Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Profession of Faith 229 862 “Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops.” 375 Hence the Church teaches that “the bishops have by divine insti- tution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.” 376 The apostolate 863 The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is “sent out” into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. “The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well.” Indeed, we call an apostolate “every activity of the Mystical Body” that aims “to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth.” 377 864 “Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church’s whole apostolate”; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ. 378 In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucha- rist above all, is always “as it were, the soul of the whole aposto- late.” 379 865 The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that “the Kingdom of heaven,” the “Reign of God,” 380 already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorpo­ rated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made “holy and blameless before him in love,” 381 will be gathered together as the one People of God, the 375 LG 20 § 2. 376 LG 20 § 2. 377 AA 2. 378 AA 4; cf. Jn 15:5. 379 AA 3. 380 Rev 19:6. 381 Eph 1:4. 880 1556 900 2472 828 824 1324 811, 541