| TRUE FAITH ONLY IN
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Thoughtful men, with hearts craving the truth, have come to seek in the Catholic Church the road which leads with surety to eternal life. They have understood that they could not cleave to Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church if they did not belong to the Body of Jesus Christ which is the Church. Nor could they ever hope to possess in all its purity the faith of Jesus Christ if they were to reject its legitimate teaching authority entrusted to Peter and his successors. Pope Leo XIII The Church alone, being the Bride of Christ and having all things in common with her Divine Spouse, is the depository of the truth. Pope St. Pius X The Church is a virgin, the bride of one Spouse, Who is Christ, and this Church does not allow herself to be violated by any error; so that, throughout the whole world there may be for us one uncorruptedness of a single chaste communion. Pope St. Leo the Great But what is also to the point, let us note that the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers. On this the Church was founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian. St. Athanasius We must mention another fruitful cause of evil by which the Church is afflicted at present, namely: Indifferentism, that vicious manner of thinking which mushrooms on all sides owing to the wiles of malicious men, and which holds that the eternal salvation of the soul can be obtained by the profession of any faith, provided a man's morals be good and decent ... Let them beware who preach that the gates of Heaven are open to every religion! Let them seriously consider the testimony of the Savior that some are against Christ because they they are not with Christ, that they scatter who do not gather with Him, and therefore without doubt they will perish in eternity unless they hold to the Catholic faith and observe it whole and inviolate. Pope Gregory XVI There is only one Christian faith, that is: Catholic. St. Bridget of Sweden In fact, there is only one true and holy religion, founded and instituted by Christ Our Lord. Mother and Nurse of the virtues, Destroyer of vice, Liberator of souls, Guide to true happiness, she is called Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman. Bl. Pope Pius IX The Church is that one wherein the true word of God is preached, which Christ left to His Apostles, which the same Church hath always observed, the doctors preached, and Martyrs and confessors witnessed. This is the Church I believe to be true. St. Margaret Clitherow Neither the true faith nor eternal salvation is to be found outside the Holy Catholic Church. Bl. Pope Pius IX Faith in Christ cannot be maintained pure and unalloyed when it is not protected and supported by faith in the Church ... Faith in Christ and faith in the Church stand together ... Whenever a person obstinately separates himself from the infallible teaching of the Church, he gradually loses the certain and true doctrine about Jesus Christ. If we should ask the many different sects, especially those dating from the 16th and 17th centuries and still bearing the honored name of "Christian," what they now believe concerning Him, we would receive varying and often conflicting answers. They present Jesus Christ as man, very similar to God, but they are far removed from a full and sincere profession of Catholic faith. Hence, it appears that all these heretics wish by rash endeavor to dissolve Christ and therefore, according to the Apostle John, "are not of God" (I John 4:3) ...From the exalted summit of this Apostolic See, We there- fore call with fatherly spirit upon all individuals and groups who glory in being disciples of Christ and who place in Him their hope of salvation ... always to cling ever firmly to the Roman Church in which belief in Christ is maintained with one entire and perfect faith, worshipped with sincere adoration, and loved with undying charity. Let those who govern flocks separated from Us remember how their forerunners solemnly professed the faith, and how in the past as in the present, this same faith has been preserved and earnestly defended by this supreme Chair of Truth. Let them remember that this genuine unity of faith rests only on the One Rock established by Christ and, further, that it has been preserved safe and secure by the supreme authority of the successors of blessed Peter. Pope Pius XI He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the habit of faith. St. Thomas Aquinas He who does not believe according to the tradition of the Catholic Church is an unbeliever. St. John Damascene Those who are seeking the true religion will never find it outside the Catholic Church alone, because, in every other religion, if they trace it up to the author, they will find some impostor whose imagination furnished a mass of sophisms and errors. St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori Heretics think false things about God and call it their faith. St. Augustine If a soul is not clothed with the teachings of the Church he cannot merit to have Jesus seated in him. St. Jerome The definitions of the Church are the rules of true faith. St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori The Church is the Ship outside which it is impossible to understand the Divine Word, for Jesus spoke from the boat to the people gathered on the shore. St. Hilary of Poitiers To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside all things are done in parables. St. Mark 4:11 A true worshipper is one whose mind has not been defiled with any false belief. Pope St. Leo the Great There is no middle way between Catholicism and Atheism ... Hence, Protestants have abandoned themselves to the extreme of Atheism or Materialism, denying every maxim of faith .. .Oh, God! How does it happen that these new masters of faith do not see that being separated from the Catholic Church, and having lost obedience to her, they have also lost the rule of faith, so that at the present time they have no sure rule by which they can ascertain what is of the faith or what is not; thus, they walk in the dark, changing the articles of their belief from day to day ... On the other hand, its constant uniformity of doctrine in the dogmas of faith, from its first foundation by Jesus Christ, demonstrates the truth of the Catholic Church. It has been the same in all ages, so that the truths we believe at the present day were believed in the first ages. St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori    HOME--------------------------------------------------SAINTLY QUOTES www.catholictradition.org/Saints/papal-quotes2.htm |