Roman Catholic beliefs: what the Roman Catholic tradition teaches

Teaches: “Scripture and Tradition together, with the bishops united to the pope giving the authentic interpretation.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 85“The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone.”

Teaches: “The creeds and the church's councils set out teaching that is settled for good and can't be revised.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 88“The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas”

Teaches: “The Bible is without error in everything it affirms, including what it says about history and the world.” or “The Bible is fully trustworthy in everything it teaches about God, salvation and how to live.”

Some hold: “The Bible is God's word through human writers. It tells the truth about Christ, and careful scholarship helps us read it.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 107 (quoting Dei Verbum 11)“we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures”

Teaches: “God forgives us and makes us truly righteous within by His grace, which grows as faith works through love.”

Some hold: “God heals us and draws us into His own life, so that by grace we come to share in His nature.”

Makes room for: “God forgives our sins when we believe, repent and are baptized, and from then on we walk in obedience to Him.” or “God brings us into a right relationship with Him, and that new life means following Jesus every day with His people.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1989, 1992“Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.”

Teaches: “Mainly through the sacraments of the church, starting with baptism, received with faith.”

Makes room for: “Through His Word preached and the sacraments, which the Holy Spirit uses to create and strengthen faith.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1129“The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.”

Teaches: “Christ died for every person, so that anyone who turns to Him can be saved.”

Some hold: “Christ's death is enough for all people, and God intended it to surely save those He chose.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 605“The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception”

Teaches: “God calls everyone and gives His grace first. We freely cooperate with it, and it never forces us.”

Some hold: “Before creation God chose His people, not for anything He saw in them, and His grace surely brings them to faith.” or “God's grace goes before everyone and frees us to respond. God chooses in Christ those He knows will believe.”

Makes room for: “Salvation is God's work alone, and He chose us in Christ. He chose no one to be lost; the lost refuse His grace.” or “God's choosing and our free choice are both true in Scripture, and I don't think we need a system to fit them together.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 600, 2002“When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of "predestination", he includes in it each person's free response to his grace”

Teaches: “Yes. Grace can be lost through serious sin, and God restores it through repentance and confession.”

Makes room for: “Yes. A believer can turn away from Christ and be lost, but while we live His grace keeps calling us back.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1861“It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace.”

Teaches: “I trust God's mercy today and hope for heaven, as I keep holding to Christ to the end of my life.”

Makes room for: “I can be sure of God's grace because He promised it to me in His Word and in baptism, whatever I feel.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 2005“We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.”

Teaches: “God makes us holy through prayer, repentance and the sacraments as we grow toward union with Him.”

Makes room for: “God calls us to perfect love in this life. We press on toward it, and for most of us it's a lifelong path.” or “Holiness grows over a whole lifetime. Sin remains in us until we die, though it no longer rules us.” or “Holiness is following Jesus in daily obedience, with a church that encourages and corrects us.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 2014“Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ.”

Teaches: “By bishops in succession from the apostles, with the pope, the bishop of Rome, as head of the whole church on earth.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 882“has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered”

Teaches: “Only men may be ordained as priests and bishops, following Christ's choice of twelve men as apostles.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1577“For this reason, the ordination of women is not possible.”

Teaches: “It's necessary, together with the apostles' faith kept whole. Without bishops in that line who hold that faith, there is no valid priesthood and the Eucharist is not kept in its fullness.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1411; see also 1400“Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord.”

Teaches: “Christians may serve in the military for a just cause and may take an oath when the law asks for one.”

Some hold: “Christians should work for peace, and each believer may follow conscience about serving in the military.”

Makes room for: “Christians should not fight in war or use violence, but taking an oath in court is fine.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 2309, 2154; see also 2311“The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration.”

Teaches: “Believers and their children. Babies of Christian families should be baptized and raised in the faith.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1250“the Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth”

Teaches: “God truly washes away sin and gives new birth in baptism, joining the person to Christ.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1213“Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God”

Teaches: “Pouring, sprinkling or immersion are all fine. The water and the name of the Trinity are what matter.”

Some hold: “Usually by pouring water on the head, as a sign of the Holy Spirit poured out.”

Makes room for: “By immersing three times, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Source: Code of Canon Law, can. 854; see also CCC 1239“Baptism is to be conferred either by immersion or by pouring”

Teaches: “The bread and wine become Christ's body and blood in their very substance, while still looking like bread and wine.”

Makes room for: “The bread and wine truly become Christ's body and blood. How this happens is a holy mystery we don't define.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1376 (quoting Trent, Sess. 13)“This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.”

Teaches: “Every Sunday, as the high point of worship, and on many other days too.”

Makes room for: “Every Sunday, because the first Christians broke bread on the first day of each week.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1389“the Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the holy Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily”

Teaches: “Seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation or chrismation, the Eucharist, confession, anointing of the sick, ordination and marriage.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1113“There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.”

Teaches: “They can still happen, but the church should test them with care, and they aren't the focus of church life.” or “The Spirit gives gifts to every believer for building up the church, and I don't sort them into kinds.”

Some hold: “All the gifts in the New Testament are for today, and churches should seek them and make room for them.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 799-801“It is in this sense that discernment of charisms is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church's shepherds.”

Teaches: “The Spirit is given through God's Word and baptism, sealed in some churches by anointing or the laying on of hands (at baptism itself in Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, later in Western confirmation).”

Some hold: “It's an empowering experience distinct from conversion, but tongues aren't its required sign.”

Makes room for: “Every believer receives the Spirit on coming to faith, and we can be filled again and again.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1285“the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace”

Teaches: “The church anoints the sick in a sacrament that gives grace for body and soul, and sometimes healing.”

Some hold: “God heals, sometimes by miracle and often through medicine. We pray, use both and trust His will.”

Makes room for: “Praying for the sick with laying on of hands is part of every believer's ministry, as Jesus did when He announced the kingdom.” or “God heals as He wills, usually through ordinary means. We pray, but we don't expect miracles as a pattern.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1520“This assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the sick person to healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will.”

Teaches: “We may ask Mary and the saints to pray for us, honoring them while worshiping God alone.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 2683“We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”

Teaches: “She was kept free from sin from her conception, stayed ever-virgin, and was taken body and soul into heaven. We honor her and ask her prayers.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 966; see also 491, 499“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory”

Teaches: “The thousand years is the present age of Christ's reign. He will return once, to raise the dead and judge.”

Some hold: “Christ will return in glory to judge the living and the dead, and I don't think we need a timeline.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 676“the Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism”

Teaches: “Those who die in God's grace but still need cleansing are purified before heaven, and our prayers help them.”

Makes room for: “They rest in Christ, and the church keeps praying for them as they wait for the resurrection.” or “They go straight to be with Christ, fully forgiven, and wait for the resurrection of the body.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1030“All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification”

Teaches: “The ancient liturgy, sung or chanted, with the church's set prayers in an order kept for centuries.” or “A set order from a prayer book or hymnal, with Scripture readings, confession, the creed and the Lord's Prayer.”

Source: Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 113“Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when the divine offices are celebrated solemnly in song”

Teaches: “Ancient chant and sung prayers, mostly without instruments.” or “Hymns with organ or piano, and a choir.”

Makes room for: “A worship band leading contemporary songs.” or “Gospel music, with choir, organ and drums, and freedom to respond.”

Source: Sacrosanctum Concilium, SC 116; see also SC 120“The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”

Teaches: “A lot. The whole year follows the feasts and fasts, with readings set for each day.”

Source: Sacrosanctum Concilium, SC 102“Within the cycle of a year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ”

Teaches: “Reverent, ordered beauty, with the Lord's Supper at the center.”

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1324“The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."”