Skip to content

Pope Francis names consultants to Vatican doctrine office, including controversial theologian

Pope Francis has named 28 new consultors to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, including moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, who has expressed opinions contrary to Church teaching.

Pope Francis has named 28 new consultors to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, including moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, who has expressed opinions contrary to Church teaching.

Chiodi, a moral theologian, has come under media scrutiny in recent years for suggesting contraception use in marriage could be morally permissible in some circumstances.

In a 2017 lecture in Rome, the priest 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 following its refounding by Pope Francis. He has also been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office responsible for issues of doctrinal orthodoxy in the Catholic Church and the investigation and prosecution of sex abuse by priests, has been under the leadership of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández since September 2023. 

In the past year, the DDF has faced internal and ecumenical fallout from Fiducia Supplicans, the dicastery’s declaration permitting nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples. It has also published a document on human dignity, Dignitas Infinita, that addresses growing concerns over gender theory, sex changes, surrogacy, and euthanasia in addition to abortion, poverty, human trafficking, and war.

In May, the dicastery also issued new norms on judging alleged Marian apparitions, subsequently approving Marian devotion at a number of spiritual sites, including most recently at Medjugorje.

The nearly three dozen new external consultants — experts in theology, canon law, and Scripture — will meet with existing DDF consultors to advise the dicastery’s leadership and members at regular intervals.

The 28 new appointments are mostly Italian priest-theologians but also include six women — two religious sisters and four lay theologians — and two lay male theologians.

The full list of new consultors is below:

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

This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency. 

Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today

Share

Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican

Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter.

More news related to this article

Discover the Patron Saints of the World Youth Day in Lisbon 2023

As preparations continue for the World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, young people from around the world

Pope Warns World Leaders: Injustice Leads to War—Only Fair Politics Can Bring Peace

Pope Leo XIV tells world leaders that politics is “the highest form of charity” at the Jubilee of Governments, calling for justice, peace, and the dignity of public service.

Pope Leo XIV visits home for elderly in Castel Gandolfo: ‘Age doesn’t matter’

Pope Leo XIV on Monday morning visited St. Martha Home for the Elderly in Castel Gandolfo, the Italian town where he is spending his vacation.

LIVE from the Vatican | General Audience with Pope Francis | May 10th, 2023

LIVE | Join us for the General Audience with Pope Francis from St. Peter’s Square.

The Holy Land: A Place of Encounter – Insights from the Order of the Holy Sepulcher

Insights from His Eminence Cardinal Filoni and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher

Pope Francis: Everyone Can Have a Dog, But It’s Necessary to Have Children

Pope Francis remarked that while anyone can have a dog, it is necessary to have children, especially in an era marked by low birth rates, a situation that concerns him.

LIVE
FROM THE VATICAN

Be present live on EWTN.it