The
Twelve Articles of Catholic Faith
If
you want to know the basics of the Catholic faith, look no further than the
articles of Catholic faith.
This
list of twelve articles mirrors the Apostles' Creed, a prayer that sets out
Catholic tenets:
Article 1:
I believe in God, the
Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
This affirms that God exists,
that he's a Triune God (one God in three persons, known as the Holy Trinity),
and that he created the known universe.
Article 2:
(I Believe) and in
Jesus Christ,
his only Son, our Lord.
This attests that Jesus is the Son of God
and that he's most certainly divine. The word Lord implies divinity, because
the Greek Kyrios and the Hebrew Adonai both mean "lord" and are
ascribed only to God. So the use of Lord with Jesus is meant to profess his
divinity. The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew Jeshua, meaning "God
saves." So Catholics believe that Jesus is Savior.
Article 3:
Who was
conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
This
affirms the human nature of Christ, meaning he had a real, true human mother,
and also affirms his divine nature, meaning he had no human father but by the
power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He's
therefore considered both God and man by Christians—fully divine and fully
human.
Article 4:
He
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified,
died,
and
was buried.
The human
nature of Christ could feel pain and actually die, and he did on Good Friday.
The mention of Pontius Pilate by name wasn't meant so much to vilify him
forever in history but to place the Crucifixion within human history.
Reference is made to an actual historical
person, the Roman governor of Judea, appointed by Caesar, to put the life and
death of Jesus within a chronological and historical context.
It also reminds
the faithful that one can't blame all Jews for the death of Jesus, as some have
erroneously done over the ages.
Certain Jewish leaders conspired against Jesus,
but the actual death sentence was given by a Roman and carried out by Roman
soldiers. So both Jew and Gentile alike shared in the spilling of innocent
blood. Anti-Semitism based on the Crucifixion of Jesus is inaccurate, unjust,
and erroneous.
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| Christ decended to the Dead |
Article 5:
He
descended into hell.
The hell Jesus descended into wasn't the hell of the damned, where Jews and Christians believe
the devil and his demons reside.
Hell was merely aword that Jews and early
Christians used to describe the place of the dead.
On the
third day
he arose again
from the dead.
This passage affirms that on
the third day he rose, meaning Jesus came back from the dead of his own divine
power.
He wasn't just clinically dead for a few minutes; he was dead dead —
then he rose from the dead. (it was 3 days)
More than a resuscitated corpse,
Jesus possessed a
glorified and risen body.
Article 6:
He
ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty.
The Ascension reminds the faithful that after the human and divine natures
of Christ were united in the Incarnation, they could never be separated. In
other words, after the saving death and Resurrection, Jesus didn't dump his
human body as if he didn't need it anymore. Catholicism teaches that his human
body will exist forever. Where Jesus went, body and soul, into heaven, the
faithful hope one day to follow.
Article 7:
He will
come again to judge the living and the dead.
This article affirms the Second
Coming of Christ at the end of the world to be its judge. Judgment Day, Day of
Reckoning, Doomsday—they're all metaphors for the end of time when what's known
as the General Judgment will occur. Catholics believe that after the death of
any human person, immediate private judgment occurs and the person goes
directly to heaven, hell, or purgatory (an intermediate place in preparation
for heaven).
 |
| Holy Spirit depicted by the Dove |
Article 8:
I believe
in the Holy Spirit,
This part reminds the believer that God exists in three
persons — the Holy Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. What's referred to as the Force in the movie Star Wars isn't the same
as the Holy Spirit, who is a distinct person equal to the other two — God the
Father and God the Son.
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| Vatican City The Seat of Peter , Rome |
Article 9:
the holy
catholic Church,
 |
| Christ and the Communion of Saints |
the Communion of Saints,
Catholics believe that the Church is
more than a mere institution and certainly not a necessary evil. It's an essential
dimension and aspect of spiritual life. Christ explicitly uses the word church
(ekklesia in Greek) in Matthew 16 when he says, "I will build My
Church."
Article 10:
the
forgiveness of sins,
Christ came to save the world from sin. Belief in the forgiveness
of sins is essential to Christianity. Catholicism believes sins are forgiven in
Baptism and in the Sacrament of Penance.
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| Signorelli's depiction of the Resurrection of the Dead |
Article 11:
the
resurrection of the body,
From the Catholic perspective, a human being is a
union of body and soul, so death is just the momentary separation of body and
soul until the end of the world, the Second Coming of Christ, the General
Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. The just go, body and soul, into
heaven, and the damned go, body and soul, into hell.
Article 12:
And in life
everlasting.
As Christ Our Savior died,
so, too,
must mere mortals.
As he rose,
so shall all human beings.
Death is the only way to cross
from this life into
the next.
At the very moment of death,
private judgment occurs; Christ judges
the soul:
*
If it's particularly holy and virtuous, the soul goes directly to heaven.
*
If it's evil and wicked and dies in mortal sin, it's damned for eternity in
hell.
* If a person lived a life not bad enough to
warrant hell but not holy enough to go right to heaven,
Catholics believe the
soul goes to purgatory, which is a middle ground between heaven and earth, a
state where departed souls want to go to be cleansed of any attachments to sin
before going through the pearly gates.
Taken from Catholicism
For Dummies. From Catholicism For
Dummies, 2nd Edition by Rev. John Trigilio, Jr., Rev. Kenneth Brighenti "Cheat Sheet"
Through
Mary the Father’s blessing 
