Luis Ladaria Ferrer

Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J.(born 19 April 1944) is a Spanish Jesuit archbishop. He currently serves as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia, while still teaching at the Pontifical Gregorian University (where he resides) and remaining an active member of the International Theological Commission.

Luis Ladaria Ferrer was born in Manacor, on the island of Majorca, Spain and studied at the University of Madrid, graduating with a degree in law in 1966. He entered the Society of Jesus on 17 October 1966. After attending the Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid and the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Ladaria was ordained to the priesthood on 29 July 1973.

In 1975 he obtained a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, with a thesis entitled, The Holy Spirit in St Hilary of Poitiers, and became professor of dogmatic theology at the Comillas Pontifical University. In 1984, he assumed the same position at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, where he was vice-rector from 1986 to 1994. He became a member of the International Theological Commission in 1992 and a consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1995.

In March 2004, Ladaria Ferrer was named Secretary-General of the International Theological Commission and led the Commission's evaluation, beginning in 2006, of the concept of limbo, that is, of the fate of children who die without having received the sacrament of Baptism. The Commission concluded that there is hope that these children are able to receive salvation and enjoy the beatific vision.

On 9 July 2008, Ladaria Ferrer was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Titular Archbishop of Thibica by Pope Benedict XVI. He continued to be general secretary of the International Theological Commission until 22 April 2009, when he resigned and was succeeded by Charles Morerod, O.P.

His episcopal ordination took place on 26 July 2008 (the ordaining prelate being Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, SDB his predecessor as Secretary of the Congregation and now Cardinal Secretary of State. The co-consecrators were the new Cardinal Prefect William Joseph Levada and Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, one of the founders of the Community of Sant'Egidio.

Ladaria Ferrer is considered to be theologically conservative, and subscribes to ressourcement, a return to earlier sources, traditions, and symbols of the Church. He also has a predilection for patrology and Christology. On 13 November 2008, he was appointed a consultor of the Congregation for Bishops, and on 31 January 2009, a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

He is a member of the Holy See's team charged with the dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X that began on 26 October 2009. The other members of the team are Father Charles Morerod, Monsignor Fernando Ocariz, Vicar General of Opus Dei, and then-Father Karl Josef Becker, S.J., consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. However in February 2011, Bernard Fellay, said that the reconciliation talks with the Vatican would soon be coming to an end, with little change in the views of either side. In addition to disputes over the changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council, new problems have been created by plans for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Fellay said the scheduled beatification of Pope John Paul II on 1 May 2011 poses "a serious problem, the problem of a pontificate that caused things to proceed by leaps and bounds in the wrong direction, along 'progressive' lines, toward everything that they call 'the spirit of Vatican II.'"