It is gratifying to read appreciative comments about the recent document from the International Theological Commission (ITC) on the sensus fidei (“Let the laity be heard’’, 16 August; Letters, 23 August). I and my colleagues on the ITC very much wanted to write a theologically well-grounded, balanced and (hopefully) useful text on this highly important topic.May I respond to some queries and misapprehensions? First, “Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church” is not a document of the Magisterium; the members of the ITC, in principle, are theologians, not bishops. As such, their task is to explore and explain the faith of the Church. That faith lives in the People of God as a whole, to which the bishops themselves of course belong, their prime task being to teach