On September 1, 1910, Pope St. Pius X required The Oath Against Modernism to be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries.
QUESTION: Have there been any other Professions of Faith in the Catholic Church since 1910? If so, what are they and to whom do they apply?
Thank you.
Are There Any Other Professions of Faith in the Catholic Church Which Came After "The Oath Against Modernism"?
The short answer is yes.
The year 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of Pope Saint Paul VI’s magnificent profession of faith, the Creed of the People of God.
The Profession of Faith of Pope Paul VI, was meant for all the faithful, in order to strengthen the faith of the people of God especially in regards to the Catholic faith in a modern age.
June 30, 2018, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Blessed Paul VI’s proclamation of the Credo of the People of God. This event will likely be overshadowed by two other major events pertaining to Paul VI. One is, of course, the fiftieth anniversary of Paul’s prophetic encyclical letter On the Regulation of Birth, known around the world by its incipit, Humanae vitae. The encyclical, which cut through the error and confusion of its age and ours like lightning, remains a central point in the ongoing struggle against modernism and liberalism in the Church. The other event is the likely canonization of Paul by Pope Francis sometime this fall. However, it would be a shame to let the fiftieth anniversary of the Credo of the People of God pass unremarked.
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, there were two professions of faith required of clergy and professors in ecclesiastical faculties. One was the creed prepared by Pius IV in 1564 pursuant to the mandate of the Council of Trent. In two bulls, Iniunctum nobis and In sacrosanctum beati Petri, Pius IV formulated a profession of faith binding on clergy and public teachers on ecclesiastical faculties. This Tridentine creed was modified in 1870 following the dogmatic definitions of the Vatican Council. Pius’s creed achieved wide use both as an admirable summation of the Faith and as a profession of faith by converts to the Church. The other was the Anti-Modernist Oath of St. Pius X. In 1910, Pius X handed down his motu proprio, Sacrorum antistitum, which included an oath to be sworn against the principal errors of the Modernists, as condemned in Pascendi and Lamentabili. Thus, most clerics and professors in Catholic colleges and universities had to make the profession of faith handed down by Pius IV as it was modified following the Vatican Council and swear Pius X’s Anti-Modernist Oath.
In the preparatory sessions for the Second Vatican Council, on November 9, 1961, Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani presented a draft of a new profession of faith. As Cardinal Ottaviani explained in his relatio to the Central Preparatory Commission, the draft creed was proposed to resolve several issues. First, it was thought best to consolidate the creed of Pius IV and the Anti-Modernist Oath into one formula, not least to avoid unnecessary duplications. Second, there had been some major doctrinal developments since Pascendi, especially Pius XII’s Humani generis, that ought to be reflected in an official profession of faith. On the other hand, certain issues addressed in the two existing formulas were no longer live controversies. And, perhaps the best reason: St. John XXIII had asked Cardinal Ottaviani to prepare a new formula.
Paul’s introduction to the Credo of the People of God reveals that the developments that had disturbed him in early 1967 still weighed on his mind in the summer of 1968. Paul saw the profession of faith that he was about to make as inextricably tied up with the Petrine office: “we deem that we must fulfill the mandate entrusted by Christ to Peter, whose successor we are, the last in merit; namely, to confirm our brothers in the faith.” He went on to declare, “[i]n making this profession, we are aware of the disquiet which agitates certain modern quarters with regard to the faith.” He went on to say that, “[w]e see even Catholics allowing themselves to be seized by a kind of passion for change and novelty.” Paul acknowledged the duty of the Church to study ever more deeply the Faith and to find new and better ways of presenting the Faith to the world; however, he proclaimed “the greatest care must be taken, while fulfilling the indispensable duty of research, to do no injury to the teachings of Christian doctrine. For that would be to give rise, as is unfortunately seen in these days, to disturbance and perplexity in many faithful souls.”
Paul’s Credo is not as technical as either the creed of Pius IV or St. Pius X’s Anti-Modernist Oath, nor is it as technical as the draft profession of faith prepared by Cardinal Ottaviani in 1961. But it is clear that Paul did not intend to promulgate the Credo as a formal profession of faith to be sworn by clergy and professors in ecclesiastical colleges and universities. Instead, Paul’s Credo lives up to the promise of the Second Vatican Council—a promise that the Council itself failed to live up to at times—by presenting the timeless Faith anew to modern men and women. Seen in this regard, that is, seen as Peter’s successor proclaiming Peter’s faith to the men and women of his age, the Credo of the People of God is a document as significant in its own was as Humanae vitae.
Even Paul’s critics recognized the Credo of the People of God as an extraordinary event. In his justly famous Open Letter to Confused Catholics, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre described it as “an act which from the dogmatic point of view is more important than all the Council.” The Credo “was an event of quite exceptional solemnity”: Paul VI, successor of Peter and vicar of Christ, rose alone to affirm the faith of Peter in clear, solemn terms, free of confusion. Lefebvre observed that in this profession of faith, “[w]e have thereby the consolation and the confidence of feeling that the Holy Ghost has not abandoned us. We can say that the Act of Faith that sprang from the First Vatican Council has found its other resting point in the profession of faith of Paul VI.” - Paul VI: Credo of the People of God
