PROFESSION OF FAITH. — In a broad sense, it is any external act of Christian virtue that presupposes faith; in the proper and formal sense, it is the explicit manifestation of one’s religious convictions in deference to the authority of God who reveals.
In addition to the divine precept of externally professing the faith, recalled by the CIC at can. 1325 (v. FAITH, cols. 1087-88), there is also ecclesiastical law that obliges certain persons to make the profession of faith, in specific cases and according to a determined formula, as a guarantee of obedience to the ecclesiastical magisterium.
In the early centuries, the solemn profession of faith had to be made before receiving Baptism, as even today the baptismal rite includes the recitation of the Creed; later, it began to be imposed on Catholics suspected of heresy and on heretics returning to the Church, but especially on candidates for sacred Orders and the episcopate. In the 7th century, traces are also found of the oath annexed to the profession of faith, whose content was then carefully determined by the Council of Trent (sess. XXV, chap. 2, de reform.). The formula still in force is that of Pius IV, modified by Pius IX, who in 1877 inserted into it the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the definitions of the Vatican Council.
Pius X, with the motu proprio *Sacrosanctum Antistitum* of 1 September 1910, prescribed that the profession of faith be both read aloud and subscribed to, and imposed the anti-Modernist oath. At present, the CIC (can. 1406-1408) specifies the persons bound to make the profession of faith and the manner of doing so: a) those obliged are: 1) those who take part with a deliberative or consultative vote in an ecumenical or particular council or in a diocesan synod. The president makes the profession before the assembly, the members before the president or his delegate; 2) those promoted to the dignity of cardinal; they make the profession before the Dean of the Sacred College, the first cardinals of the Orders of Priests and Deacons, and the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church; 3) before the delegate of the Apostolic See, those promoted to an episcopal see, even if non-residential, to the government of an abbacy or prelature *nullius*, or to an Apostolic Vicariate; 4) the capitular vicar before the cathedral chapter; 5) before the local Ordinary or his delegate and the chapter, those promoted to a dignity or to a canonry; 6) before the local Ordinary or his delegate and before the other consultors, those appointed as diocesan consultors; 7) before the local Ordinary or his delegate, the vicar general, parish priests, and all who hold a parochial benefice, even if removable; the rector, professors of theology, canon law, and philosophy in seminaries at the beginning of each academic year or at least upon assuming office; all who are ordained subdeacons along with the censors of books; priests designated for confessions and preaching; 8) before the Ordinary or his delegate, the rector of a canonically erected university or faculty; before the rector and his delegate, the professors at the beginning of each academic year or at least upon assuming teaching duties; all who, having passed examinations, obtain academic degrees; 9) in clerical religious institutes, the superior makes the profession before the chapter or the superior who appointed him or before their delegate. All these persons are bound to renew the profession of faith whenever they pass from one office to another that likewise requires such a profession.
b) The obligation to make the profession of faith is personal, so that one made through a proxy is not valid. The profession of faith may not be made before lay persons (can. 1407). The obligation to make the profession of faith is grave, and one who neglects it commits an ecclesiastical delict punishable by penalties according to can. 2403. When several persons make the profession of faith, it suffices for one to read the formula and the others to pronounce the final expression of promise and oath.