What Catholics Believe

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is seen and not seen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and our salvation
he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

(The Nicene Creed came from the first two ecumenical councils: Nicaea in 325 A.D. and Constantinople in 381 A.D. The creed was promulgated to counter the heresy of Arianism which claimed and taught that Jesus was not divine. Sadly, manifestations of this heresy persist to this day in some "Christian" ecclesial communities.)

"Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's another, the Holy Spirit's another, but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal"(CCC 266).

Transmission of Divine Revelation

“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’,
in writing ‘by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the same inspiration of the Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation in writing’” (CCC 76).

“As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence’” (CCC 82).

“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all riches” (CCC 97).

“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” (CCC 100).

Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture

“God is the author of Sacred Scripture. ‘The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.’”

“For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself” (CCC 105).

“God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. ‘To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more’” (CCC 106).

“The inspired books teach the truth. ‘Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures’” (CCC 107).

“Still, the Christian faith is not a “religion of the book.” Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is ‘not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living.’ If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, ‘open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures’” (CCC 108).

The Holy Spirit, Interpreter of Scripture

“In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words” (CCC 109).

“But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. ‘Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written.’

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it" (CCC 111).

1. Be especially attentive ‘to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.’ Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover” (CCC 112).

2. Read the Scripture within ‘the living Tradition of the whole Church.’ According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (‘according to the spiritual meaning which the spirit grants the Church’)” (CCC 113).

3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith. By ‘analogy of faith’ we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation” (CCC 114).

The Seven Sacraments

The Sacraments of Christian Initiation

Baptism
Confirmation
Eucharist

The Sacraments of Healing

Penance and Reconciliation
Anointing of the Sick

The Sacraments at the Service of Communion and the Mission of the Faithful

Holy Orders
Marriage

"The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions" (CCC 1131).

The Ten Commandments

I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbors wife.
You shall not covet your neighbors goods.

(See Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-22)

"Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart" (CCC 2072).

The Two Great Commandments

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

(Jesus’ answer when asked which commandment is the greatest. See Matthew 22:36-38.)

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom in heaven.
Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful. For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

(See Matthew 5:3-10)

"The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints" (CCC 1717).

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry.
Give drink to the thirsty.
Clothe the naked.
Visit the imprisoned.
Shelter the homeless.
Visit the sick.
Bury the dead.

"The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man" (CCC 1473).

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

Admonish the sinner.
Instruct the ignorant.
Counsel the doubtful.
Comfort the sorrowful.
Bear wrongs patiently.
Forgive all injuries.
Pray for the living and the dead.

Precepts of the Church

You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the church.
You shall to provide for the needs of the Church.

"The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor:..." (CCC 2041).

Gifts of the Spirit	Fruits of the Spirit
Wisdom	Generosity
Understanding	Gentleness
Knowledge	Faithfulness
Right Judgment	Modesty
Fortitude/Courage	Self Control
Reverence	Chastity
Awe and Wonder

Theological Virtues	Cardinal Virtues
Faith	Prudence
Hope	Fortitude
Charity	Justice
	Temperance

Capital Sins and the Virtues They Oppose

Capital Sins	Virtues Opposed
Pride	Humility
Covetousness	Liberality
Lust	Chastity
Anger	Meekness
Gluttony	Temperance
Envy	Brotherly Love
Sloth	Diligence

Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church

"When Christ instituted the Twelve, 'he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them.' Just as 'by the Lord's institution, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another'" (CCC 880).

"The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. 'The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.' This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope" (CCC 881).

"Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task 'to preach the Gospel of God to all men,' in keeping with the Lord's command. They are 'heralds of faith, who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers' of the apostolic faith 'endowed with the authority of Christ'" (CCC 888).

"In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a 'supernatural sense of faith' the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, 'unfailingly adheres to this faith'" (CCC 889).

"The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms" (CCC 890):

"'The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium,' above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine 'for belief as being divinely revealed,' and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions 'must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.' This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself" (CCC 891).

"Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a 'definitive manner,' they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful 'are to adhere to it with religious assent' which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it" (CCC 892).

What We Believe - Basic Matters of Morality

Abortion

"Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth" (CCC 2270).

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes" (CCC 1271).

"Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. 'A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,' 'by the very commission of the offense,' and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society" (CCC 1272).

Euthanasia

"Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible" (CCC 2276).

"Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.

Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded" (CCC 2277)."

"Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected" (CCC 2278).

"Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged" (CCC 2279).

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Human embryos are human beings. "Respect for the dignity of the human being excludes all experimental manipulation or exploitation of the human embryo."1

"The Church has consistently taught that human life must be respected from the moment of conception. In Scripture we see that every individual from the very beginning is part of God's plan."

"The Church teaches that unborn life is innocent human life, and that the innocent human being has an absolute right to life. This moral principle goes back to the Fifth Commandment: 'Thou shalt not kill.' That is why the Church teaches: 'The direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral' (The Gospel of Life, 57.4)."

" So strong is this prohibition that the Church stresses that even if a killing was with the intention of helping another, the killing of an innocent human being is an absolutely unacceptable act."

"Some say that the good to be accomplished by healing such diseases as Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's, justifies the evil of destroying some human embryos."

"But this argument reduces people to their usefulness. It also assumes that there are no moral absolutes that must be observed in all circumstances. And it violates one of the most basic principles of morality. After all, many evil acts can be justified for some good that could come from them."2

It is important to stress that the Church is not against all forms of stem cell research. The Church opposes only those methods that involve the destruction of a human life, such as embryonic stem cell research. There are methods of obtaining human stem cells from adults such as from the placenta, bone marrow, and the umbilical cord. The use of these stem cells are now treating over 22 significant diseases and the treatments are expected to expand. Contrast this to embryonic cells where not one disease is yet to be treated despite significant research activity.

Human Cloning

In response to the many reproductive technologies, The Vatican issued a document in 1987 called Donum Vitae (hereafter DV), which means the "gift of life." What follows are selected excerpts from DV having applicability to the subject of human cloning.

"Medicine and technology must respect the moral law. Not everything that is scientifically possible is allowable. Science must always be the servant, not the master, of the human person and respect his god-given rights. Science without conscience can lead to human disasters."

"Because the unborn child, at any stage, is a human being, the moral laws on experimentation apply to it. No procedure is permitted that poses a risk to the child and that is not for the benefit of his health."

"DV repeats the teaching of Humanae Vitae that all marital acts must respect both the unitive (love-giving) and procreative(life-giving) purposes of the marital act."

"A child has the right to be conceived, nurtured in the womb, born, and raised within marriage. The child has the right to be the true fruit of the natural marital act of his father and mother. Being raised by his own parents helps the child discover his identity and achieve his proper human development."

"DV teaches that cloning is against the moral law because it is contrary to the dignity of human procreation and marital union. Cloning would create human life without any connection to human sexuality. It is a total perversion of procreation as ordained by God. It is also reckless experimentation on the child. Finally, it is a complete violation of a child's right to be conceived within marriage and from the natural marital act."3

Homosexual Marriage

"God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: 'And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it'" (CCC 1604).

"Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: 'It is not good that the man should be alone.' The woman, 'flesh of his flesh,' his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a 'helpmate'; she thus represents God from whom comes our help. 'Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.' The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been 'in the beginning': 'So they are no longer two, but one flesh'" (CCC 1605).

"On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence" (CCC 1613).

"'By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory.'

Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves. God himself said: 'It is not good that man should be alone,' and 'from the beginning [he] made them male and female'; wishing to associate them in a special way in his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: 'Be fruitful and multiply.' Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it, without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day" (CCC 1652).

"True marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Legal recognition of any other union as 'marriage' undermines true marriage, and legal recognition of homosexual unions actually does homosexual persons a disfavor by encouraging them to persist in what is an objectively immoral arrangement."4 In addition, data supports that the homosexual lifestyle is detrimental to their psychological and physical health and, as an act of love toward homosexuals, these unions cannot be supported.

"Fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms: These values are not negotiable." Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis.