During his homily Tuesday at daily Mass, Pope Francis emphasized
that those who wish to follow Jesus should do so from inside the
church. After meditating on the persecution of early Christian communities by Roman authorities, the pope also mentioned those communities' missionary activities.
He then said that even then, there were divisions among some on how to teach the faith -- joking that those divisions effectively began the role of the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the sometimes controversial modern Vatican office responsible for keeping grips on the church's faith, morals, and doctrine.
When the first Christians began sharing the Gospel
with "the Greeks," and not just other Jews, it was something completely
new and made some of the Apostles "a bit nervous," the pope said. They
sent Barnabas to Antioch to check on the situation, a kind of "apostolic
visitation," he said. "With a bit of a sense of humor, we can say this
was the theological beginning of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith."
In recent times, one was launched into the individual orders of U.S. women religious in 2009 by the Vatican congregation responsible for religious life.
Another was launched by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to the Irish church following widespread of issues of sexual abuse by clergy.