The Fides—Sacramentum Matrimonii Relationship in the Post-Synodal Era (2015–). A New Concept of Response to Doctrinal Impulses
The Fides—Sacramentum Matrimonii Relationship in the Post-Synodal Era (2015–). A New Concept of Response to Doctrinal Impulses

Summary/Abstract: In 2020 the International Theological Commission published an importantdocument: The Reciprocity Between Faith and Sacraments in the Sacramental Economy.The document is a presentation of six years of expert work on exploring the relationshipbetween faith and the sacraments. The original theological justification, offered here, ofthe specific role of faith in the validity and fruitfulness of each sacrament culminates, insome ways, in a focus on an ecclesiastically sensitive “area” (Ecclesia domestica) — whichis already foreshadowed by the initial declarations under the “emphatic” subtitle: Faithand the Sacraments: A Reciprocity in Crisis. What is addressed here is a serious scholarlyproposal for further reintegration of the doctrine of de sacramento matrimonii, witha nodal understanding of the issue of the sacramental dignity of marriage — a studystrongly awaited since it is set in the context of the two memorable assemblies of theSynod of Bishops, of 2014 and 2015.Adopting the hypothesis of justifiability of the title demarcation line (2015—), markingthe “post-synodal era,” bestowed upon the author of this study — consequently —a need to comprehensively examine how the International Theological Commissionimplemented in concreto the synodal appeals of bishops in 2014 — the first appeal (fromInstrumentum laboris of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops):“there is a need to deepen the question of the relationship between faith and theSacrament of Matrimony”; and a later appeal (from Relatio Synodi of the Third ExtraordinaryGeneral Assembly of the Synod of Bishops): “it is necessary to consider the possibilityof giving importance to the faith of the nupturients in ascertaining the validity ofthe Sacrament of Marriage, all the while maintaining that the marriage of two baptizedChristians is always a sacrament.” In the concluding remarks the author answers thequestion that preoccupies the canonist: Can it be assumed that the result of the Commission’ssix-year long work is — important for the canonical doctrine and, above all,helpful for the consistent jurisprudence — a clarification of the questio dubia: “baptizednon-believers” and the sacrament of marriage?

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