A baptism administered "in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer and of the Sanctifier" is not a baptism at all, said the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The congregation's statement was published Feb. 29 as a brief response to questions regarding the validity of baptisms using that formula.
Asked whether a baptism performed with that formula --- or a similar one referring to the "Creator, Liberator and Sustainer" --- would be valid, the congregation answered "Negative."
Asked whether people who were initiated with a rite using these formulas would now need to be baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," the congregation answered "Affirmative."
The congregation said Pope Benedict XVI "approved these responses" and ordered their publication.
If either formula --- recently initiated in North America to avoid referring to the Trinity with masculine names --- was used, the person is not yet formally a Christian and any subsequent sacraments the person received also are invalid, said Cardinal Urbano Navarrete in a commentary commissioned by the doctrinal congregation.
"Persons who were baptized or will be baptized in the future with the formulas in question in reality are not baptized," the cardinal wrote. If they are now adults and want to be baptized, they must receive the instruction prescribed for all preparing for baptism and they should receive baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist during the same Mass, he said.
The most serious practical consequences, he said, are likely to be seen in the area of marriage where no sacrament exists if both spouses had been baptized with an invalid formula.
Even if only one of the spouses had been baptized with an invalid formula, there still is no valid sacrament of matrimony unless before the wedding the couple had obtained the dispensation needed for a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian, the cardinal said.
Cardinal Navarrete also said that, obviously, the sacraments of confirmation and of holy orders also are invalid when conferred on people baptized with an invalid formula.
In addition, he said, anyone who attempted to baptize someone using an invalid formula is subject to church penalties, which should be applied since it is "seriously illegitimate and unjust to deceive both the baptized and the community" by presenting the rite as a baptism.
In a separate commentary also commissioned by the doctrinal congregation, Msgr. Antonio Miralles said "expressions that invalidate the conferral of a true baptism cannot be tolerated by the church."
The monsignor, a consultant to the doctrinal congregation and a professor at Rome's Pontifical Holy Cross University, said the church believes it has no authority "to change that which Christ himself instituted" when he told his disciples to go out and baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
The problem with using "creator" and "redeemer" is not that they do not identify God as male, but that they "subvert faith in the Trinity" because they do not make clear the relationship among the three distinct persons, he said. For example, "God is eternally Father in relation to his only begotten Son, who is not eternally Son except in relation to the Father."
Msgr. Miralles said that the formula "creator, redeemer, sanctifier" is not Trinitarian because it blurs the distinctions among the three persons of the Trinity who all are involved together in the divine actions of creation, redemption and sanctification.
The monsignor also argued that the use of the recent formulas --- more common among Protestants than among Catholics --- could have a negative impact on ecumenism, because a common baptism is essential for Christian unity.
A baptism recognized as valid by all dialogue partners is what allows them to call each other Christians, he said.
"All of us Christians are called to remain solidly faithful to the unity well expressed in the Letter to the Ephesians," which calls for a common profession of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all," he said.
U.S. officials: Vatican statement clarifies validity
Doctrinal and ecumenical officials at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the release of the Vatican statement addressing the validity of baptisms was to answer bishops' questions and to provide consistency in the church's practice.
"I think if you are over the age of 45 to 50 you have nothing to fear" regarding the validity of baptisms, said Father Tom Weinandy, a Capuchin Franciscan who is executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Doctrine. Those in the younger generation shouldn't "have a huge amount of fear" either, he added.
According to the statement released by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Feb. 29, a baptism administered "in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer and of the Sanctifier" or formulas that do not say "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" is not a baptism at all. If the baptism is invalid, so are the other sacraments the person may have received, such as matrimony.
"If you are not validly baptized," and thus not validly married, "a person needs to get rebaptized and remarried," explained Father Weinandy.
However, unless a witness at the baptism knows that an incorrect formula was used, "it is assumed they used the right formula," he said. "The presumption is the obvious truth that the baptism is valid."
The Vatican's statement was released "because of the abuse (by priests and Protestant ministers at baptisms) and the questions that have come from it," said Father Weinandy.
The Vatican "wants to make sure the formula is the proper formula," he told Catholic News Service Feb. 29.
Instances in which a baptism has been considered invalid have been "very, very, very few and far between," he said.
Father Francis Tiso, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, referred to a 1993 document issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity that addressed a similar issue.
The "Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism" says: "Baptism is conferred with water and with a formula which clearly indicates that baptism is done in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
"It is therefore of the utmost importance for all the disciples of Christ that baptism be administered in this manner by all and that the various churches and ecclesial communities arrive as closely as possible at an agreement about its significance and celebration," it notes.
Father Tiso said the Feb. 29 Vatican clarification simply says that a person has to be rebaptized if the original baptism was not administered in such a manner.
The only real change he can predict from the Vatican's most recent clarification is that some Christian leaders would be concerned over recognizing their own local congregations' decisions and autonomy over the formula they use at baptisms. Because many non-Catholic denominations do not have a hierarchical structure like the Catholic Church, many decisions on such matters are determined by local congregations.
But, he said, the Vatican's statement will "help ecumenical leaders make the case to local leaders to follow the biblical formulas" and that this decision will have a broader impact.
Father Tiso said he currently is working on a document with four of the Reformed churches, which should be finalized in mid-March. The document includes an affirmation for baptisms to be mutually accepted by the Catholic and Reformed churches that include the use of water and the biblical formula "Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Paulist Father Ronald Roberson, whose work focuses on relations with the Orthodox churches said "there's no disagreement whatsoever with the Orthodox churches" on the subject of the formula and validity of baptisms.
---CNS
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