You can't be baptized “in the name of mom and dad.”

Enough of the liturgical chaos with baptisms and other ceremonies. A new document called “Gestis Verbisque” prepared by Argentine Cardinal Victor Fernandez, Dean of the Doctrine of the Faith, and signed by the Pope, He points out that secrets and their formulas do not allow for changemust be respected otherwise the changes will be considered illegal.

The demand for rigor from the cardinals and bishops comes from the same doctrine department in the Vatican, given the many violations referred to.

The document states that the forms and elements installed are at the core of the sacrificial ritual “It cannot be changed in the name of creativity Because in these cases the sacrament itself is invalid and was never performed.”

So enough widespread formulas of this kind “My mother and father baptize you with great joy.”. Or marriages celebrated “to the point of folklore,” or the Eucharist according to the priest’s sensitivity, or the anointing of the sick “as if it were a magic potion.”

The papal document states that the sacraments are provided with the seven vital movements that since the Council of Trent constitute “the encounter with Christ the Lord who gives His grace, through the words of the Church and its ritual actions, It nourishes and strengthens faith.”

Those “seven gestures” It cannot be modified because there is an underlying chaos that threatens to undermine the foundations of faith. “Through closely connected events and words, God reveals and carries out His own design of salvation for every man and woman.”

“But it should be noted that not always the liturgical celebration, and especially the celebration of the sacraments, It is performed in strict fidelity to the rituals prescribed by the Church“, explains Cardinal Fernandez.

The Magisterium's interventions in sacramental matters “have always been motivated by fundamental concerns regarding fidelity to the famous sacrament.”

The papal document states that “serious modifications made in the question or form of the sacraments render the celebrations null and void.” They force the people involved to find a repeat of baptism Or the confirmation of a large number of believers who feel disturbed.

The Pontiff explains that no one has “the possibility to modify the ceremonial form of the sacrament on his own initiative: this constitutes not only a simple ritual abuse as a violation of a positive norm, but also constitutes ‘harm’.” And to ecclesiastical communion, and to the recognition of the work of Christ, which in the most serious cases renders the sacrament itself invalid, because the nature of ministerial work requires that what has been accepted be faithfully transmitted.

“It is increasingly urgent that we mature the art of celebration that leads to the discipline that must be respected to be true disciples. It is not about following the liturgical galateo rites, “He's more disciplined.”“, the Pope states in the text.

When presenting the document, Viceroy Cardinal Fernandez said: “Also some priests who were baptized with these formulas, (such as “I baptize you in the name of the Creator” or “We baptize you in the name of my father and my mother,” they painfully discovered the invalidity of their ordination and the sacraments they had been celebrating up to that moment.

“While there is ample room for creativity in other areas of the Church's pastoral work, in the field of sacramental celebrations this turns into a manipulative will,” the Argentine Cardinal explained.

The Dean of the Doctrine of Faith concluded his speech by recalling that “we ministers are required to have the strength to overcome the temptation to feel as if we are the owners of the Church” and “believers in turn have the right, To receive the sacraments as the Church offers.