1. We are bound to know and to believe that:
There is one supreme, eternal, infinite God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, and that the good will be rewarded
by him forever in heaven, and the wicked,
who die unrepentant will be punished for
ever in hell.
In the Holy Trinity, there are
three Persons: God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
God the Son, the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity, became man, and died
upon the Cross to save us.
2. We are also bound to know and believe:
the Apostles’ Creed, and to have a
knowledge of the Commandments of God
and the Precepts of the Church, and of the
Holy Sacraments. We must believe that
Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture
form one sacred deposit of the word of
God, which is committed to the Church.
3. We are bound, moreover, to believe:
Whatever God teaches us by his holy
Church, who in her teaching cannot
deceive us, nor be deceived. Her teaching
is among other ways infallibly made known
to us by the Pope when he speaks ex
cathedra-that is, when discharging the
office of pastor and teacher of all
Christians, he defines, by virtue of his
Supreme Apostolic Authority, a doctrine
regarding faith or morals, to be held by
the universal Church. Infallibility resides
also in the body of bishops, when that
body exercises, supreme teaching authority
with the Pope, the successor of St. Peter.
