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makes clear that a Notification
of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
is not an infallible statement of the Teaching Authority!»
The case of Blessed Faustina Kowalska is the most remarkable instance of a complete reversal of judgment by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when an outright condemnation was withdrawn and the way opened for the world-wide devotional practice in honor of Divine Mercy, which originates in the writings of this Beata.
The full texts of the two Notifications on Blessed Faustina Kowalska, one condemning her and the other, about nineteen years later, withdrawing this condemnation, were published in the official Vatican register, Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Supreme Sacred Congregation on the Holy Office (1959)
- Distribution of the images and writings which present divine mercy in the form proposed by the said Sister Faustina is to be forbidden;
- The prudence of Bishops is requested as a duty to ensure the disappearance of the said images, which have already been exposed to cult.
Hugh O’Flaherty, Notarius.
His Eminence Franjo Cardinal Seper, Prefect
Archbishop Jerome Hamer, O.P., Secretary
Here what said father Michael O’Carroll: «I regret, that the signatory to the first was Mgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, my fellow countryman, a man with a sacred Legend for his wartime rescue of prisoners and victims of tyranny; but I am sure he acted on orders only. The second was signed by the head of the Congregation, Cardinal Saper and his secretary. It is important to note that among the Polish bishops mentioned in the withdrawal document was one Karol Wojtyla, then Archbishop of Cracow. He would, as John Paul II, beatify Faustina; he would also issue an Encyclical on divine mercy, Dives in Misericordia: inspired by the Beata’s teaching.
This whole episode makes clear that a Notification of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, signed or unsigned, is not an infallible statement of the Teaching Authority!»
