Catechism of the Catholic Church

CONTENTS APOSTOLIC LETTER LAETAMUR MAGNOPERE IN WHICH THE LATIN TYPICAL EDITION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS APPROVED AND PROMULGATED. XIII APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION FIDEI DEPOSITUM ON THE PUBLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH . 1 PROLOGUE. 7 I. The Life of Man—To Know and Love God . . . . . . . . . . . 7 II. Handing on the Faith: Catechesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 III. The Aim and Intended Readership of This Catechism. . . . . . . 9 IV. Structure of This Catechism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 V. Practical Directions for Using This Catechism . . . . . . . . . 11 VI. Necessary Adaptations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH. 13 SECTION ONE: I BELIEVE—WE BELIEVE . . . . . . . . . 13 CHAPTER ONE: MAN’S CAPACITY FOR GOD. . . . . . . . . 13 I. The Desire for God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 II. Ways of Coming to Know God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church. . . . . . . . 16 IV. How Can We Speak about God?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 IN BRIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 CHAPTER TWO: GOD COMES TO MEET MAN. . . . . . . . . 19 Article 1: THE REVELATION OF GOD. . . . . . . . . . . . 19 I. God Reveals His “Plan of Loving Goodness”. . . . . . . . . . 19 II. The Stages of Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 III. Christ Jesus—“Mediator and Fullness of All Revelation”. . . . . 22 IN BRIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Article 2: THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION. . 24 I. The Apostolic Tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 II. The Relationship Between Tradition and Sacred Scripture. . . . 26 III. The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . 27 IN BRIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Article 3: SACRED SCRIPTURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 I. Christ—The Unique Word of Sacred Scripture. . . . . . . . . 30 II. Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . 31 III. The Holy Spirit, Interpreter of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 IV. The Canon of Scripture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 V. Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church. . . . . . . . . . . 37 IN BRIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 CHAPTER THREE: MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD. . . . . . . . 39 Article 1: I BELIEVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 I. The Obedience of Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 II. “I Know Whom I Have Believed”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 III. The Characteristics of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Article 2: WE BELIEVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45