The Vatican’s doctrine chief warned that blogs and online commentators increasingly claim a theological authority they do not possess, narrowing the Church’s ability to holistically engage faith and reality.
Feb 06, 2026
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks to reporters at the Vatican in this file photo from Sept. 19, 2024. (CNS/Justin McLellan)
By Justin McLellan
The Vatican’s doctrine chief warned that blogs and online commentators increasingly claim a theological authority they do not possess, narrowing the Church’s ability to holistically engage faith and reality.
Opening the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on January 27, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, said theologians risk “losing the breath of our perspective” when their work becomes narrowly focused on isolated topics.
“But the issue is even more serious since today, on any blog, anyone — even without having studied much theology — can express his or her opinion and condemn others as if speaking ex cathedra,” or with infallibility, he said.
Fernández framed the problem as a failure to recognise the limits of human knowledge.
“The more science and technology advance, the more we must keep alive the awareness of our limits and our need for God, so as not to fall into a terrible deception,” he said. Fernández, who has often been a target of Catholic blogs since his appointment as prefect in 2023, urged dicastery members to acknowledge those limits, invoke God’s guidance in illuminating them and remain open to the perspectives of others.
The cardinal cited Pope Leo XIV’s October homily for the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, in which the pope called for “a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains attentive to God so that it can similarly listen to everyone.”
Several Catholic blogs have been sharply critical of synodality, the shift toward a more participatory and listening Church championed by Pope Francis, often arguing that it risks drifting from Catholic doctrine and blurring distinctions between clergy and laity in Church decision-making.
Fernández’s call for the dicastery members to “reflect, think, and analyse reality, but while also listening to others” echoed the language of synodality promoted by the pope.
Pope Leo XIV, who promoted synodality as a diocesan bishop in Peru and later participated in the Synod of Bishops on synodality as a Vatican official, has continued his predecessor’s focus on pushing for a more participatory Church.
And that direction appears to have broad support among the world’s cardinals.
At an extraordinary consistory convened by Pope Leo in early January, the 170 participating cardinals selected synodality as one of the priorities to be developed during the first two years of his pontificate. They also chose to focus on the Church’s mission in light of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, sidelining discussion of curial reform and the liturgy in a move criticised by traditionalist Catholic blogs. —NCR