Abstract

The term sensus fidei is one of the most important themes of the ecclesiology of Vatican II. This essay studies this theme in the texts of the Council, especially in LG, and in their reception in the theology and the praxis of the Church in the last forty years. The starting-point of the article is the idea that sensus fidelium is not a novelty with Vatican II; many texts on the sensus fidei, for example, in the Schema de Ecclesia, demonstrate that the Fathers were well acquainted with the theme. Further, presentations they made at the Council manifest a solid understanding of the doctrine, in line with the theological positions developed by Melchior Cano, and a constant theme in Catholic theology, especially on the occasion of the solemn definitions of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. At the Council, the debate on LG 12 does not refuse the idea of the sensus fidelium, but it reveals the preoccupation of many of the Fathers to not negate the role of the Magisterium; this explains their attempts to propose again the traditional doctrine of the infallibilitas passiva. This same preoccupation conditioned and slowed down the postconciliar reception of the notion of sensus fidei, a period marked by strong contrasts between theology and the Magisterium. The end of this season of dissent, marked by a mutual understanding between theology and the Magisterium, is an auspicious occasion for an effective process of reception of the sensusfidelium in the context of a theolog