimately call into question the very omnipotence of God, and his mercy in particular, are inadequate.” (International Theological Commission:
The hope of salvation for infants who die without being baptized: n.2).
We need a thinking that knows how to present in a convincing way the God who loves, who pardons, who saves, who liberates, who moves persons and summons them to fraternal service.
This happens if “the message concentrates on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary.” (EG 35). You know well that there is a harmonious order in the truths of our message, where the greatest danger is produced when secondary questions end up overshadowing the central ones.
In the horizon of this richness your task involves moreover the special care to verify that the documents of your dicastery, and of the others, have an adequate theological support, that they are coherent with the rich soil (humus) of the perennial teaching of the Church and also receive the recent Magisterium.
May the Most Holy Virgin protect you and take care of you in this new mission. Please do not forget to pray for me.
Francis