The theological category of the sensus fidelium and its implications in the synodal church

Abstract

The ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council has taken up the theological category of sensus fidelium, which is an expression of the passage from an ecclesiological vision centered on the image of the Church as a hierarchical institution to the vision of the Church as the People of God, based on the baptismal priesthood, in which all the Christian faithful are associated in the prophetic mission of Christ. In this investigation, based on the affirmation of the sense of faith of the faithful, it clarifies and delimits the term and its use in Catholic theology and the parameters that the same magisterium has discerned and declared as necessary to identify the authentic movement of the Spirit in the faithful that gives them indefectibility in believing. The council, making use of the concept sensus fidelium, gives rise to the current ecclesial reflection on synodality, since by affirming the action of the Spirit in the totality of the faithful, it recognizes their participation in the prophetic mission of Christ through testimony and ecclesial co-responsibility, manifested in the different participation organizations, in the lay ministries and in the charismatic gifts with which the Spirit adorns and builds the Church.