§756"Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. the Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the comer-stone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles and from it the Church receives solidity and unity. This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God…

§2032The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth."74 "To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental ri…

Proofs in continuation, extracted from St. John's Gospel. The Gospels are four in number, neither more nor less. Mystic reasons for this. 1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an …

§18But it is His will, besides, that the worship He instituted and practiced during His life on earth shall continue ever afterwards without intermission. For he has not left mankind an orphan. He still offers us the support of His powerful, unfailing intercession, acting as our "advocate with the Father."[18] He aids us likewise through His Church, where He is present indefectibl…

§19The Church has, therefore, in common with the Word Incarnate the aim, the obligation and the function of teaching all men the truth, of governing and directing them aright, of offering to God the pleasing and acceptable sacrifice; in this way the Church re-establishes between the Creator and His creatures that unity and harmony to which the Apostle of the Gentiles alludes in th…

The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

1. Jesus Comes to Capernaum. Statements of the Four Evangelists Regarding This. After this John 2:12-25 He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and there they abode not many days. And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers…

We teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Pet…

Q. What is God's will for you in the fourth commandment? A. First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I regularly attend the assembly of God's people to learn what God's Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor. Second, that ev…

We believe and confess the canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. For God himself spoke to the fathers, prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures. And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has the most complete …

Since there is always but one God, one Mediator between God and man, and one Shepherd of the whole flock, one Head of this body, one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one Testament or covenant: it follows necessarily that there is only one Church, which we therefore call the catholic Church, because it is universal and is diffused through all parts and quarters of the world, an…

We believe the Divine and Sacred Scriptures to be God-taught; and, therefore, we ought to believe the same without doubting; yet not otherwise than as the Catholic Church hath interpreted and delivered the same. For every foul heresy receiveth, indeed, the Divine Scriptures, but perversely interpreteth the same, using metaphors, and homonymies, and sophistries of man's wisdom, …

We believe the Catholic Church to be taught by the Holy Spirit. For He is the true Paraclete, whom Christ sendeth from the Father, to teach the truth and to drive away darkness from the minds of the faithful. The teaching of the Holy Spirit, however, doth not immediately illuminate each individual, but through the holy Fathers and Leaders of the Catholic Church doth illuminate.…

1. Since, in the beginning of this work, we promised to give, when needful, the words of the ancient presbyters and writers of the Church, in which they have declared those traditions which came down to them concerning the canonical books, and since Irenæus was one of them, we will now give his words and, first, what he says of the sacred Gospels: 2. Matthew published his Gospe…

1. A certain one of those of moderate talent, who had composed a discourse, stepped forward in the presence of many pastors who were assembled as if for a church gathering, and while they attended quietly and decently, he addressed himself as follows to one who was in all things a most excellent bishop and beloved of God, through whose zeal the temple in Tyre, which was the mos…

Tertullian declares that heretics have no right to appeal to Scripture, for Scripture belongs to the church that received it from the apostles. The church is "the pillar and ground of truth." Private interpretation apart from the church's apostolic teaching leads to endless distortion and contradiction.

In the last Book, it has been shown that by the faith of the Gospel, Christ becomes ours, and we are made partakers of the salvation and eternal blessedness procured by Him. But as our ignorance and sloth (and I may add, the vanity of our mind) stand in need of external helps, by which faith may be begotten in us, increased, and made to advance by degrees to its goal, God, in a…