The Vatican’s doctrine congregation, for decades feared for its investigations into theologians, is starting to flex its muscles again.

One of the sea changes I have seen in the Pope Francis era has been the diminishing influence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). It began when the Pope told a group of Religious three months after his election not to worry if the CDF asked them questions. “Explain whatever you have to explain,” he told them, “but move forward.”

The forthcoming constitution for the Roman Curia intends to solidify these changes by ­placing the Congregation, the oldest institution in the Vatican, behind a new department for evangelisation in order of precedence. This went down badly inside the Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio, the CDF’s imposing sixteenth-century headquarters. Now the CDF is striking back. The Pope has not been able to reform its doctrinal rigidity and inquisitorial culture.