THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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Subject: Roman Catholic Creeds

[from http://www.oakgrove.org/GreenPages/bos/1005.txt ]

      1005

                                CREED OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD

               We believe in one only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, C
reator
          of things visible  such as this world in which  our brief life p
asses,
          ofthings  invisible such  as the  pure spirits  which are  also
called
          angels, and Creator in each man of his spiritual and immortal so
uls.

               We believe that his only God is absolutely one in his infin
itely
          holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence,
 His
          infinite knowledge, His  providence, His will and His love.   He
 is HE
          WHO IS, as He revealed to Moses;  and He is LOVE, as the Apostle
  John
          teaches us: so that these two names, Being and Love, express ine
ffably
          the same divine reality of Him who has wished to make himself kn
own to
          us,  and who  "dwelling in  light inaccessible,"  is in  himself
 above
          every name, above every thing, and above every created intellect
.  God
          alone can give  us light  and knowledge of  this reality by  rev
ealing
          himself as  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose eternal life
we are
          by grace called  to share, here  below in the  obscurity of fait
h  and
          after  death in  eternal  light.   The  mutual bonds  which  ete
rnally
          constitute the  Three Persons, who  are each one  and the same
Divine
          Being,  are the  blessed inmost  life of  God thrice  holy, infi
nitely
          beyond all  that we can  conceive in human  measure.  We  give t
hanks,
          however, to the Divine  Goodness that very many believers  can t
estify
          with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know  n
ot the
          mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.

               We believe then in God who eternally begets the Son, in the
 Son,
          the Word of God, who is eternally begotten, in the Holy Spirit,
the
          uncreated Person, who proceeds from the Father and the Son as th
eir
          eternal Love.  Thus in the Three Divine Persons, COAETERNAE SIBI
 ET
          COAEQUALES, the  life and beatitude  of God perfectly  one super
abound
          and  are consummated  in the  supreme excellence  and glory  pro
per to
          uncreated  Being, and always "there  should be venerated  unity
in the
          Trinity and Trinity in the unity."

               We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Son of God.
 He is
          the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and
          consubstantial with the Father, HOMOOUSIOS  TO PATRI, and throug
h  Him
          all things  were made.   He was  incarnate of the  Virgin Mary
by the
          power of  the Holy Spirit,  and was made  man: equal therefore
to the
          Father according to His divinity, and inferior to His Father acc
ording
          to  His humanity, and himself one, not by some impossible confus
ion of
          His natures, but by the unity of His person.

               He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.  He proclaimed
and
          established the Kingdom of God and made us know in Himself the F
ather.
          He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved u
s.  He
          taught us the way of the Beatitudes of the Gospel: poverty in sp
irit,
          meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, m
ercy,
          purity  of heart,  will for  peace, persecution  suffered for  j
ustice
          sake.   He suffered under Pontious Pilate,  the Lamb of God bear
ing on
          Himself the sins of the world, and he died for us on the Cross,
saving
          us by His redeeming Blood.  He was buried, and, of His own power
, rose
          the  third day, raising us by His  Resurrection to that sharing
in the
          divine life which is the life of grace.  He ascended to heaven,
and He
          will come again this time in glory, to judge  the living and the
 dead:
          each according to his merits--those who have responded to the lo
ve and
          piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them
to the
          end going to the fire that is not extinguished.  And  His Kingdo
m will
          have no end.




  1006


                    We believe inthe Holy Spirit, who is Lord,and Giver of
 life,
          Who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son
.   He
          spoke  to us  by  the  Prophets,  He  was sent  by  Christ  afte
r  His
          Resurrection  and  His  Ascension   to  the  Father;  He  illumi
nates,
          vivifies, protects, and  governs the Church; He  purifies the Ch
urch's
          members  if they do not shun His  grace.  His action, which pene
trates
          to  the inmost  of the soul,  enables man  to respond  to the  c
all of
          Jesus: BE PERFECT AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.

                    We believe thatMary is the Mother,who remained evera v
irgin,
          of the  Incarnate Word, our God  and Savior Jesus Christ,  and t
hat by
          reason  of this  singular election,  she was  in consideration
of the
          merits  of her Son, redeemed in  a more eminent manner, preserve
d from
          all stain of original sin and filled  with the gift of grace mor
e than
          all other creatures.

               Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the Mysteries of
 the
          Incarnation and Redemption, the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate,
was at
          the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glo
ry and
          likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of al
l the
          just;  and we  believe that the  Blessed Mother  of God,  the Ne
w Eve,
          Mother of the  Church, continues, in her maternal role  with reg
ard to
          Christ's members,  co-operating with  the birth  and growth  of
divine
          life in the souls of the redeemed.

               We believe that in Adam all have sinned, which means that t
he
          original offense committed by him caused human nature, common to
 all
          men, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of th
at
          offense, and which is not the state in which it was at first in
our
          first parents, established as  they were in holiness and  justic
e, and
          in which  man knew  neither evil  nor death.   It is  human natu
re  so
          fallen,  stripped of  the grace  that clothed  it, injured in  i
ts own
          natural  powers  and  subjected to  the  dominion  of  death, th
at  is
          transmitted to all men, and it is in this sense that every man i
s born
          in sin.  We therefore  hold, with the Council of Trent,  that or
iginal
          sin  is  transmitted  to  human  nature,  "not  by  imitation  b
ut  by
          propagation," and that it is thus "in each of us as his own."

               We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Sacrifice of
the
          Cross,  redeemed  us  from original  sin  and  all  the personal
  sins
          comitted by each  one of us, so that,  in accordance with the  w
ord of
          the Apostle, "where sin abounded, grace did more abound."

               We believe in one baptism instituted by Our Lord Jesus Chri
st for
          the remission of sins.  Baptism should be administered even to l
ittle
          children who have not yet been able to be guilty of any personal
 sins,
          in order that, though born deprived of supernatural grace, they
may be
          reborn  "of water  and the Holy  Spirit to  the divine  life in
Christ
          Jesus.




  1007



               We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, bu
ilt by
          Jesus Christ in that rock which is Peter.  She is the Mystical B
ody of
          Christ;  at   the  same  time   a  visible  society   instituted
  with
          hierarchical organs, and  a spiritual community; the  Church in
earth,
          the  pilgrim People  of God  here below,  and the  Church filled
  with
          heavenly  blessings; the germ  and the first fruits  of the King
dom of
          God,  through  wich the  works and  the  sufferings of  Redempti
on are
          continued  throughout humanhistory,  and which  looks for  its p
erfect
          accomplishment beyond time in glory.   In the course of time, th
e Lord
          Jesus formed His  Church by means of the Sacrament  emanating fr
om His
          plenitude.  By these she makes her members participants in the m
ystery
          of the  Death and  Ressurection of  Christ, in the  grace of  th
e Holy
          Spirit who gives her life and movement.  She is therefore holy,
though
          she  has sinners in her bossom, because  she herself has no othe
r life
          but that of grace: it  is by living by  her life that her member
s  are
          sanctified; it is by removing themselves  from her life that the
y fall
          into  sins and disorders that  prevent the radiation  of her san
ctity.
          This is why she suffers and  does penance for these offenses, of
 which
          she has the power to heal her children through the blood of Chri
st and
          the gift of the Holy Spirit.

                    Heiress ofthe divinepromises anddaughter ofAbraham acc
ording
          to  the  Spirit, through  that  Israel whose  Scriptures  she lo
vingly
          guards, and whose patriarchs and prophets she venerates;  founde
d upon
          the  Apostles and handing on from century to century their ever-
living
          words and  their powers as pastors  in the successor of  Peter a
nd the
          bishops  in  communion with  him;  perpetually  assisted by  the
  Holy
          Spirit, she  has  the charge  of guarding,  teaching, explaining
,  and
          spreading the truths which God revealed in a then veiled manner
by the
          Prophets,  and fully  by  the Lord  Jesus.   We  believe  ALL TH
AT  IS
          CONTAINED IN  THE WORD OF  GOD WRITTEN  OR HANDED DOWN,  AND WHA
T  THE
          CHURCH PROPOSES FOR BELIEF  AS DIVINELY REVEALED, WHETHER BY  A
SOLEMN
          JUDGMENT OR BY THE ORDINARY AND UNIVERSAL  MAGISTERIUM.  We beli
eve in
          the  infallibility enjoyed by the  successor of Peter  when he t
eaches
          ex-cathedra as pastor and  teacher of all  the faithful, and whi
ch  is
          assured also  to the  episcopal body  when it exercises  with hi
m  the
          supreme magisterium.

                    Webelieve that theChurch founded byJesus Christand for
 which
          He prayed is indefectibly one in faith, worship and the bond of
          hierarchical  communion.   In  the bossom  of  this Church,  the
  rich
          variety  of   liturgical  rites   and  the  legitimate   diversi
ty  of
          theological and spiritual heritages  and special disciplines, fa
r from
          injuring her unity, make it more manifest.

               Recognizing also the existence, outside of the organism of
the
          Church  of Christ,  of numerous elements  of truth  and sanctifi
cation
          which  belong to  her  as her  own  and tend  to  Catholic unity
,  and
          believing in the action of  the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the
hearts
          of  the disciples of Christ love of  this unity, we entertain th
e hope
          that Christians  who are not yet in the full communion of the on
e only
          Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only Sheph
erd.




  1008



               We believe that the Church IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, BECA
USE
          CHRIST WHO IS THE SOLE MEDIATOR AND WAY OF SALVATION, RENDERS HI
MSELF
          PRESENT FOR US IN HIS BODY WHICH IS THE CHURCH.  But the divine
design
          of salvation embraces all  men; and those WHO  WITHOUT FAULT ON
 THEIR
          PART DO NOT KNOW  THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST AND  HIS CHURCH, BU
T SEEK
          GOD  SINCERELY, AND UNDER  THE INFLUENCE OF  GRACE ENDEAVOR  TO
DO HIS
          WILL AS RECOGNIZED  THROUGH THE PROMPTINGS OF THEIR  CONSCIENCE,
 they,
          in a number known only to God, can obtain salvation.

                    Webelieve that theMass, celebrated bythe priest repres
enting
          the  person  of Christ  by virtue  of the  power received  throu
gh the
          Sacrament of  Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ a
nd the
          members of  His Mystical  Body, is in  true reality  the Sacrifi
ce  of
          Calvary, rendered sacramentally  present on  our altars.   We  b
elieve
          that as the bread  and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last
Supper
          were changed into His Body and  Blood which were to be offered
for us
          on  the Cross, likewise  the bread abd wine  consecrated by the
priest
          are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ enthroned  gloriou
sly in
          heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord,
 under
          what continues to  appear to our sense as before, is a true, rea
l, and
          substantial presence.

               Christ cannot be thus present in this sacrament except by t
he
          change into His Body of the reality itself of the bread and the
change
          into His  Blood of the reality  itself of the  wine, leaving unc
hanged
          only  the properties of the bread and  wine which our senses per
ceive.
          This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Churc
h
          TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  Every theological explanation which seeks s
ome
          understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord wit
h the
          Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independent
ly of
          our  mind,  the  bread  and  wine  have  ceased  to  exist  afte
r  the
          Consecration, so that it is the adorable Body and Blood of the L
ord
          Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacrament
al
          species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to gi
ve
          Himself to  us as  food and  to  associate us  with the  unity o
f  the
          Mystical
          Body.

                    The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glori
ous in
          heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the  sacram
ent in
          the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated.  And this exi
stence
          remains  present, after the sacrifice, in  the Blessed Sacrament
 which
          is,  in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches
.  And
          it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the Blessed Host
 which
          our  eyes see,  the  Incarnate Word  which they  cannot see,  an
d who,
          without leaving heaven, is made present before us.




  1009



               We confess that the Kingdom of God begun here below in the
Church
          of Christ IS NOT FROM THIS WORLD WHOSE FORM IS PASSING, and that
 its
          proper growth  cannot be confounded with the progress of civiliz
ation,
          of science,  or of human technology,  but that it consists  in a
n ever
          more profound knowledge of the riches of Christ, an ever stronge
r hope
          in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the Love o
f God,
          and an ever  more generous bestowal  of grace and holiness  amon
g men.
          Without ceasing  to recall to her  children that THEY HAVE  NOT
HERE A
          LASTING DWELLING, she also urges them to contribute, each accord
ing to
          his  vocation and  means, to  the welfare  of their  earthly cit
y,  to
          promote  justice, peace and brotherhood  among men, to  give the
ir aid
          freely  to   their  brothers,  especially  to  the  poorest  and
  most
          unfortunate.  The deep solicitude of the Church, the spouse of C
hrist,
          for  the needs  of men,  for their  joys and  hopes, their  grie
fs and
          efforts,  is therefore  nothing  other than  her  great desire
to  be
          present to  them, in order to illuminate them with the Light of
Christ
          and to gather them all in Him, their only Savior.  This solicitu
de can
          never mean that the Church conform herself to the things of the
world,
          or that she lessen the ardor of her expectation of the Lord and
of the
          eternal Kingdom.

               We believe in the life eternal.  We believe that the souls
of all
          those who die in the grace of Christ, whether they must still be
          purified in Purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave the
ir
          bodies Jesus takes them to Paradise as He did for the Good Thief
, are
          the People of God in the eternity beyond death, which will be fi
nally
          conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will b
e
          reunited with their bodies.

               We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesu
s and
          Mary forms the Church in Heaven,  where in eternal beatitude the
y  see
          God  as  He  is,  and  where they  also,  in  different  degrees
,  are
          associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by
Christ
          in glory, interceding for us  and helping us in our weakness  by
 their
          brotherly care.

               We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ,
those
          who  are  pilgrim  on   earth,  the  dead  who  are   attaining
 their
          purification,
          and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and
we
          believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His
Saints
          is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: Ask and you
will
          receive.  Thus it is  with faith and in  hope that we look forwa
rd  to
          the  resurrection of  the dead,  and the  life of  the world  to
 come.
          Blessed be God Thrice Holy.  Amen.

                    Pronounced infront of the Basilica of St. Peter, on Ju
ne 30,
          1968, the sixth year of our pontificate.

                                                        POPE PAUL VI