A "Congregation" of the Roman Catholic Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei), previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (wherefrom arose the names Roman Inquisition or Holy Inquisition popularly used in reference to the 16th century tribunals against witchcraft and heresy), and after 1904 called the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. Among the most active of the congregations, it oversees Catholic Church doctrine. Its offices are housed at the Palace of the Holy Office at the Vatican.
History[]
On July 21, 1542, Pope Paul III proclaimed the Licet ab initio Apostolic Constitution, 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 1904 by Pope Saint Pius X.
The Congregation's name was changed to Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on December 7, 1965, at the end of the Second Vatican Council. In 1988, with the promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia called Pastor Bonus, "Sacred" was dropped from the names of Curial Congregations, and so the dicastery adopted its current name, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Role[]
According to Article 48 of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor Bonus, promulgated by Pope John Paul II on June 28, 1988: "the duty proper to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote and safeguard the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world: for this reason everything which in any way touches such matters falls within its competence."
This includes investigations into what are known as "delicta graviora"; i.e., the crimes which the Catholic Church considers as being the most serious of all: crimes against the Eucharist and against the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance, and crimes against the sixth Commandment ("thou shall not commit adultery") committed by a cleric against a person under the age of eighteen. These crimes, in a "motu proprio" of 2001, "Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela", come under the competency of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In effect, it is the "promoter of justice" who deals with, among other things, the question of priests accused of paedophilia, which are periodically highlighted in the mass media. In other words, the CDF was given a broader mandate to address the sex abuse cases only from 2001.
Within the CDF are the International Theological Commission, the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. The Prefect of the CDF is ex officio president of these commissions.
- Cardinal Roscolor -- Head of the CDF.
Enlightenment Movement[]
The Enlightenment Movement has the CDF jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof. The Catholic Church is shedding the Enlightenment right and left starting with (former) Father Micheal Flynn, the believed author of the Movement. He is the source of the "Yehoshua Video", purporting to be an actual interview with Jesus at the ancient Jewish temple. This video is an obvious fabrication the conditions required to make it being impossible. The church itself has not made a statement on the Enlightenment. (Bureau 13 note: Don't be so sure about the video. The personalized message at the end is also impossible. The reappearance of Silphium, again mentioned in the afterword of the video is not to be discounted.)
Bureau File[]
The less obvious role of the CDF and the one the agency is most concerned with is the one never publicized. The attention to reports of miracles and magic. Frankly we will take all the help we can get.