The Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition was renamed the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in 1908, and, in 1965, became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, aiming to «promote and safeguard the doctrine on
faith and morals throughout the Catholic world.»
At this present time, in a period of decline in Christian
faith and morals which is still unchecked, still sweeping even lower, it remains true that the teachings given men by Christ, although whittled away
and progressively abandoned, still preserve a better level of charity, justice,
and chastity in human affairs
throughout Christendom than prevails in those regions where the name of Christ has hardly entered, or where it is bitterly persecuted.
It met in the Vatican in 1869 - 1870,
and its most notable decrees, later promulgated by the Pope, declared «that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor
and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine of
faith and morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be possessed for defining doctrine regarding
faith or
morals;
and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves,
and not from the consent of the Church»;
and that the Roman Pontiff has «full
and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not only in things which belong to
faith and morals, but also in those which relate to the discipline
and government of the Church spread
throughout the world.»
Its members, who are dedicated clergy
and faith leaders from different denominations
and communities
throughout the U.S., lead a national effort to increase public awareness of the theological
and moral basis for advocating reproductive health.