Responsa Ad Dubia, On the Correct Formula for Baptism (2008)

RESPONSA AD PROPOSITA DUBIA of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
concerning the use of certain baptismal formulas with inclusive language
 

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS PROPOSED

on the validity of Baptism conferred with the formulas

"I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier"
  and 

"I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer"

QUESTIONS

First question: 

Whether the Baptism conferred with the formulas "I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier" and "I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer" is valid?

Second question: 

Whether the persons baptized with those formulas have to be baptized in forma absoluta?

RESPONSES

To the first question: Negative.

To the second question: Affirmative.

The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved these Responses, adopted in the Ordinary Session of the Congregation, and ordered their publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, February 1, 2008.

William Cardinal Levada,
Prefect

Angelo Amato, S.D.B. 
Titular Archbishop of Sila, Secretary

Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
5 March 2008, page 9

L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.

VATICAN iNFORMATION SERVICE PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING ATTACHED NOTE:

An attached note explains that the responses "concern the validity of Baptism conferred with two English-language formulae within the ambit of the Catholic Church. ... Clearly, the question does not concern English but the formula itself, which could also be expressed in another language".

"Baptism conferred in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit", the note continues, "obeys Jesus' command as it appears at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. ... The baptismal formula must be an adequate expression of Trinitarian faith, approximate formulae are unacceptable.

"Variations to the baptismal formula — using non-biblical designations of the Divine Persons — as considered in this reply, arise from so-called feminist theology", being an attempt "to avoid using the words Father and Son which are held to be chauvinistic, substituting them with other names. Such variants, however, undermine faith in the Trinity".

"The response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith constitutes an authentic doctrinal declaration, which has wide-ranging canonical and pastoral effects. Indeed, the reply implicitly affirms that people who have been baptised, or who will in the future be baptised, with the formulae in question have, in reality, not been baptised. Hence, they must them be treated for all canonical and pastoral purposes with the same juridical criteria as people whom the Code of Canon Law places in the general category of 'non-baptised'".

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