Twenty-eight new consultors have been chosen by Pope Francis to assist the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Among those selected to work with the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Vatican's important doctrinal office</mark></a> that deals with the promotion and protection of the doctrine of faith and morals, is the provocative figure of moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi.
Chiodi has hit the headlines in recent years and caused various degrees of consternation by expressing various opinions contrary to Church teaching, <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259433/pope-francis-names-28-consultants-to-vatican-doctrine-office-including-controversial-theologian">reports</a> </mark>the <em>Catholic News Agency (CNA)</em>. He has suggested the use of contraception by married couples could be morally permissible in some circumstances.
During a 2017 lecture in Rome, the theologian also said that homosexual relationships “under certain conditions” could be “the most fruitful way” for those with same-sex attraction “to enjoy good relations".
Chiodi was made a theology professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and the Family Sciences in 2019, after it was re-founded by Pope Francis. He has also been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017.
The group of new external consultants, whose expertise spans the likes of theology, canon law and Scripture, will meet with existing DDF consultors at regular intervals to advise the dicastery’s leadership and members on doctrinal policy.
In addition to being responsible for the doctrinal direction of the Catholic Church, the DDF has been responsible for the investigation and prosecution of clerical sexual abuse. It has been led by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández since September 2023.
The DDF's most headline-grabbing and, for some Catholics, notorious moment came with the publication of <em><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/uks-confraternity-of-catholic-clergy-publishes-letter-reaffirming-traditional-church-teaching-after-fiducia-supplicans/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Fiducia Supplicans</mark></a></em> at the end of 2023, the dicastery’s declaration permitting blessings for same-sex couples in non-liturgical settings.
More recently, it published <em><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/editorial-the-goodness-in-dignitas-infinita-shouldnt-be-overlooked/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Dignitas Infinita</mark></a></em> on human dignity that addressed a gamut of concerns from gender theory, sex changes, surrogacy and euthanasia, to abortion, poverty, human trafficking and war.
In May, the dicastery issued new rules on judging alleged Marian apparitions, which was followed by it subsequently approving Marian devotion at various spiritual sites. This month it <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/vatican-approves-devotion-but-steers-clear-of-supernatural-at-treasure-of-medjugorje/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">approved devotion at Medjugorje</mark></a>, though it stopped short of approving the supernatural quality of the apparitions.
The 28 new consultors are mostly Italian priest-theologians, though the group contains six women – two religious sisters and four lay theologians – as well as two lay male theologians. The full list of new consultors is as follows:
Bishop Antonio Staglianò, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology
Father Giovanni Ancona, theology professor
Father Giacomo Canobbio, scientific director of the Catholic Academy of Brescia
Father Carlo Dell’Osso, secretary of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology in Rome
Father Basilio Petrà, theologian
Father Bruno Fabio Pighin, canonist
Father Mario Stefano Antonelli, rector of the Pontifical Lombardo Seminary of Sts. Ambrogio and Carlo in Rome
Father Pasquale Bua, theologian
Father Maurizio Chiodi, theologian
Father Massimo Del Pozzo, canonist
Father Aristide Fumagalli, theologian
Father Federico Giuntoli, biblicist
Father Pier Davide Guenzi, moral theologian
Father Franco Manzi, theologian
Father Massimo Regini, theologian
Father Raffaele Talmelli, superior general of the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete and exorcist
Father Denis Chardonnens, OCD, theologian
Father Armando Genovese, MSC, theologian
Father Juan Manuel Granados Rojas, SJ, biblicist
Father Dominic Sundararaj Irudayaraj, SJ, biblicist
Mario Bracci, theologian
Sister Giuseppina Daniela Del Gaudio, SFI, director of the Observatory for Apparitions and Mystical Phenomena regarding the Virgin Mary in the World
Sister Benedetta Rossi, Missionaries of Mary, biblicist
Donatella Abignente, theologian
Claudia Leal Luna, theologian
Sandra Mazzolini, theologian
Ignazia Siviglia, theologian
Emanuele Spedicato, canonist
<em>Photo: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández (second from left) during the DDF's presentation in the Holy See Press Office of 'Dignitas Infinita'; image from </em>Vatican News<em>. </em>
