With the assent of Pope Francis, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) published the note Gestis Verbisque (Gestures and Words) stating that when a priest or other minister changes the words, gestures, or material prescribed for the celebration of a sacrament, he can render it invalid, depriving the faithful of what they deserve.
The text, issued only in Italian on February 3, reiterates that for all sacraments in the Catholic Church, the “observance of both matter and form has always been required for the validity of the celebration” and that precisely “because of their rootedness in Scripture or Tradition, the matter and form never depend nor can they depend on the desire of the individual or of the particular community.”
In the document’s foreword, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the DDF, points out that the Dicastery has been receiving numerous reports of Catholics, including priests, finding out all the sacraments they have received are invalid because they were baptized with a formula that was not approved; for instance, “we baptize you” instead of “I baptize you.” He mentions that “while in other areas of the Church’s pastoral action there is ample room for creativity, such inventiveness in the area of the celebration of the sacraments becomes a ‘manipulative will’ and cannot be invoked.”
To read more, click here.