Catechism of the Catholic Church — paragraphs 401

401 After that first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin. There is Cain's murder of his brother Abel and the universal corruption…
402 All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many (that is, all men) were made sinners": "sin came…
403 Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and…
404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man".By this "unity of…
405 Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is…
406 The Church's teaching on the transmission of original sin was articulated more precisely in the fifth century, especially under the impulse…
407 The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and…
408 The consequences of original sin and of all men's personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St.…
409 This dramatic situation of "the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one"makes man's life a battle: The whole of man's history…
410 After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil…
411 The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because he "became obedient unto death, even death on a…
412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better…
413 "God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. . . It was through the devil's envy that death entered the…
414 Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen angels who have freely refused to serve God and his plan. Their choice against God is…
415 "Although set by God in a state of rectitude man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very start of history. He lifted…
416 By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human…
417 Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and…
418 As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and…
419 "We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, "by propagation, not by imitation" and…
420 The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us: "where sin increased, grace…
421 Christians believe that "the world has been established and kept in being by the Creator's love; has fallen into slavery to sin but has…
422 'But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so…
423 We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the…
424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living…
425 The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him. From the…
426 "At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered…
427 In catechesis "Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God,. . . is taught - everything else is taught with reference to him - and it is…
428 Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of all…
429 From this loving knowledge of Christ springs the desire to proclaim him, to "evangelize", and to lead others to the "yes" of faith in Jesus…
430 Jesus means in Hebrew: "God saves." At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel gave him the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both…
431 In the history of salvation God was not content to deliver Israel "out of the house of bondage"by bringing them out of Egypt. He also saves…
432 The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in the person of his Son, made man for the universal and definitive…
433 The name of the Savior God was invoked only once in the year by the high priest in atonement for the sins of Israel, after he had sprinkled…
434 Jesus' Resurrection glorifies the name of the Savior God, for from that time on it is the name of Jesus that fully manifests the supreme…
435 The name of Jesus is at the heart of Christian prayer. All liturgical prayers conclude with the words "through our Lord Jesus Christ". The…
436 The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah , which means "anointed". It became the name proper to Jesus only…
437 To the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel: "To you is born this day in the city of David a…
438 Jesus' messianic consecration reveals his divine mission, "for the name 'Christ' implies 'he who anointed', 'he who was anointed' and 'the…
439 Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David",…
440 Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man.…
441 In the Old Testament, "son of God" is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. It signifies…
442 Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God", for Jesus responds solemnly:…
443 Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah's divine sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood.…
444 The Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the Baptism and the Transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus his…
445 After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was "designated Son of God in…
446 In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the ineffable Hebrew name YHWH, by which God revealed himself to Moses, is rendered as…
447 Jesus ascribes this title to himself in a veiled way when he disputes with the Pharisees about the meaning of Psalm 110, but also in an…
448 Very often in the Gospels people address Jesus as "Lord". This title testifies to the respect and trust of those who approach him for help…
449 By attributing to Jesus the divine title "Lord", the first confessions of the Church's faith affirm from the beginning that the power,…
450 From the beginning of Christian history, the assertion of Christ's lordship over the world and over history has implicitly recognized that…
451 Christian prayer is characterized by the title "Lord", whether in the invitation to prayer ("The Lord be with you"), its conclusion…
452 The name Jesus means "God saves". The child born of the Virgin Mary is called Jesus, "for he will save his people from their sins" ( Mt…
453 The title "Christ" means "Anointed One" (Messiah). Jesus is the Christ, for "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with…
454 The title "Son of God" signifies the unique and eternal relationship of Jesus Christ to God his Father: he is the only Son of the Father…
455 The title "Lord" indicates divine sovereignty. To confess or invoke Jesus as Lord is to believe in his divinity. "No one can say 'Jesus is…
456 With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy…
457 The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God , who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our…
458 The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love : "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only…
459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness : "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life;…
460 The Word became flesh to make us " partakers of the divine nature ":"For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son…
461 Taking up St. John's expression, "The Word became flesh",the Church calls "Incarnation" the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature…
462 The Letter to the Hebrews refers to the same mystery: Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you…
463 Belief in the true Incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every…
464 The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor…
465 The first heresies denied not so much Christ's divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian faith…
466 The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God's Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of…
467 The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine person of God's Son assumed it. Faced…
468 After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of personal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council,…
469 The Church thus confesses that Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and…
470 Because "human nature was assumed, not absorbed", in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of…
471 Apollinarius of Laodicaea asserted that in Christ the divine Word had replaced the soul or spirit. Against this error the Church confessed…
472 This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be…
473 But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God's Son expressed the divine life of his person. "The human nature of God's Son, not…
474 By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding…
475 Similarly, at the sixth ecumenical council, Constantinople III in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural…
476 Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ's body was finite. Therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed; at…
477 At the same time the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus "we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of…
478 Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: "The Son of…
479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became…
480 Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and…
481 Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God's Son.
482 Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will,…
483 The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word.
484 The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates "the fullness of time", the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations. Mary was…
485 The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the giver of Life", is sent…
486 The Father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is "Christ", that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit, from the…
487 What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its…
488 "God sent forth his Son", but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free co-operation of a creature. For this, from all eternity God…
489 Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her…
490 To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of…
491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her…
492 The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from…
493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" ( Panagia ), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin,…
494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary…
495 Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of…
496 From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the…
497 The Gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that surpasses all human understanding and possibility:…
498 People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some…
499 The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving…
500 Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always…

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