THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
748 "Christ is the light of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the
heart-felt desire of this sacred Council, being gathered together in the
Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his Gospel to every creature, it may
bring to all men that light of Christ which shines out visibly from the
Church."[135] These words open the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church. By choosing this starting point, the Council
demonstrates that the article of faith about the Church depends entirely
on the articles concerning Christ Jesus. The Church has no other light
than Christ's; according to a favorite image of the Church Fathers, the
Church is like the moon, all its light reflected from the sun.
749 The article concerning the Church also depends entirely on the article
about the Holy Spirit, which immediately precedes it. "Indeed, having
shown that the Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness, we now
confess that it is he who has endowed the Church with holiness."[136] The
Church is, in a phrase used by the Fathers, the place "where the Spirit
flourishes."[137]
750 To believe that the Church is "holy" and "catholic," and that she is
"one" and "apostolic" (as the Nicene Creed adds), is inseparable from
belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles'
Creed we profess "one Holy Church" (Credo . . . Ecclesiam), and not to
believe in the Church, so as not to confuse God with his works and to
attribute clearly to God's goodness all the gifts he has bestowed on his
Church.[138]
751 The word "Church" (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to "call
out of") means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies
of the people, usually for a religious purpose.[139] Ekklesia is used
frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen
People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where
Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy
people.[140] By calling itself "Church," the first community of Christian
believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God
is "calling together" his people from all the ends of the earth. The
equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the
German Kirche are derived, means "what belongs to the Lord."
752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical
assembly,[141] but also the local community[142] or the whole universal
community of believers.[143] These three meanings are inseparable. "The
Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in
local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a
Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of
Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.
Symbols of the Church
753 In Scripture, we find a host of interrelated images and figures
through which Revelation speaks of the inexhaustible mystery of the
Church. The images taken from the Old Testament are variations on a
profound theme: the People of God. In the New Testament, all these images
find a new center because Christ has become the head of this people, which
henceforth is his Body.[144] Around this center are grouped images taken
"from the life of the shepherd or from cultivation of the land, from the
art of building or from family life and marriage."[145]
754 "The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary
gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself
foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though
governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ
himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for
his sheep.[146]
755 "The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land
the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the prophets and in
which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and
will be brought about again. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been
planted by the heavenly cultivator. Yet the true vine is Christ who gives
life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the
Church remain in Christ, without whom we can do nothing.[147]
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 in the Spirit; the dwelling-place of God
among men; and, especially, the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in
places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not
without reason, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New
Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth are built into it. It is this
holy city that is seen by John as it comes down out of heaven from God
when the world is made anew, prepared like a bride adorned for her
husband.[148]
757 "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above'
and 'our mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless
lamb. It is she whom Christ 'loved and for whom he delivered himself up
that he might sanctify her.' It is she whom he unites to himself by an
unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly 'nourishes and
cherishes.'"[149]
758 We begin our investigation of the Church's mystery by meditating on
her origin in the Holy Trinity's plan and her progressive realization in
history.
A plan born in the Father's heart
759 "The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous and
mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe
and chose to raise up men to share in his own divine life,"[150] to which
he calls all men in his Son. "The Father . . . determined to call together
in a holy Church those who should believe in Christ."[151] This "family of
God" is gradually formed and takes shape during the stages of human
history, in keeping with the Father's plan. In fact, "already present in
figure at the beginning of the world, this Church was prepared in
marvellous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and the old
Advance. Established in this last age of the world and made manifest in
the outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious completion at
the end of time."[152]
The Church- foreshadowed from the world's beginning
760 Christians of the first centuries said, "The world was created for the
sake of the Church."[153] God created the world for the sake of communion
with his divine life, a communion brought about by the "convocation" of
men in Christ, and this "convocation" is the Church. The Church is the
goal of all things,[154] and God permitted such painful upheavals as the
angels' fall and man's sin only as occasions and means for displaying all
the power of his arm and the whole measure of the love he wanted to give
the world:
Just as God's will is creation and is called "the world," so his intention
is the salvation of men, and it is called "the Church."[155]
The Church - prepared for in the Old Covenant
761 The gathering together of the People of God began at the moment when
sin destroyed the communion of men with God, and that of men among
themselves. The gathering together of the Church is, as it were, God's
reaction to the chaos provoked by sin. This reunification is achieved
secretly in the heart of all peoples: "In every nation anyone who fears
him and does what is right is acceptable" to God.[156]
762 The remote preparation for this gathering together of the People of
God begins when he calls Abraham and promises that he will become the
father of a great people.[157] Its immediate preparation begins with
Israel's election as the People of God. By this election, Israel is to be
the sign of the future gathering of All nations.[158] But the prophets
accuse Israel of breaking the covenant and behaving like a prostitute.
They announce a new and eternal covenant. "Christ instituted this New
Covenant."[159]
The Church - instituted by Christ Jesus
763 It was the Son's task to accomplish the Father's plan of salvation in
the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being
sent.[160] "The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good
News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in
the scriptures."[161] To fulfill the Father's will, Christ ushered in the
Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church "is the Reign of Christ already
present in mystery."[162]
764 "This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in
the presence of Christ."[163] To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the
Kingdom itself."[164] The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the
"little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock
whose shepherd he is.[165] They form Jesus' true family.[166] To those
whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new "way of acting" and a
prayer of their own.[167]
765 The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain
until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice
of the Twelve with Peter as their head.[168] Representing the twelve
tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new
Jerusalem.[169] The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ's
mission and his power, but also in his lot.[170] By all his actions,
Christ prepares and builds his Church.
766 The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our
salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled
on the cross. "The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the
blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified
Jesus."[171] "For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of
death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the
whole Church.'"[172] As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so
the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the
cross.[173]
The Church - revealed by the Holy Spirit
767 "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was
accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order
that he might continually sanctify the Church."[174] Then "the Church was
openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the
nations, through preaching, was begun."[175] As the "convocation" of all
men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by
Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them.[176]
768 So that she can fulfill her mission, the Holy Spirit "bestows upon
[the Church] varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way
directs her."[177] "Henceforward the Church, endowed with the gifts of her
founder and faithfully observing his precepts of charity, humility and
self-denial, receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among
all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is on earth the seed
and the beginning of that kingdom."[178]
The Church - perfected in glory
769 "The Church . . . will receive its perfection only in the glory of
heaven,"[179] at the time of Christ's glorious return. Until that day, "the
Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world's persecutions and
God's consolations."[180] Here below she knows that she is in exile far
from the Lord, and longs for the full coming of the Kingdom, when she will
"be united in glory with her king."[181] The Church, and through her the
world, will not be perfected in glory without great trials. Only then will
"all the just from the time of Adam, 'from Abel, the just one, to the last
of the elect,' . . . be gathered together in the universal Church in the
Father's presence."[182]
770 The Church is in history, but at the same time she transcends it. It
is only "with the eyes of faith"[183] that one can see her in her visible
reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine
life.
The Church - both visible and spiritual
771 "The one mediator, Christ, established and ever sustains here on earth
his holy Church, the community of faith, hope, and charity, as a visible
organization through which he communicates truth and grace to all
men."[184] The Church is at the same time:
- a "society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of
Christ;
- the visible society and the spiritual community;
- the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches."[185]
These dimensions together constitute "one complex reality which comes
together from a human and a divine element":[186]
The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with
invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation,
present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the
human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to
the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that
city yet to come, the object of our quest.[187]
O humility! O sublimity! Both tabernacle of cedar and sanctuary of God;
earthly dwelling and celestial palace; house of clay and royal hall; body
of death and temple of light; and at last both object of scorn to the
proud and bride of Christ! She is black but beautiful, O daughters of
Jerusalem, for even if the labor and pain of her long exile may have
discolored her, yet heaven's beauty has adorned her.[188]
The Church - mystery of men's union with God
772 It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery
as the purpose of God's plan: "to unite all things in him."[189] St. Paul
calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church "a great mystery."
Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a
mystery in her turn.[190] Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul
exclaims: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."[191]
773 In the Church this communion of men with God, in the "love [that]
never ends," is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a
sacramental means, tied to this passing world.[192]
"[The Church's] structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ's
members. And holiness is measured according to the 'great mystery' in
which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the
Bridegroom."[193] Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the
Church's mystery as "the bride without spot or wrinkle."[194] This is why
the "Marian" dimension of the Church precedes the "Petrine."[195]
The universal Sacrament of Salvation
774 The Greek word mysterion was translated into Latin by two terms:
mystenum and sacramentum. In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes
the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by
the term mystenum. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of
salvation: "For there is no other mystery of God, except Christ."[196] The
saving work of his holy and sanctifying humanity is the sacrament of
salvation, which is revealed and active in the Church's sacraments (which
the Eastern Churches also call "the holy mysteries"). The seven sacraments
are the signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace
of Christ the head throughout the Church which is his Body. The Church,
then, both contains and communicates the invisible grace she signifies. It
is in this analogical sense, that the Church is called a "sacrament."
775 "The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament - a sign and instrument,
that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men."[197] The
Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men
with God. Because men's communion with one another is rooted in that union
with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race.
In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men "from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues";[198] at the same time,
the Church is the "sign and instrument" of the full realization of the
unity yet to come.
776 As sacrament, the Church is Christ's instrument. "She is taken up by
him also as the instrument for the salvation of all," "the universal
sacrament of salvation," by which Christ is "at once manifesting and
actualizing the mystery of God's love for men."[199] The Church "is the
visible plan of God's love for humanity," because God desires "that the
whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ,
and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit."[200]
IN BRIEF
777 The word "Church" means "convocation." It designates the assembly of
those whom God's Word "convokes," i.e., gathers together to form the
People of God, and who themselves, nourished with the Body of Christ,
become the Body of Christ.
778 The Church is both the means and the goal of God's plan: prefigured in
creation, prepared for in the Old Covenant, founded by the words and
actions of Jesus Christ, fulfilled by his redeeming cross and his
Resurrection, the Church has been manifested as the mystery of salvation
by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. She will be perfected in the glory
of heaven as the assembly of all the redeemed of the earth (cf. Rev
14:4).
779 The Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical
society and the Mystical Body of Christ. She is one, yet formed of two
components, human and divine. That is her mystery, which only faith can
accept.
780 The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and
the instrument of the communion of God and men.
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