A group of cardinals made public five dubia (plural of “doubt” in Latin) that they sent to Pope Francis to seek clarification on matters of doctrine and discipline, two days before the start of the Synod of Synodality.
A group of cardinals made public five dubia (plural of “doubt” in Latin) that they sent to Pope Francis to seek clarification on matters of doctrine and discipline, two days before the start of the Synod of Synodality.
In a statement sent to the National Catholic Register newspaper, the cardinals reported that they had submitted five questions, called ” dubia,” requesting clarity on issues related to doctrinal development, the blessing of same-sex unions, the authority of the Synod of Synodality, the ordination of women and sacramental absolution.
Dubia are formal questions presented to the Pope and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) in order to obtain a “yes” or “no” answer, without theological argumentation . The word ” dubia ” is the plural form of ” dubium “, which means “doubt” in Latin. Typically, dubia are raised by cardinals or other high-ranking members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and are intended to seek clarification on issues of doctrine or Church teaching.
Cardinals Juan Sandoval Íñiguez (Mexico), Robert Sarah (Guinea), Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (China), Raymond Leo Burke (United States) and Walter Brandmüller (Germany) assure that they sent the dubia to clarify what they consider “ great confusion ” caused by “various statements by high-ranking Prelates, relative to the celebration of the next Synod of Bishops, which are openly contrary to the constant doctrine and discipline of the Church.”
The signatories explain that in the face of “the fall into error among the faithful and other people of good will, we have expressed our deepest concern to the Roman Pontiff.”
The five dubia address theological issues questioned by some bishops, priests and theologians during the first “synodal listening” process, the conclusions of which will be debated starting October 4 in the Vatican.
The cardinals, coming from different continents, sent the dubia in a letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 10, 2023 and received a response from the Pontiff only one day later, on 11 July.
However, – they explain – the Pope’s response “did not follow the practice of responsa ad dubia [answers to doubts]” in which the Pontiff responds with an affirmation or denial to the questions raised and for this reason they decided to reformulate their questions in a new letter addressed to the Holy Father, “to obtain a clear response based on the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Church.”
These “ reformulated dubia ” were sent on 21 August 2023, and to date have not been answered by Pope Francis.
The cardinals did not agree to the request of the National Catholic Register to show the response sent by Pope Francis dated July 11, because they believe that it was only addressed to them and was not intended for the public.
This Monday, 2 October, the cardinal signatories made public the five questions they sent in August through a notification addressed to the faithful. “We consider it our duty to inform you, the faithful, so that you are not subject to confusion, error and discouragement, but that you pray for the universal Church and, in particular, for the Roman Pontiff, so that the Gospel may be taught more and more clearly and followed more and more faithfully,” they explain.
These are in summary the five dubia sent by the cardinals in July to Pope Francis through the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the full text of which can be read here .
1. Dubium on the claim that Divine Revelation must be reinterpreted in accordance with the cultural and anthropological changes in vogue.
2. Dubium on the claim that the widespread practice of blessing same-sex unions is in accordance with Revelation and the Magisterium (CCC 2357).
3. Dubium on the affirmation that synodality is a “constitutive dimension of the Church” (ap. Const. Episcopalis communio, 6), so that the Church would be synodal by nature.
4. Dubium on the support of pastors and theologians for the theory that “the theology of the Church has changed” and therefore priestly ordination can be conferred on women.
5. Dubium on the statement “forgiveness is a human right” and the Holy Father’s insistence on the duty to absolve everyone and always, so that repentance would not be a necessary condition for sacramental absolution.
Although the cardinals have not disseminated the response that the Holy Father sent them on July 11, in the reformulation of the dubia – addressed on August 23 to Pope Francis and available here – they express to the Pontiff that his “answers have not resolved the doubts that we had raised, but rather, they have deepened them” and that is why “we propose our questions again so that they can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
In their reformulation, the cardinals also explain that their dubia do not arise from “fear of dialogue with the men of our time,” but from their concern for “seeing that there are pastors who doubt the capacity of the Gospel to transform the hearts of men.” ”.
These are the 5 reformulated dubia:
1. “Is it possible that the Church today teaches doctrines contrary to those it has previously taught in matters of faith and morals, either by the Pope ex cathedra, or in the definitions of an Ecumenical Council, or in the teaching profession? ordinary universal of the Bishops dispersed throughout the world (cf. Lumen gentium , 25)?”
2. “Is it possible that in some circumstances a pastor could bless unions between homosexual people, thus suggesting that homosexual behavior as such would not be contrary to God’s law and the person’s path to God? Linked to this dubia, it is necessary to raise another: Is the teaching upheld by the universal ordinary magisterium still valid, according to which every sexual act outside of marriage, and in particular homosexual acts, constitute an objectively serious sin against the law of God, regardless of the circumstances in which it takes place and the intention with which it is carried out?
3. “Will the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome, which includes only a select representation of pastors and faithful, exercise, in the doctrinal or pastoral matters on which it must express itself, the Supreme Authority of the Church, which belongs exclusively to the Roman Pontiff and, one cum capite suo [together with his head], to the College of Bishops (cf. c. 336 CIC)?”
4. “Could the Church in the future have the power to confer priestly ordination on women, thus contradicting that the exclusive reservation of this sacrament to baptized men belongs to the very substance of the sacrament of Orders, which the Church cannot change?”.
5. “Can a penitent validly receive sacramental absolution who, while admitting a sin, refuses to manifest, in any way, the intention not to commit it again?”
At the end of their letter, the cardinals emphasize that, due to the “seriousness of the dubia issue , especially in view of the imminent session of the Synod”, it is their duty to inform the faithful to avoid “confusion, error and discouragement”.
Likewise, they urge us to pray for the universal Church and in particular for the Holy Father, “so that the Gospel may be taught more and more clearly and followed more and more faithfully.”
The National Catholic Register requested comment from the Vatican on September 29 and again on 1 October. As of the closing of this edition, no response has been received.