Now here’s something you haven’t seen before. It’s common enough to see criticism of the Vatican’s top doctrinal office. But when the criticism is made by the prefect of that same office… Well, that’s new.
Cardinal Victor Manuel (“Tucho”) Fernandez, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told an audience at the Pontifical Urban University that a 2006 decision by dicastery (then known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) “does not encourage the effort to take seriously the context in which theological reflection takes place.” In other words the 2006 “notification” was not up to snuff, from the perspective of theological reasoning. That’s a slap at the prelate who signed the notification, the late Cardinal William Levada, who was prefect of the CDF at the time. It’s also an unmistakable criticism of Pope Benedict XVI, who approved the notification— and who is generally recognized as perhaps the foremost Catholic theologian of our time.
