Church Notes

The notes on the Church refer to four characters or attributes already indicated in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of the year 381, which described the Church as "one, holy, catholic and apostolic". Catholics profess their faith in these four notes of the Church through the Nicaea-Constantinople creed, which is why they are considered articles or dogmas of faith. The Second Vatican Council also made reference to the "one Church of Christ that in the symbol we confess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic" (Lumen gentium 8). Finally, these four attributes are indicated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as inseparably linked to each other, and as indicative of essential features of the Church and of her mission (CIC, 811).

Each of the four attributes of the Church has a particular meaning:

1. One: the Church is one because of its origin, God Himself. God is one. It is one because of his Founder, Christ. The Apostle Paul, in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians, refers to the Church as the Body of Christ. "The parts of the body are many, but the body is one; however many parts, they all form one body" (1 Cor. 12:12). In another letter, Paul also teaches on this attribute: "Keep your bonds of peace and remain united in the same spirit. One body and one same spirit, for you have been called to the same vocation and one same hope. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and the Father of all, who is above all, who acts for all and is in all." (Eph. 4, 3-6). Christ Himself teaches and prays for this characteristic unity of the Church founded by Him: "Let all be one, like you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be one in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me." (Jn. 17, 21).
2. Santa: the Church, despite the faults and faults of each of the believers who are still on earth, is in itself holy because Holy is its founder and saints are its purposes and objectives. Likewise, he is holy through his faithful, for they do sanctifying action. The Catholic Church is the one who contains the total fullness of the means of salvation, and it is where the Holiness is achieved by the grace of God. It is holy because its members are called to be holy.
3. Catholic: with the meaning of "universal", the Church is Catholic as soon as she seeks to proclaim the Good News and receive in her womb all human beings, all time and everywhere; wherever one of her members is found, the Church is present there. And also, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, it is Catholic because Christ is present in it, which implies that the Church receives from Him the fullness of the means of salvation.
4. ApostolicThe Church was founded by Christ on the foundation of Peter, the head of the apostles, and constituted in authority and power to the entire Apostolic College; Peter and the other apostles have in the Pope and the bishops their successors, who exercise the same authority.