SESSION 4 : 18 July 1870 - First dogmatic constitution on the church of
Christ
Pius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the
sacred council, for an everlasting record.
The
eternal shepherd and guardian of our souls37,
in
order to render permanent the saving work of redemption,
determined
to build a church
in
which,
as
in the house of the living God,
all
the faithful should be linked by the bond of one
Therefore,
before he was glorified,
he
besought his Father,
not
for the apostles only,
but
also for those who were to believe in him through their word,
that they all might be one
as the Son himself and the Father are one38.
So
then,
just
as he sent apostles, whom he chose out of the world39,
even
as he had been sent by the Father40,
in
like manner it was his will that in his church there should be shepherds
and teachers until the end of time.
In
order, then, that
the
episcopal office should be one and undivided and that,
by
the union of the clergy,
the
whole multitude of believers should be held together in the unity
of
he
set blessed Peter over the rest of the apostles and
instituted
in him the permanent principle of both unities and
their
visible foundation.
Upon
the strength of this foundation was to be built the eternal temple, and
the church whose topmost part reaches heaven was to rise upon the firmness
of this foundation41.
And
since the gates of hell trying, if they can, to overthrow the church, make
their assault with a hatred that increases day by day against its divinely
laid foundation,
we
judge it necessary,
with
the approbation of the sacred council, and
for
the protection, defence and growth of the catholic flock,
to
propound the doctrine concerning the
1. institution,
2. permanence and
3. nature
of
the sacred and apostolic primacy,
upon
which the strength and coherence of the whole church depends.
This
doctrine is to be believed and held by all the faithful in
accordance with the ancient and unchanging faith of the whole church.
Furthermore,
we shall proscribe and condemn the contrary errors which are so harmful to
the Lord's flock.
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