Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Read online

  Compendium

  OF THE

  CATECHISM

  OF THE

  CATHOLIC CHURCH

  Š Copyright 2005 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

  Motu proprio

  Introduction

  PART ONE

  THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

  Section One: "I Believe" — "We Believe"

  Chapter One: Man's Capacity for God

  Chapter Two: God Comes to Meet Man

  The Revelation of God

  The Transmission of Divine Revelation

  Sacred Scripture

  Chapter Three: Man's Response to God

  I Believe

  We Believe

  Section Two: The Profession of the Christian Faith

  The Creed

  Chapter One: I Believe in God the Father

  The Symbols of Faith

  "I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth"

  Heaven and Earth

  Man

  The Fall

  Chapter Two: I Believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God

  "And In Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord"

  "Jesus Christ Was Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit, and Was Born of the Virgin Mary"

  "Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died, and Was Buried"

  "Jesus Christ Descended into Hell; On the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead"

  "Jesus Ascended into Heaven and Is Seated at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty"

  "From Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Living and the Dead"

  Chapter Three: I Believe in the Holy Spirit

  "I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church"

  The Church in the plan of God

  The Church: people of God, body of Christ, temple of the Spirit

  The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic

  The Faithful: hierarchy, laity, consecrated life

  I believe in the communion of saints

  Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church

  "I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins"

  "I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body"

  "I Believe in Life Everlasting"

  "Amen"

  PART TWO

  THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

  Section One: The Sacramental Economy

  Chapter One: The Paschal Mystery in the Age of the Church

  The Liturgy — Work of the Most Holy Trinity

  The Paschal Mystery in the Sacraments of the Church

  Chapter Two: The Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery

  Celebrating the Liturgy of the Church

  Who celebrates?

  How is the liturgy celebrated?

  When is the liturgy celebrated?

  Where is the liturgy celebrated?

  Liturgical Diversity and the Unity of the Mystery

  Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church

  Chapter One: The Sacraments of Christian Initiation

  The Sacrament of Baptism

  The Sacrament of Confirmation

  The Sacrament of the Eucharist

  Chapter Two: The Sacraments of Healing

  The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation

  The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

  Chapter Three: The Sacraments at the Service of Communion and Mission

  The Sacrament of Holy Orders

  The Sacrament of Matrimony

  Chapter Four: Other Liturgical Celebrations

  The Sacramentals

  Christian Funerals

  PART THREE

  LIFE IN CHRIST

  Section One: Man's Vocation — Life In the Spirit

  Chapter One: The Dignity of the Human Person

  Man, the Image of God

  Our Vocation to Beatitude

  Man's Freedom

  The Morality of the Passions

  The Moral Conscience

  The Virtues

  Sin

  Chapter Two: The Human Community

  The Person and Society

  Participation in Social Life

  Social Justice

  Chapter Three: God's Salvation — Law and Grace

  The Moral Law

  Grace and Justification

  The Church, Mother and Teacher

  Section Two: The Ten Commandments

  Chapter One: "You Shall Love the Lord Your God With All Your Heart, With All Your Soul, and With All Your Mind"

  The First Commandment: I Am the Lord Your God, You Shall Not Have Other Gods Before Me

  The Second Commandment: You Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Your God in Vain

  The Third Commandment: Remember to Keep Holy the Lord's Day

  Chapter Two: "You Shall Love Your Neighbour as Yourself"

  The Fourth Commandment: Honour Your Father and Your Mother

  The Fifth Commandment: You Shall Not Kill

  The Sixth Commandment: You Shall Not Commit Adultery

  The Seventh Commandment: You Shall Not Steal

  The Eighth Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbour

  The Ninth Commandment: You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbour's Wife

  The Tenth Commandment: You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbour's Possessions

  PART FOUR

  CHRISTIAN PRAYER

  Section One: Prayer in the Christian Life

  Chapter One: The Revelation of Prayer

  The Revelation of Prayer in the Old Testament

  Prayer is Fully Revealed and Realized in Jesus

  Prayer in the Age of the Church

  Chapter Two: The Tradition of Prayer

  At the Wellsprings of Prayer

  The Way of Prayer

  Guides for Prayer

  Chapter Three: The Life of Prayer

  Expressions of Prayer

  The Battle of Prayer

  Section Two: The Lord's Prayer — "Our Father"

  "The Summary of the Whole Gospel"

  "Our Father Who Art in Heaven"

  The Seven Petitions

  APPENDIX

  A. Common Prayers

  B. Formulas of Catholic Doctrine

  * * *

  MOTU PROPRIO

  for the approval and publication

  of the Compendium

  of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

  To my Venerable Brothers the Cardinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and to all the People of God.

  Twenty years ago, work began on the Catechism of the Catholic Church that had been requested by the extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council.

  I am filled with heartfelt thanks to the Lord God for having given the Church this Catechism, promulgated in 1992 by my venerated and beloved Predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

  The great value and beauty of this gift are confirmed above all by the extensive and positive reception of the Catechism among Bishops, to whom it was primarily addressed as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and, in particular, for formulating local catechisms. But it was also confirmed by its vast favourable reception in all segments of the People of God, who have come to know and appreciate it in more than fifty translations which to date have been published.

  It is with great joy that I now approve and promulgate the Compendium of that Catechism.

  The Compendium had been fervently desired by the participants in the International Catechetical Congress of October 2002, which gave voice to a need widely felt in the Church. My belove
d Predecessor, recognizing this desire, decided in February 2003 to begin preparation of the text by entrusting the work to a Commission of Cardinals, over which I presided, and which was assisted by various experts. In the course of the work, a draft of the Compendium was submitted to all the Cardinals and the Presidents of Conferences of Bishops, the vast majority of whom evaluated the text favourably.

  The Compendium, which I now present to the Universal Church, is a faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the Church’s faith, thus constituting, as my Predecessor had wished, a kind of vademecum which allows believers and non-believers alike to behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith.

  In its structure, contents and language, the Compendium faithfully reflects the Catechism of the Catholic Church and will thus assist in making the Catechism more widely known and more deeply understood.

  I entrust this Compendium above all to the entire Church and, in particular, to every Christian, in order that it may awaken in the Church of the third millennium renewed zeal for evangelization and education in the faith, which ought to characterize every community in the Church and every Christian believer, regardless of age or nationality.

  But this Compendium, with its brevity, clarity and comprehensiveness, is directed to every human being, who, in a world of distractions and multifarious messages, desires to know the Way of Life, the Truth, entrusted by God to His Son’s Church.

  Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, may everyone who reads this authoritative text recognize and embrace ever more fully the inexhaustible beauty, uniqueness and significance of the incomparable Gift which God has made to the human race in His only Son, Jesus Christ, the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6).

  Given on 28 June 2005, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the first year of my Pontificate.

  BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

  * * *

  INTRODUCTION

  1. On 11 October 1992, Pope John Paul II presented the Catechism of the Catholic Church to the faithful of the whole world, describing it as a “reference text”[1] for a catechesis renewed at the living sources of the faith. Thirty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the desire for a catechism of all Catholic doctrine on faith and morals, which had been voiced in 1985 by the extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, came to fulfilment.

  Five years later, on 15 August 1997, the Pope promulgated the editio typica of the Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae and confirmed its fundamental purpose “as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine, enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives and prays in her daily life”.[2]

  2. In order to realize more fully the Catechism’s potential and in response to the request that had emerged at the International Catechetical Congress of October 2002, Pope John Paul II, in 2003, established a Commission under the presidency of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was given the task of drafting a Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as a more concise formulation of its contents of faith. After two years of work, a draft compendium was prepared and distributed among the Cardinals and the Presidents of Conferences of Bishops for their consultation. The draft, as a whole, was evaluated positively in the great majority of the responses that were received. Therefore, the Commission proceeded to revise the draft and, taking account of the proposals for improvement that had been submitted, prepared the final text.

  3. There are three principal characteristics of the Compendium: the close reliance on the Catechism of the Catholic Church; the dialogical format; the use of artistic images in the catechesis.

  The Compendium is not a work that stands alone, nor is it intended in any way to replace the Catechism of the Catholic Church: instead, it refers constantly to the Catechism by means of reference numbers printed in the margins, as well as by consistent reliance on its structure, development and contents. In fact, the Compendium is meant to reawaken interest in and enthusiasm for the Catechism, which, in the wisdom of its presentation and the depth of its spirituality, always remains the basic text for catechesis in the Church today.

  Like the Catechism, the Compendium has four parts, corresponding to the fundamental laws of life in Christ.

  The first part, entitled “The Profession of Faith”, contains a synthesis of the lex credendi, the faith professed by the Catholic Church, as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed which is further elaborated by the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. In the liturgical profession of the Creed, the Christian assembly keeps the principal truths of the faith alive in memory.

  The second part, entitled “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery”, presents the essential elements of the lex celebrandi. The proclamation of the Gospel finds its authentic response in the sacramental life, through which Christians experience and witness, in every moment of their existence, the saving power of the paschal mystery by which Christ has accomplished our redemption.

  The third part, entitled “Life in Christ”, recalls the lex vivendi, through which the baptized manifest their commitment to the faith they have professed and celebrated, through their actions and ethical choices. The Christian faithful are called by the Lord Jesus to act in a way which befits their dignity as children of the Father in the charity of the Holy Spirit.

  The fourth part, entitled “Christian Prayer”, summarizes the lex orandi, the life of prayer. Following the example of Jesus, the perfect model of one who prays, the Christian too is called to the dialogue with God in prayer. A privileged expression of prayer is the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus has taught us.

  4. A second characteristic of the Compendium is its dialogical format, reflecting the ancient catechetical literary genre of questions and answers. The idea is to reproduce an imaginary dialogue between master and disciple, through a series of incisive questions that invite the reader to go deeper in discovering ever new aspects of his faith. The dialogical format also lends itself to brevity in the text, by reducing it to what is essential. This may help the reader to grasp the contents and possibly to memorize them as well.

  5. A third characteristic is the inclusion of some artistic images which mark the elaboration of the Compendium. These are drawn from the rich patrimony of Christian iconography. The centuries-old conciliar tradition teaches us that images are also a preaching of the Gospel. Artists in every age have offered the principal facts of the mystery of salvation to the contemplation and wonder of believers by presenting them in the splendour of colour and in the perfection of beauty. It is an indication of how today more than ever, in a culture of images, a sacred image can express much more than what can be said in words, and be an extremely effective and dynamic way of communicating the Gospel message.

  6. Forty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council and in the year of the Eucharist, this Compendium represents an additional resource for satisfying the hunger for truth among the Christian faithful of all ages and conditions, as well as the hunger for truth and justice among those who are without faith. The publication of the Compendium will take place on the solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, pillars of the Church universal and exemplary evangelizers of the ancient world. These apostles saw what they preached and witnessed to the truth of Christ even unto martyrdom. Let us imitate them in their missionary zeal and pray to the Lord that the Church may always follow the teaching of the apostles, from whom she first received the glorious proclamation of the faith.

  20 March 2005, Palm Sunday.

  Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

  President of the Special Commission

  * * *

  [1] John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum, 11 October 1992.

  [2]John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Laetarum magnopere, 15 August 1997.

  Part One

  The Profession of Faith
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br />   Section One

  “I believe” – “We believe”

  1. What is the plan of God for man?

  1-25

  God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Man's Capacity for God

  30

  “You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised [...] You have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” (Saint Augustine)

  2. Why does man have a desire for God?

  27-30

  44-45

  God himself, in creating man in his own image, has written upon his heart the desire to see him. Even if this desire is often ignored, God never ceases to draw man to himself because only in God will he find and live the fullness of truth and happiness for which he never stops searching. By nature and by vocation, therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God. This intimate and vital bond with God confers on man his fundamental dignity.

  3. How is it possible to know God with only the light of human reason?

  31-36

  46-47

  Starting from creation, that is from the world and from the human person, through reason alone one can know God with certainty as the origin and end of the universe, as the highest good and as infinite truth and beauty.

  4. Is the light of reason alone sufficient to know the mystery of God?

  37-38

  In coming to a knowledge of God by the light of reason alone man experiences many difficulties. Indeed, on his own he is unable to enter into the intimacy of the divine mystery. This is why he stands in need of being enlightened by God’s revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error.