The Vatican press conference to introduce Dignitas Infinita was that rare thing in the history of Vatican press conferences – it was interesting.
Not thanks to the document itself, which was a hodge-podge of things-we-already-knew, but because it was the first press conference given by Cardinal Victor Fernandez, known as Tucho, the new head of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith.
Fernandez is perhaps Pope Francis’ closest collaborator and long-time friend who has had a hand in writing many of the Pope’s documents. This was Vatican journalists first chance to see him in action.
Fortunately, Tucho didn’t seem too interested in talking about the Dignitas Infinita document as he spent the greater part of his half-hour introduction discussing that other document, the much-debated Fiducia Supplicans, which allows blessings of same-sex unions, and lamenting those who have placed too little fiducia in Pope Francis.
And so it was that within the first three minutes of his presentation, the Cardinal tell us that Fiducia Supplicans has had more than 7 billion views on the Internet.
“More than 7 billion views,” he repeats. “And how many documents have there been that no one even remembers their name!”
And just in case you might think page views don’t matter, the Cardinal adds:
“In Italy, in the under-35 demographic, 75 per cent of people agree with this document.”
Unfortunately, the Cardinal was not at liberty to tell us who had conducted the survey.
The popularity of Fiducia Supplicans established, Tucho returns briefly to Dignitas Infinita to say that the Church has not always recognised human dignity with the same clarity throughout the centuries.
Therein follows a discussion of the development of doctrine and the example of slavery.
Tucho reads out Pope Nicolas V’s papal Bull of 1452, Dum Diversis, which allowed the King of Portugal to make slaves of the Saracens and pagans. We then move to 1537, when Paul III reverses Pope Nicolas’ papal bull.
We are ten minutes into the Cardinal’s talk on Dignitas Infinitas and I feel I have fallen into the pages of a short story by Borges.
But Tucho has not lost the plot. His talk is going exactly where he wants it to and from 1537 he draws this modern-day conclusion:
“On the question of slavery,” he says, “two Popes said two contrary things. But now it seems that Pope Francis can say nothing different from what has been said before, as if the Magisterium has been definitively closed after the previous Popes.”
Thus we arrive at the second main point the Cardinal wants to make at the press conference for Dignitas Infinita: Francis must be obeyed!
Conveniently, the Cardinal has brought with him two books: the Code of Canon Law and the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium which have been bookmarked at the relevant pages:
“Look, canon law says it,” he exclaims as he reads out Canon 752 on submission to the Pope’s teachings.
For good measure, he opens Lumen Gentium which says the same in point 25: “Religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman pontiff even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to according to his manifest mind and will.”
Tucho recalls the oath which priests and bishops are required to make agreeing to assent to the teachings of the Pope.
“Some bishops and even cardinals who treat the Pope like a heretic, who say that what he has said is against the tradition of the Church seem not to have taken this oath,” Tucho says.
To drive home the point, the Cardinal adds that even Protestants pay special attention to what the Pope says.
But back to Dignity. Tucho fondly recalls a time around 2009, when then Cardinal Bergoglio reminded him of his own dignity.
“I had suddenly found myself with everyone against me, as if I were among the wolves,” he says without offering more specifics.
It was a moment in which one is tempted, he said, to blame oneself and “disappear from the world”.
But, he adds: “Bergoglio said to me firmly and kindly, ‘No, Tucho, lift your head up and don’t let them take away your dignity because no one can take away your dignity’.”
“Those few words have always stuck with me,” the Cardinal says.
What was the occasion of such encouragement from the Pope? In answer to a journalist’s question, Tucho divulged the story.
In 2009, then Cardinal Bergoglio had nominated Tucho as Rector of the Catholic University of Argentina. Those who were opposed to his nomination dug up an old newspaper article he had written on blessings for gay unions.
“It was a tiny article in a local Argentinean paper,” Tucho explains. It was written at the behest of his bishop at the time who wanted to explain why they could not offer same-sex blessings.
The “wolves” it seems sent the text to the Vatican which wrote to Tucho that his text was “missing all the philosophical arguments which the Church has developed throughout the centuries to defend this position”.
There followed “about a year-and-a-half” of back and forth with the Vatican and a delay in his nomination as Rector of the University.
To add insult to injury, the Cardinal says that some priests in Argentina would not even deign to say hello to him and shake his hand.
It was during this difficult time, Tucho says, that he asked Cardinal Bergoglio to withdraw his nomination and let him return to parish work. Bergoglio wouldn’t hear of it and instead encouraged him with his words of wisdom on dignity.
This story, recounted in a press conference some 25 years later, was obviously a pivotal one for the now-Cardinal and perhaps partially explains why Fiducia Supplicans was his first document published as head of the DDF.
But I digress. Turning back to the dignity document, Tucho, takes a page from Francis’ pastoral playbook and directly engages the journalists in the room.
“I would like the message on Infinite Dignity to be for each one of you,” he says.
“Because of this dignity,” he says, “we have the right to be happy or to try to be so.”
He reads out a passage from the Book of Sirach:
“No one is worse than he who tortures himself. My son, treat yourself well and enjoy life as best you can. Do not deprive yourself of a good day nor let a legitimate desire escape you.”
Now that is a message I can get on board with. Tucho has won me over.
I take the Cardinal’s words to heart and go out into the Roman sunshine and treat myself to an ice cream.
I am none the wiser about the finer points of doctrine but that is not Tucho’s mandate, despite being head of the doctrinal office.
Francis has asked him to bring a more pastoral touch to the prickly business of doctrine, which based on this first presser might be summed up like this:
Assent! And have a nice day.
Photo: Newly elevated cardinal, Argentinian prelate Victor Manuel Fernandez, attends a courtesy visit of relatives following a consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals in The Vatican, Rome, Italy; 30 September 2023. (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images.)
Delia Buckley Gallagher has covered the Vatican for 25 years, reporting on the papacies of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
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