CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION
Paragraphs 1501–1600
- 1501 Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping…
- 1502 The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of God,…
- 1503 Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his…
- 1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands, mud and washing. The sick try to…
- 1505 < 1505 Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: "He took…
- 1506 Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross in their turn. By following him they acquire a new outlook on illness…
- 1507 The risen Lord renews this mission ("In my name . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.") and confirms it…
- 1508 The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord. But even the…
- 1509 "Heal the sick!" The Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by taking care of the sick as well as by…
- 1510 However, the apostolic Church has its own rite for the sick, attested to by St. James: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders…
- 1511 The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried…
- 1512 From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings of the sick with…
- 1513 The Apostolic Constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum , following upon the Second Vatican Council, established that henceforth, in the…
- 1514 The Anointing of the Sick "is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins…
- 1515 If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another grave illness receive this sacrament again.…
- 1516 Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. It is the duty of pastors to instruct the faithful on the…
- 1517 Like all the sacraments the Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration, whether it takes place in the family home, a…
- 1518 Word and sacrament form an indivisible whole. The Liturgy of the Word, preceded by an act of repentance, opens the celebration. The words…
- 1519 The celebration of the sacrament includes the following principal elements: the "priests of the Church" - in silence - lay hands on the…
- 1520 A particular gift of the Holy Spirit . The first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the…
- 1521 Union with the passion of Christ . By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself…
- 1522 An ecclesial grace . The sick who receive this sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ," "contribute to…
- 1523 A preparation for the final journey . If the sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to all who suffer from serious illness and…
- 1524 In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in…
- 1525 Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so…
- 1526 "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of…
- 1527 The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties…
- 1528 The proper time for receiving this holy anointing has certainly arrived when the believer begins to be in danger of death because of…
- 1529 Each time a Christian falls seriously ill, he may receive the Anointing of the Sick, and also when, after he has received it, the illness…
- 1530 Only priests (presbyters and bishops) can give the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, using oil blessed by the bishop, or if necessary…
- 1531 The celebration of the Anointing of the Sick consists essentially in the anointing of the forehead and hands of the sick person (in the…
- 1532 The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects: - the uniting of the sick person to the passion of…
- 1533 Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist are sacraments of Christian initiation. They ground the common vocation of all Christ's disciples, a…
- 1534 Two other sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal…
- 1535 Through these sacraments those already consecrated by Baptism and Confirmation for the common priesthood of all the faithful can receive…
- 1536 Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until…
- 1537 The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing body. Ordinatio means incorporation into an…
- 1538 Integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio , a religious and liturgical act which was a…
- 1539 The chosen people was constituted by God as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." But within the people of Israel, God chose one of the…
- 1540 Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and prayer, this priesthood nevertheless remains…
- 1541 The liturgy of the Church, however, sees in the priesthood of Aaron and the service of the Levites, as in the institution of the seventy…
- 1542 At the ordination of priests, the Church prays: Lord, holy Father, . . . when you had appointed high priests to rule your people, you chose…
- 1543 In the consecratory prayer for ordination of deacons, the Church confesses: Almighty God . . ., You make the Church, Christ's body, grow to…
- 1544 Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the "one mediator between God and…
- 1545 The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church.…
- 1546 Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God and Father." The whole community of…
- 1547 The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of all the faithful participate, "each in its…
- 1548 In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his…
- 1549 Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the…
- 1550 This presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses, the spirit of…
- 1551 This priesthood is ministerial. "That office . . . which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is in the strict sense of the…
- 1552 The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ - Head of the Church - before the assembly of the faithful, but…
- 1553 "In the name of the whole Church" does not mean that priests are the delegates of the community. The prayer and offering of the Church are…
- 1554 "The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called…
- 1555 "Amongst those various offices which have been exercised in the Church from the earliest times the chief place, according to the witness of…
- 1556 To fulfill their exalted mission, "the apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and…
- 1557 The Second Vatican Council "teaches . . . that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that…
- 1558 "Episcopal consecration confers, together with the office of sanctifying, also the offices of teaching and ruling. . . . In fact . . . by…
- 1559 "One is constituted a member of the episcopal body in virtue of the sacramental consecration and by the hierarchical communion with the…
- 1560 As Christ's vicar, each bishop has the pastoral care of the particular Church entrusted to him, but at the same time he bears collegially…
- 1561 The above considerations explain why the Eucharist celebrated by the bishop has a quite special significance as an expression of the Church…
- 1562 "Christ, whom the Father hallowed and sent into the world, has, through his apostles, made their successors, the bishops namely, sharers in…
- 1563 "Because it is joined with the episcopal order the office of priests shares in the authority by which Christ himself builds up and…
- 1564 "Whilst not having the supreme degree of the pontifical office, and notwithstanding the fact that they depend on the bishops in the…
- 1565 Through the sacrament of Holy Orders priests share in the universal dimensions of the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles. The…
- 1566 "It is in the Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful ( synaxis ) that they exercise in a supreme degree their…
- 1567 "The priests, prudent cooperators of the episcopal college and its support and instrument, called to the service of the People of God,…
- 1568 "All priests, who are constituted in the order of priesthood by the sacrament of Order, are bound together by an intimate sacramental…
- 1569 "At a lower level of the hierarchy are to be found deacons, who receive the imposition of hands 'not unto the priesthood, but unto the…
- 1570 Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint ("character") which…
- 1571 Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate "as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy," while the…
- 1572 Given the importance that the ordination of a bishop, a priest, or a deacon has for the life of the particular Church, its celebration…
- 1573 The essential rite of the sacrament of Holy Orders for all three degrees consists in the bishop's imposition of hands on the head of the…
- 1574 As in all the sacraments additional rites surround the celebration. Varying greatly among the different liturgical traditions, these rites…
- 1575 Christ himself chose the apostles and gave them a share in his mission and authority. Raised to the Father's right hand, he has not…
- 1576 Since the sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of the apostolic ministry, it is for the bishops as the successors of the apostles to…
- 1577 "Only a baptized man ( vir ) validly receives sacred ordination." The Lord Jesus chose men ( viri ) to form the college of the twelve…
- 1578 No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God. Anyone…
- 1579 All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who…
- 1580 In the Eastern Churches a different discipline has been in force for many centuries: while bishops are chosen solely from among celibates,…
- 1581 This sacrament configures the recipient to Christ by a special grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he may serve as Christ's instrument for…
- 1582 As in the case of Baptism and Confirmation this share in Christ's office is granted once for all. The sacrament of Holy Orders, like the…
- 1583 It is true that someone validly ordained can, for grave reasons, be discharged from the obligations and functions linked to ordination, or…
- 1584 Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent…
- 1585 The grace of the Holy Spirit proper to this sacrament is configuration to Christ as Priest, Teacher, and Pastor, of whom the ordained is…
- 1586 For the bishop, this is first of all a grace of strength ("the governing spirit": Prayer of Episcopal Consecration in the Latin rite): the…
- 1587 The spiritual gift conferred by presbyteral ordination is expressed by this prayer of the Byzantine Rite. The bishop, while laying on his…
- 1588 With regard to deacons, "strengthened by sacramental grace they are dedicated to the People of God, in conjunction with the bishop and his…
- 1589 Before the grandeur of the priestly grace and office, the holy doctors felt an urgent call to conversion in order to conform their whole…
- 1590 St. Paul said to his disciple Timothy: "I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" ( 2…
- 1591 The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the…
- 1592 The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service…
- 1593 Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has been conferred and exercised in three degrees: that of bishops, that of presbyters, and that…
- 1594 The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the episcopal college and makes him the visible…
- 1595 Priests are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity and at the same time depend on them in the exercise of their pastoral functions;…
- 1596 Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service of the Church; they do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination confers…
- 1597 The sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer of consecration asking God to grant the…
- 1598 The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men ( viri ), whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry has been…
- 1599 In the Latin Church the sacrament of Holy Orders for the presbyterate is normally conferred only on candidates who are ready to embrace…
- 1600 It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees.