Catechism of the Catholic Church
I. The life of man - to know and love God
II. Handing on the Faith: Catechesis
III. The Aim and Intended Readership of the Catechism
IV. Structure of this Catechism
V. Practical Directions for Using this Catechism
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION ONE I BELIEVE - WE BELIEVE
CHAPTER ONE MAN'S CAPACITY FOR GOD
II. Ways of Coming to Know God
III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church
IV. How Can We Speak about God?
CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN
Article 1 THE REVELATION OF GOD
Article 2 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
CHAPTER THREE MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD
Article 2 WE BELIEVE : The Credo
CHAPTER ONE I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
Article 1 I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
CHAPTER TWO I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD
ARTICLE 2 AND IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD
Article 3 HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY
Article 4 JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED
Article 5 HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN
Article 6 HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER
Article 7 FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AGAlN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
ARTICLE 8 I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
CHAPTER THREE I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
Article 9 I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH
Article 10 I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
Article 11 I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
Article 12 I BELIEVE IN LIFE EVERLASTING
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION ONE THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER ONE THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
Article 1 THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
Article 2 THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE CHURCH'S SACRAMENTS
CHAPTER TWO THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY
Article 1 CELEBRATING THE CHURCH'S LITURGY
Article 2 LITURGICAL DIVERSITY AND THE UNITY OF THE MYSTERY
SECTION TWO THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER ONE THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
Article 1 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Article 2 THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
Article 3 THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
CHAPTER TWO THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING
Article 4 THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION
Article 5 THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK
CHAPTER THREE THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION
ARTICLE 6 THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS
Article 7 THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
CHAPTER FOUR OTHER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS
SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Article 1 MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD
Article 2 OUR VOCATION TO BEATITUDE
Article 4 THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS
Article 5 THE MORALITY OF THE PASSIONS
CHAPTER TWO THE HUMAN COMMUNION
Article 1 THE PERSON AND SOCIETY
Article 2 PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL LIFE
CHAPTER THREE GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE
Article 2 GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION
Article 3 THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER
SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Article 1 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Article 2 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
Article 3 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT
CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
ARTICLE 4 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
Article 5 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
Article 6 THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
Article 7 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
Article 8 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
Article 9 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT
Article 10 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
SECTION ONE PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER ONE THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER
Article 1 IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Article 2 IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME
Article 3 IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER TWO THE TRADITION OF PRAYER
Article 1 AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER
CHAPTER THREE THE LIFE OF PRAYER
Article 1 EXPRESSIONS OF PRAYER
Article 2 THE BATTLE OF PRAYER
Article 3 THE PRAYER OF THE HOUR OF JESUS
Article 1 THE SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE GOSPEL
THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth": 29 that is, of Christ Jesus. 30 Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:
God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations. 31
29 Ò 1 Tim 2:4 30 cf. Ò Jn 14:6 31 DV 7; cf. Ò 2 Cor 1:20; Ò 3:16 - Ò 4:6
I. The Apostolic Tradition
75 "Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline." 32
In the apostolic preaching. . .
76 In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways: - orally "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit"; 33 - in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing". 34
. . . continued in apostolic succession
77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority." 35 Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time." 36
78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes." 37 "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer." 38
79 The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church - and through her in the world - leads believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness." 39
32 DV 7; cf. Ò Mt 28:19-20; Ò Mk 16:15 33 DV 7. 34 DV 7. 35 DV 7 # 2; St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 3, 1: PG 7/1, 848; Harvey, 2, 9. 36 DV 8 # 1. 37 DV 8 # 1. 38 DV 8 # 3. 39 DV 8 # 3; cf. Ò Col 3:16.
II. The Relationship Between Tradition and Sacred Scripture
One common source. . .
80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal." 40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age". 41
. . . two distinct modes of transmission
81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit." 42
"and [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching." 43
82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence." 44
Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions
83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. the first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.
40 DV 9. 41 Ò Mt 28:20 42 DV 9. 43 DV 9. 44 DV 9.
III. The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith
The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church
84 The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei), 45 contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practising and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful." 46
The Magisterium of the Church
85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ." 47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith." 48
87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", 49 The faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.
The dogmas of the faith
88 The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes in a definitive way truths having a necessary connection with them.
89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith. 50
90 The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ. 51 "In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy 234 of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith." 52
The supernatural sense of faith
91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them 53 and guides them into all truth. 54
92 "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals." 55
93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . the People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life." 56
Growth in understanding the faith
94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church: - "through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts"; 57 it is in particular "theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth". 58 - "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience", 59 The sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them." 60 - "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth". 61
95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls." 62
45 DV 10 # 1; cf.I Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14(Vulg.). 46 DV 10 # 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, Apost. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950: AAS 42 (1950), 756, taken along with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3/2, 733: "The Church is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd." 47 DV 10 # 2. 48 DV 10 para 2. 49 Ò Lk 10:16; cf. LG 20. 50 Cf. Ò Jn 8:31-32. 51 Cf. Vatican Council I: DS 3016: nexus mysteriorum; LC 25. 52 UR II. 53 Cf. Ò I Jn 2:20, Ò 27 54 Cf. . Ò Jn 16:13 55 LG 12; cf. St. Augustine, De praed. sanct. 14, 27: PL 44, 980. 56 LG 12; cf. Jude 3. 57 DV 8 # 2; cf. Ò Lk 2:19, Ò 51 58 GS 62 # 7; cf. GS 44 # 2; DV 23; 24; UR 4. 59 DV 8 # 2. 60 DV 8 # 2. 61 St. Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ò Ezek. 1, 7, 8: PL 76, 843D. 62 DV 10 # 3.
IN BRIEF
96 What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to all generations, until Christ returns in glory.
97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.
98 "The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes" (DV 8 # 1).
99 Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.
100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.