Pope gives code new ballast: text of apostolic letter setting limits on doctrinal dissent

National Catholic Reporter, July 17, 1998

VATICAN CITY -- Here is a Catholic News Service translation by Jesuit Fr. Ladislas Orsy of Pope John Paul II's Latin-language apostolic letter, Ad Tuendam Fidem (To Defend the Faith), dated May 18 and made public June 30 at the Vatican.

To protect the Catholic faith against errors arising on the part of some of the Christian faithful, in particular among those who studiously dedicate themselves to the discipline of sacred theology, it appeared highly necessary to us, whose principal task is to confirm the brethren in faith (cf. Luke 22:32), to add new norms to the text of the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches currently in force. The purpose of the new norms is to impose expressly the duty to preserve the truths proposed definitively by the magisterium of the church and to institute canonical sanctions concerning the same matter.

1. From the earliest centuries to this day, the church has kept confessing the truths concerning the faith of Christ and the mystery of his redemption; as time progressed, these truths were collected into the symbols of faith (creeds). Indeed today the Christian faithful know and proclaim in common the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the solemn and festive celebration of the Mass. This same Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is included in the profession of faith, which has been further elaborated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The duty of making this profession of faith is imposed in particular on certain Christian faithful: those who assume offices that directly or indirectly are ordered to a deeper investigation into the truths of faith and morals or that confer a special power connected with the governance of the church.

2. The profession of faith gives prime importance to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed; it includes also three propositions or clauses. Their purpose is to explain the truths of the Catholic faith, the truths that in later times were more deeply scrutinized or in need of scrutiny by the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, "who will teach you all the truth" (John 16:13). The first clause, which proclaims, "with firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church -- whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal magisterium -- as divinely revealed and calling for faith," is congruent stated and has its own legal expression in the universal legislation of the church in Canon 750 of the Code of Canon Law and Canon 598 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

The third clause, which says, "what is more, I adhere with religious obsequium of will and intellect to the teaching which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic magisterium, even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive," has its own place in Canon 752 of the Code of Canon Law and in Canon 599 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

3. The second clause, however, which says, "I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals," has no corresponding canon in the codes of the Catholic Church. Yet this second clause of the profession of faith is of great importance because it refers to truths necessarily connected with divine revelation. Such truths manifest the particular inspiration of the divine Spirit given to the church in the exploration of Catholic doctrine and in the church's deeper understanding of some truth concerning faith or morals. The truths definitively stated and the truths revealed are intimately linked either for historical reasons or through logical connection.

4. Compelled, therefore, by the said necessity, we have decided to fill this gap in: the universal law in the following manner: A. Canon 750 of the Code of Canon Law henceforth will have two paragraphs: The first will be the text of the present canon in force: the second, however, will be a new text. The whole canon will read:

"Canon 750.1. All that is contained in the written word of God or in tradition, that is, in the one deposit of faith entrusted to the church and also proposed as divinely revealed either by the solemn magisterium of the church or by its ordinary and universal magisterium, must be believed with divine and Catholic faith; it is manifested by the common adherence of the Christian faithful under the leadership of the sacred magisterium; therefore, all are bound to avoid any doctrines whatever which are contrary to these truths.

"Canon 750.2. Each and every proposition stated definitively by the magisterium of the church concerning the doctrine of the faith or morals, that is, each and every proposition required for the sacred preservation and faithful explanation of the same deposit of faith, must also be firmly embraced and maintained; anyone, therefore, who rejects those propositions which are to be held definitively is opposed to the doctrine of the Catholic Church."