Catholic Doctrine

Inspiration extends to all that the sacred writers assert as sacred authors. Divine authorship does not cancel vocabulary, genre, historical circumstance or human intention; it guarantees that the canonical text teaches without error the truth God willed to be written for salvation. Textual criticism serves the recovery of the wording but does not create the authority of the books.

The canon is recognised within the Church's continuous use, especially proclamation and liturgy. No inspired table of contents identifies the complete canon from outside that history. The Church does not make uninspired books inspired; she exercises a received judgment concerning the apostolic and prophetic writings entrusted to her. Interpretation must therefore attend to the unity of Scripture, the analogy of faith and the living Tradition in which the books were handed on.

Tradition must be distinguished from customs merely because they are old. Apostolic Tradition belongs to the deposit or gives authoritative witness to it; ecclesiastical traditions may regulate discipline, devotion or ceremony and can differ or develop according to competent authority. The distinction is made by origin, universality, continuity and doctrinal relation, not by a simple contrast between written and unwritten material.

The New Testament itself commands adherence to traditions received orally and by letter. The Fathers appeal to baptismal confession, Eucharistic practice and public succession against secret innovations. Trent's language of written books and unwritten traditions does not establish two unrelated deposits, but protects the one Gospel as transmitted through both inspired writing and apostolic handing-on.

The Church can teach definitively by a solemn papal definition, by an ecumenical council confirmed by the Roman Pontiff, or by the ordinary and universal agreement of the bishops in communion with him. She also teaches authentically without intending a definitive judgment. The latter is not thereby meaningless; it calls for religious submission proportioned to the act and its continuity.

Infallibility is a negative assistance preserving a definitive act from error in faith or morals under the required conditions. It is not inspiration, personal impeccability or a guarantee that every argument, historical statement or disciplinary decision is optimal. Exact identification of the proposition is therefore essential before assigning a theological note.

The Father is unbegotten, the Son eternally begotten, and the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding. These relations are not accidents added to the divine essence; in the simple God they are the Persons themselves in relation. The Persons possess one intellect, will, power and operation.

The Incarnation is proper to the Son: the human nature is united to His Person, not to the divine nature considered apart from the Persons. Pentecost is the temporal mission of the Holy Ghost, who is sent without leaving the divine eternity. Trinitarian doctrine therefore orders Christology, grace, prayer and sacramental baptism.

Providence includes the divine plan and its execution in government. God's knowledge and causality do not compete with created freedom because He causes free acts according to their mode as free. Permission of evil is ordered to goods that divine wisdom can draw without making evil good.

Angels are spiritual creatures with intellect and will; man is a body-soul unity. Original justice ordered human powers and related the person to God by grace. The fall removes this gift and introduces disorder, while leaving the natural faculties and moral responsibility real.

Because the person is one, predicates belonging to either nature may be spoken of the Person: God was born of Mary and the Son of Man came down from heaven. The properties of the natures are not transferred into a mixture; divinity remains impassible and humanity remains created.

The two natural wills and operations confessed at Constantinople III protect the completeness of Christ's humanity. His human obedience is not a dramatic appearance but the created act by which the incarnate Son fulfils the saving will He possesses divinely with Father and Spirit.

Actual grace moves toward good acts; sanctifying grace is a stable supernatural quality making the soul pleasing to God and capable of meritorious action. Human cooperation is itself enabled by grace, so merit neither purchases the first grace nor makes God a debtor apart from His promise in Christ.

Mortal sin destroys charity and the life of grace; venial sin wounds without severing the friendship. Final perseverance is a special gift to be sought in humble prayer. Predestination and freedom must be held without making God the author of sin or salvation a merely autonomous human achievement.

The Church's juridical and sacramental visibility is not a merely human shell around an invisible reality. Baptised persons, professed faith, Eucharistic communion and pastoral office form the historical body animated by the Holy Ghost. Full membership and degrees of communion must be distinguished without multiplying the Church into contradictory subjects.

The seven sacraments correspond to spiritual life and ecclesial states. Their validity depends upon required matter, form, minister and intention; their fruit depends also upon the recipient. Sacramental character in Baptism, Confirmation and Orders configures permanently and prevents repetition.

Death ends the time of meriting and places the soul before judgment. The blessed see God through the light of glory; those requiring purification are made ready for that vision; the definitively impenitent remain separated from their final end. Prayer for the dead presupposes both continuity of communion and the reality of purification.

At the Parousia the same bodies rise and the public consequences of every act are manifested. The final judgment does not revise the particular judgment but displays divine justice within the complete history of persons and societies. The renewed creation shares the freedom of the glory of God's children.