Credenda and Tenenda distinguish doctrines to be believed as divinely revealed from doctrines to be accepted and held definitively because they are necessarily connected with revelation and required for guarding the Deposit of Faith.
Two irrevocable doctrinal categories
Credenda derives from the Latin for things to be believed. In the first paragraph of the Profession of Faith, it designates truths contained in the written or handed-down Word of God and proposed by the Church as divinely revealed. These doctrines are de fide credenda, or dogmas, and receive divine and Catholic faith because of the authority of God revealing.
Tenenda derives from the Latin for things to be held. The second paragraph comprises doctrines about faith or morals definitively proposed because they are necessary for faithfully guarding and expounding the Deposit of Faith, even when not proposed as formally revealed. These are de fide tenenda in the commentary’s terminology and receive firm and definitive assent. They are infallible and irreformable, not merely strong non-definitive opinions.[1]
Equal irrevocability, distinct formal ground
The Doctrinal Commentary emphasizes that no difference exists in the full and irrevocable character of the two assents. The difference concerns the supernatural ground. Credenda are believed directly on God’s revealing authority. Tenenda are held through faith in the Holy Spirit’s assistance to the Magisterium and in the Catholic doctrine of the Church’s infallibility. Exact terminology prevents both downgrading tenenda and calling every definitive doctrine a dogma.[2]
Content and modes of proposal
Credenda include the articles of the Creed and other christological, Marian, sacramental, ecclesiological, anthropological, scriptural, and moral truths proposed as revealed. Tenenda include propositions connected with revelation by logical necessity or historical necessity. Official examples include doctrinal conclusions required by dogma, the legitimacy of a papal election or ecumenical council, canonizations, the invalidity of Anglican orders, and definitive moral judgments.[3]
Either category can be proposed through a defining or a non-defining act. A pope speaking ex cathedra or the College of Bishops in an ecumenical council can define solemnly. The bishops dispersed throughout the world, in communion with one another and with Peter’s successor, can teach infallibly through the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium when they agree that a doctrine must be held definitively. Solemnity identifies mode, not whether the proposition is credenda or tenenda.
Development from tenenda to credenda
The Church can first recognize a doctrine as necessarily connected with revelation and later judge that its revealed character is itself contained in the deposit. A later definition as credenda clarifies the formal object without making the previous definitive assent temporary. The commentary uses papal primacy and infallibility before Vatican I to illustrate such development. Truth remains continuous while the Church’s explicit understanding and proposal deepen.[4]
Distinction from non-definitive teaching
The third paragraph of the Profession of Faith concerns teachings presented by the authentic Magisterium as true or sure without an intention to proclaim them definitively. They require religious submission of intellect and will, not the assent of credenda or tenenda. This response is real and interior but proportioned to a reformable act. The threefold framework excludes the false choice between treating everything as dogma and treating everything short of dogma as optional.[5]
A single document can contain propositions belonging to all three categories together with disciplinary norms, historical observations, and prudential applications. The title of the document does not settle the grade of every sentence. Interpretation identifies the precise proposition, competent subject, object, addressee, continuity, wording, and manifest intention. Canon 749 cautions that a definition is not presumed unless clearly established.
Rejection and communion
Obstinate post-baptismal denial or doubt of credenda is heresy in the canonical sense. Rejection of tenenda opposes a truth of Catholic doctrine and, according to the doctrinal commentary, means that full communion is no longer maintained, although the rejection is not formally called heresy unless the truth is also proposed as revealed. Opposition to non-definitive teaching has a different qualification. Precise distinctions state the gravity of each without confusion.
References
- 1.Ad tuendam fidem — John Paul II’s insertion into Latin and Eastern canon law of the explicit obligation to accept and hold doctrines definitively required for guarding and faithfully expounding the Deposit of Faith
- 2.Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei — The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on doctrines de fide credenda and de fide tenenda, their distinct formal grounds, equal irrevocability, modes of proposal, and ecclesial consequences
- 3.Lumen fidei — Pope Francis on faith as hearing and sight, its certainty through participation in God’s knowledge, its ecclesial form, growth through love, sacramental transmission, and perseverance
- 4.Mysterium Ecclesiae, 2–5 — The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on ecclesial infallibility, truths necessary for preserving revelation, the irreformability of definitive doctrine, and enduring dogmatic meaning
- 5.Code of Canon Law, canons 748–754 — The freedom and obligation of faith, divine and Catholic faith, definitive doctrine, religious submission, and the canonical definitions of heresy, apostasy, and schism