What Are Catholic Dogmas and Why Are They Important?

Jun 8

6 min read

What Is a Dogma?

The word dogma in Greek can refer to a "decree, decision, ordinance, or authoritative teaching."

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these."— CCC 88

In other words, a dogma is a truth that the Catholic Church definitively teaches as being contained in Divine Revelation, or as being necessarily connected with what God has revealed. When the Church defines a dogma, Catholics are required to give it an irrevocable adherence of faith.

The Catechism explains again:

"The Church's Magisterium makes full use of the authority it holds from Christ when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these."— CCC 88

This means that when the Church definitively defines a dogma, Catholics are called to believe it—not simply because the Church says so, but because the Church teaches that these truths are contained in Divine Revelation or are necessarily connected with what God has revealed.

Now, this does not mean that every dogma is going to be an easy pill to swallow or that we will be able to wrap our minds around it completely. We have to remember that we are human beings. We do not know everything, and we cannot fully comprehend the infinite mystery of God. That is part of what makes God so awesome. We are just human.

I want to point out that it is NOT easy for something to become a dogma. It seems like there are so many, but one must remember that the Church has existed for over 2,000 years.

I want to make something clear: there is not one single Catholic "rulebook" containing a numbered list of every dogma. Dogmas have been defined throughout Church history through the Church's understanding of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, through ecumenical councils, and through definitive acts of the Magisterium.

We share so much with our fellow Protestant brothers and sisters, but some teachings distinguish Catholicism, and some Christians outside of the Catholic Church strongly disagree with or misunderstand them.

There will be future podcast episodes and blogs going into many of these topics in much greater detail, but for now, here are fifty examples of Catholic dogmas

50 Catholic Dogmatic Teachings

There is one God.
God is eternal.
God is omnipotent.
God is omniscient.
God is perfectly good.
God is one in nature and three in Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Divine Persons.
The three Divine Persons are one God, not three gods.
The Son is eternally begotten of the Father.
The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.
God created the universe out of nothing.
God preserves and governs His creation by His Divine Providence.
Angels are spiritual, personal, and immortal creatures created by God.
The devil and the other demons were created good by God but became evil through their own free choice.
Human beings were created by God in His image and likeness.
Adam and Eve were created in a state of original holiness and justice.
Adam and Eve committed the first sin, bringing Original Sin and its consequences upon humanity.
Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
Jesus Christ is one Divine Person with two natures, divine and human.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is eternally begotten of the Father according to His divinity.
Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary according to His humanity.
Mary is truly the Mother of God (Theotokos).
Mary remained ever-virgin: before, during, and after the birth of Christ.
Jesus Christ was born without corruption of Mary's virginity.
Jesus Christ lived a truly human life and possessed a true human soul and body.
Jesus Christ suffered and died for the salvation of humanity.
Jesus Christ truly rose bodily from the dead.
Jesus Christ truly ascended bodily into Heaven.
Jesus Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
The Holy Spirit is truly God and the Lord and giver of life.
The Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of Sacred Scripture.
Sacred Scripture teaches the truth that God wished to be recorded for the sake of our salvation.
The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church.
Christ entrusted the authority to teach, sanctify, and govern His Church to the Apostles and their successors.
The Pope is the successor of Saint Peter and the visible head of the Church on earth.
The Pope possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction in the Church.
The Pope is infallible when, as supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, he definitively proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.
The bishops, in union with the Pope, are the successors of the Apostles.
The Church's Magisterium is preserved from error when it definitively teaches matters of faith and morals under the conditions guaranteed by Christ.
Baptism is a true sacrament instituted by Christ and is necessary for salvation according to His teaching.
The Eucharist is truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of Jesus Christ.
Through Transubstantiation, the substance of bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ's Body and Blood while the appearances of bread and wine remain.
Christ is truly present—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—in the Eucharist under each species and in every part of each species after the consecration.
The Sacrament of Penance was instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism.
The souls of the just who die in God's grace and friendship, but are still in need of purification, undergo purification before entering Heaven.
Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

These are not nearly all of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The important thing to remember is that Catholic dogma is not about the Church simply making up rules. Dogma is about the Church definitively handing on and protecting the truths that God has revealed. It keeps us grounded in our religion.

The Different Levels of Catholic Teaching

I want to make an important distinction. The Catholic Church has different levels of authority and different grades of theological certainty in her teachings.

Dogma

Must be believed with divine and Catholic faith when the dogma is proposed as divinely revealed. When a truth is definitively taught as necessarily connected with Divine Revelation, it must be accepted firmly and definitively.

Definitive Teaching

Must be accepted firmly and definitively because it is necessary for safeguarding and faithfully explaining the faith, even when it is not itself proposed as divinely revealed.

Authoritative Teaching

Requires religious submission of intellect and will according to the teaching's level of authority.

So, unlike dogmas, which are binding matters of faith, other teachings of the Church are not simply "insightful advice." The Church's teachings can have different levels of authority, and Catholics are called to respond to each according to that authority.

An example of this would be Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical on AI.

He speaks strongly on Catholic principles of human dignity, the common good, freedom, responsibility, and the moral use of technology, which are all great and important and need to be talked about, but just because a teaching comes from the Pope does not make it a dogma or mean that every statement in it is infallibly defined or divinely revealed. The specific teachings in such a document must be understood according to their content, context, and the level of authority with which they are proposed.

Why Does the Catholic Church Have Dogmas?

As Catholics, we don't believe that the Church has authority because it gave itself authority.

We believe that Christ gave His Church authority through the succession of the Apostles. That is something we will explore more deeply in future episodes and blogs.

Catholic dogma is ultimately about protecting and handing on the truths that God has revealed. It helps the Church remain grounded in the truth and gives Catholics a clear foundation for understanding and living out the Catholic Faith.

Thank You for Reading

Thank you for reading the Universal Catholic blog. If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out our podcast where we will dive deeper into these teachings and explain why the Catholic Church believes what it does.

Thank you again and have a beautiful day.

God Bless.