THE PROFESSION OF CATHOLIC FAITH
Solemnly promulgated by Pope Pius IV and the Council of Trent* Issued in the year 1564 in the Bull Injunctum nobis
The doctrine which all professing Catholics are bound to believe:
I, N., with firm Faith believe and profess all and everything which is contained in the creed of Faith, which the holy Roman Church uses, namely:
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and earth,
and of all things invisible and indivisible; and in
One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father
before all ages, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten
not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was made incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
He was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died, and was buried; and
He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven;
He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of His kingdom there will be no end; and
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who together, equally with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified; who spoke through the prophets; and
I believe that there is only one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the remission of sins; and
I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
I most firmly accept and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all other observances and constitutions of that same Church.
I accept in like manner Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy Mother Church has held and does now hold, and whose office it is to judge the true meaning and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures;
I shall never accept it nor interpret it otherwise than in accordance with the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
I also profess that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments of the
New Law instituted by Jesus Christ Our Lord, and that they are necessary for
the salvation of mankind, although not all are necessary for each
individual; and that
These Sacraments are: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme
unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; and
I profess that they confer grace, and that of these, baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders cannot be repeated without sacrilege.
I also receive and admit the accepted and approved rites of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments.
I embrace and accept each and every thing that has been defined and declared by the Holy Synod of Trent concerning original sin and justification.
I also profess that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper sacrifice of propitiation for the living and the dead, and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially present the body and blood together with the soul and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there takes place a conversion of the whole substance of bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; and this conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation.
I also acknowledge that under one species alone the whole and entire Christ and the true sacrament are taken.
I steadfastly hold that a purgatory exists, and that the souls there detained are aided by the prayers of the Faithful; likewise that the saints reigning together with Christ should be venerated and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics should be venerated.
I firmly assert that the images of Christ and of the Mother of God ever Virgin, and also of the other saints should be kept and owned, and that due honor and veneration should be paid to them.
I also affirm that the power of' indulgences has been left in the Church by Christ, and that the use of them is especially salutary for the Christian people.
I acknowledge the holy Catholic and apostolic Roman Church as the mother and teacher of all churches; and to the Roman Pontiff, the successor of the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ, I promise and swear true obedience.
I also unwaveringly accept and profess all the doctrines (particularly those concerning the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching authority) handed down, defined, asserted and clarified by the sacred canons and ecumenical Councils, and especially those of this most sacred and holy Council of Trent, (and by the ecumenical Vatican Council 1), and also in like manner and at the same time;
I condemn, reject, and anathematize without hesitation all things contrary to these objectives, and whatever heresies without exception that have been condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church.
I, N., do promise, vow, and swear that I will, with the help of God, most faithfully hold and profess this true Catholic Faith, outside of which no one can be saved, and which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold,
I will with the help of God, profess it pure, whole and unblemished to my dying breath; and that
I shall take care as far as lies within my power that it be held, taught, and preached by my subjects or by those over whom by virtue of my office I have charge, so help me God, and His holy Gospel.
Pope Pius IV