-His Holiness Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, Encyclical on the Feast of Christ the King, December 11, 1925, #22.
For both the juridical mission of the Church, and the power to teach, govern and administer the Sacraments, derive their supernatural efficacy and force of the building up of the body of Christ from the fact that Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.
-Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1943, #31.
Therefore, let those who wish to be saved come to this pillar, to this foundation of the truth which is the Church; let them come to the true Church of Christ which, in her Bishops and in the Roman Pontiff, the supreme head of all, possesses the uninterrupted succession of apostolic authority, which has never had anything more closely at heart than to preach, to preserve, and to defend with all her strength the doctrine announced but the Apostles on the order of Jesus Christ; who...strengthened by the testimony and the wise writings of the Fathers, has sent down roots and still flourishes in all the countries of the earth, brilliant in the perfect unity of her faith, of the sacraments and of her spiritual sacred government....Let all those who oppose Us remember that heaven and earth will pass away, but that not one of Christ's words can pass away, that nothing can be changed in the doctrine which the Catholic Church has received from Jesus Christ to preserve, to defend, and to preach.
-Pope Pius IX, in 1847, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 196).
And just as this one Church cannot err in faith or morals...
-The Catechism of Trent, Article IX : "I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints".
The faith shall never vary in any age, for one is the faith which justifies the Just of all ages. It is unlawful to differ even by a single word from apostolic doctrine.
-Pope St. Leo the Great, Magno Munere, Epistle 82 to Emperor Marcian, PL 54; FOC, pp.113, 356; Sermon LXIII, PL 54:353; SS, vol. 2, p. 150, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
The Catholic Faith is such that nothing can be added to it, nothing taken away. Either it is held in its entirety, or rejected totally. This is the Catholic faith, which, unless a man believes faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.
-Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi, PTC:761, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Nothing can ever pass away from the words of Jesus Christ, nor can anything be changed which the Catholic Church received from Christ to guard, protect, and preach.
-Pope Pius IX, Ubi Primum, quoted in "Our Glorious Popes", published by Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cambridge, MA: 1955, p. 157, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Nothing ever changes in the eternal Catholic doctrine.
-Pope John Paul II, LOR, #49, December 9, 1992, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Nothing new is to be allowed, for nothing can be added to the old. Look for the faith of the elders, and do not let our faith be disturbed by a mixture of new doctrines.
-Pope St. Sixtus III, De Jejun., sermon CXXIX; also Epistle to John of Antioch, VIII:7, FOC, p.,185-186, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Let nothing of the truths that have been defined be lessened, nothing altered, nothing added; but let them be preserved intact in word and in meaning.
-Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
For it is not allowable for anyone to change even one word nor allow one syllable to be passed over..
-St. Cyril of Alexandria, Epistle 55, PG 77:292, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Wherefore, if there be revealed to us anything new or different, we must in no way give consent to it, not even though it were spoken by an angel."
-St. John of the Cross, "The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. ed., Washington: ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1991, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Under no circumstances can we conceive of the possibility of change, of evolution, or of any modification in matters of faith. The Creed remains always the same.
-(Pope Paul VI, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
The faith which God has revealed has not been proposed like a theory of philosophy, to be elaborated upon by human understanding, but as a divine deposit to be faithfully guarded and infallibly declared. Therefore, that sense of sacred dogmas is to be kept forever which Holy Mother Church has once declared, and it must never be deviated from on the specious pretext of a more profound understanding. Let intelligence, and science, and wisdom increase, but only according to the same dogma, the same sense, the same meaning. If anyone shall have said that there may ever be attributed to the doctrines proposed by the Church a sense which is different from the sense which the Church has once understood and now understands: let him be anathema.
-First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, ch. 4, DNZ:1800; "On Faith," ch. 4, Canon 3, DNZ:1818, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
Our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church. We must hold this for certain: that the faith of the people at the present day is one with the faith of the people of past centuries. Were this not true, then we would be in a different church than they and, literally, the Church would not be One."
-St. Thomas Aquinas, On the Truth of the Catholic Faith, Q. #14, art. 12, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 4: "The Dogmas of Faith Admit No Alteration Whatsoever").
To the one true (Catholic) Church of Christ, We say, that stands forth before all, and that by the will of its Founder will remain forever the same as when He Himself established it for the salvation of all mankind.
The Mystical Spouse of Christ has in the course of the centuries remained unspotted, nor can it ever be contaminated.
-Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, in Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
-Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, in Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
The Spouse of Christ cannot commit adultery; she is incorrupt and modest, she knows one house, she guards with chaste modesty the holiness of one room.
-St. Cyprian, De Cath. Ecclesiae Unitate, #6 (Quoted by Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, in Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
[It is error to believe that] Kings and princes are not only exempt from the jurisdiction of the Church, but are superior to the Church in deciding questions of jurisdiction.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section VI, Errors About Civil Society, Considered Both in Itself and in its Relation to the Church, #54.
[It is error to believe that] In the case of conflicting laws enacted by the two powers (Church and civil), the civil law prevails.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section VI, Errors About Civil Society, Considered Both in Itself and in its Relation to the Church, # 42.
[It is error to believe that] The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section VI, Errors About Civil Society, Considered Both in Itself and in its Relation to the Church, #55.
The doctrines of the Catholic Church are entirely independent of Holy Scripture.
-Familiar Explanation of Catholic Doctrine, Rev. M. Muller, p.151.
Once he does so (joins the Catholic church), he has no further use for his reason. He enters the Church, an edifice illumined by the superior light of revelation and faith. He can leave reason like a lantern at the door.
-Explanation of Catholic Morals, A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals, by John H. Stapleton, p 76, Benziger Brothers, NY, 1913.
Obey blindly , that is, without asking reasons. Be careful, then, never to examine the directions of your confessor....In a word, keep before your eyes this great rule, that in obeying your confessor you obey God. Force yourself then, to obey him in spite of all fears. And be persuaded that if you are not obedient to him it will be impossible for you to go on well; but if you obey him you are secure. But you say, if I am damned in consequence of obeying my confessor, who will rescue me from hell? What you say is impossible.
-St. Alphonsus De Liguori, True Spouse of Christ, p 352, Benziger Brothers, NY.
There is only one remedy for this evil (an over scrupulous conscience), and that remedy is absolute and blind obedience to a prudent director. Choose one, consult him as often as you desire, but do not leave him for another. Then submit punctiliously to his direction. His conscience must be yours for the time being. And if you should err in following him, God will hold him, and not you responsible.
-Explanation of Catholic Morals, A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals, by John H. Stapleton, p 24, Benziger Brothers, NY, 1913.
[It is error to believe that] Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section III, Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism, #15.
[It is error to believe that] Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship. -Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern Liberalism, #78.
[It is error to believe that] Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern LiberalismI, #79.
This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it....a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice.
-Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism), Encyclical promulgated on August 15, 1832, #14 & 15.
[It is error to believe that] The (Catholic) Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section V, Errors Concerning the Church and Her Rights, #24.
Do not hold aloof from the Church; for nothing is stronger than the Church. The Church is thy hope, thy salvation, thy refuge.
-St. John Chrysostom, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. IX, Introduction to the Two Homilies on Eutropius, Homily II.
He who thinks he can remain a Christian by his own efforts, deserting the institutional bonds of the visible hierarchical Church, is deceiving himself. The fact remains that God established His Church as a bridge over which we must pass, leading from our unhappy lot to His salvation.
-Pope Paul VI, Mystici Corporis, PTC:1022 ff. 59, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 1: "Only Catholics Can Be Christians").
-Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism), Encyclical promulgated on August 15, 1832, #14 & 15.
[It is error to believe that] The (Catholic) Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section V, Errors Concerning the Church and Her Rights, #24.
Do not hold aloof from the Church; for nothing is stronger than the Church. The Church is thy hope, thy salvation, thy refuge.
-St. John Chrysostom, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. IX, Introduction to the Two Homilies on Eutropius, Homily II.
He who thinks he can remain a Christian by his own efforts, deserting the institutional bonds of the visible hierarchical Church, is deceiving himself. The fact remains that God established His Church as a bridge over which we must pass, leading from our unhappy lot to His salvation.
-Pope Paul VI, Mystici Corporis, PTC:1022 ff. 59, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 1: "Only Catholics Can Be Christians").
No comments:
Post a Comment