Human Dignity for the Activist Soul

If we get Jesus wrong, we get it all wrong.

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The Dicastery Formerly Known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (a.k.a. the DDF) typically releases a number of documents every year, each one aimed either at answering specific questions of doctrinal importance or at clarifying the pastoral implications of Catholic doctrine. Often when one sees pronouncements of “Vatican statements” on hot-button cultural issues from the media, the DDF is the party in question. Though the Pope always signs off on official DDF documents and thereby endorses anything said in them, strictly speaking it is the theologians who sit on the dicastery whose interpretations and opinions are expressed—for better or worse.

You may have noticed that the DDF …