About Catholicism

God, perfectly blessed in himself, created the human race out of sheer goodness so that people could share his own life. After the fall into sin, the Father sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. Through the Holy Spirit, God calls everyone into the Church and makes them his adopted children and heirs of eternal happiness.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 1, Holy See.

The central mystery is the Most Blessed Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. God left traces of this mystery in creation, but his inmost life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was revealed by Jesus Christ. It is the source of every other mystery of the faith.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 44–45, Holy See.

The Good News is the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who died and rose from the dead. In him God fulfilled the promises made to Abraham. He sent his Son, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might be received as sons and daughters.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 79, Holy See.

The angel gave this name at the Annunciation. Jesus means “God saves.” The name expresses both who he is and the mission he was sent to accomplish: he will save his people from their sins. Saint Peter proclaimed that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 81, Holy See.

For us and for our salvation, the Son of God took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He did this to reconcile sinners with God, to make God’s infinite love known, to be our model of holiness, and to make us sharers in the divine nature.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 85, Holy See.

The Church is the people God calls and gathers from every part of the earth. They are the assembly of those who, through faith and Baptism, have become children of God, members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 147, Holy See.

Catholic means universal. The Church is catholic because Christ is present in her: “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.” She proclaims the fullness of the faith, she bears the fullness of the means of salvation, and Christ sends her to the whole human race.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 166, Holy See. See also the Nicene Creed on the USCCB website.

The one Church of Christ, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him. Only through this Church can a person obtain the fullness of the means of salvation, because the Lord entrusted the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, whose head is Peter.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 162, Holy See.

The Church is apostolic in her origin, because she is built on the foundation of the Apostles. She is apostolic in her teaching, which is the same as theirs. She is apostolic in her structure: until Christ returns, she is taught, sanctified, and guided by the Apostles through their successors, the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter. Apostolic succession is the handing on of that mission and power through the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 174 and 176, Holy See.

The Pope, Bishop of Rome and successor of Saint Peter, is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the Church’s unity. He is the vicar of Christ, the head of the college of bishops, and the pastor of the universal Church. By Christ’s own institution he has full, supreme, immediate, and universal authority over the Church.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 182, Holy See.

Tradition and Sacred Scripture are closely bound together, and each one makes the mystery of Christ present in the Church. They flow from the same divine wellspring and together make up one sacred deposit of faith. From that deposit the Church draws her certainty about revelation.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 14, Holy See.

God himself is the author of Sacred Scripture. For that reason it is inspired, and it teaches without error the truths necessary for our salvation. The Holy Spirit inspired the human authors to write what he wanted to teach. Christian faith is not a religion of a mute book, but of the Word of God, incarnate and living. Scripture supports the Church’s life, confirms the faith, and feeds the soul. The Church urges everyone to read it often, because ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 18 and 24, Holy See. Read Scripture on this site in the Bible.

The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. Through these signs, which we can perceive, God gives us his own life. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. All of them are ordered toward the Eucharist.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 224 and 250, Holy See.

Baptism is the first sacrament of initiation. To baptize means to immerse in water. The person baptized is immersed into the death of Christ and rises with him as a new creature. From the day of Pentecost the Church has administered Baptism to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 252 and 255, Holy See.

The Eucharist is the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus. He instituted it to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross through the ages until he returns in glory, and he entrusted this memorial of his death and Resurrection to his Church. It is a sign of unity, a bond of charity, and a paschal banquet in which Christ is received, the soul is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 271, Holy See.

The liturgy is the celebration of the mystery of Christ, above all his Passion, death, Resurrection, and glorification. Through the priestly work of Jesus Christ it both shows and brings about our sanctification. The worship owed to God is offered by the whole Body of Christ, head and members. It is the summit toward which the Church’s activity is directed and the source from which her power flows. The Eucharist is celebrated as one act of worship in two great parts: the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which includes the presentation of the bread and wine, the Eucharistic Prayer with the words of consecration, and Communion.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 218, 219, and 277, Holy See.

God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. To carry out that mission she herself was conceived immaculate. By the grace of God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 96, Holy See.

Mary is the Mother of the Church in the order of grace, because she gave birth to Jesus, the Head of the body which is the Church. Dying on the cross, he gave her to his disciple with the words, “Behold your mother.” Devotion to Mary is singular, and it differs in essence from the adoration given only to the Most Holy Trinity. The Church expresses this veneration in Marian feasts and in prayers such as the Rosary, which is a summary of the whole Gospel.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, nos. 196 and 198, Holy See.

Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, already assured of eternal salvation, but who still need purification before they enter the happiness of heaven.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 210, Holy See.

Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the asking of good things from him in accord with his will. It is always the gift of God, who comes to meet us. Christian prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father, with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit who dwells in their hearts.

Source: Compendium of the Catechism, no. 534, Holy See.