In just three months at the helm of the Dicastery (formerly Congregation) for the Doctrine of the Faith, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández has rapidly changed what was once the Vatican’s most formidable department.
Once known as “La Suprema” for its position as the most important Vatican office, the dicastery, under Cardinal Fernández’s leadership, has charted a new course—one that is less concerned with censuring theologians and more concerned with developing a theology that meets people in the complex situations of modern life.
Already, the pope’s desire for a D.D.F. that would help develop Catholic teaching was apparent—a desire he hammered home when he wrote that the D.D.F. should enable a “harmonious growth” reconciling “differing currents of thought in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice” rather than acting as a “control mechanism.” He warned specifically against the danger of letting “secondary issues” overshadow “central ones”—the central one being the mercy of God.
With this long history of collaboration, it seems Francis may have had Fernández in mind for this role for years. As the church historian Massimo Faggioli told me in an interview when Fernández was appointed, “It’s more about the choice of the person than about what Pope Francis said in his letter.… This is a turning point from these last 40 years, and most visibly a departure because [Fernández] is a Latin American.” Mr. Faggioli said the appointment marked the end of the “Ratzinger era” of D.D.F. heads, which he saw extending through its last prefect, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, a Jesuit who was the congregation’s secretary under “Ratzinger devotee” Cardinal Gerhard Müller. Mr. Faggioli drew a contrast between that era’s “desktop theology” approach and the Latin American style, which prioritizes, Mr. Faggioli said, being “in touch with the existential condition of real people.”
As Francis has said many times, including in his letter at Fernández’s appointment, “reality is superior to [ideas].”
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Colleen Dulle is an associate editor at America and co-hosts the “Inside the Vatican” podcast.
With thanks to America and Colleen Dulle, where this article originally appeared.
