Denzinger EN 904


JOHN XXII 1316-1334

The Errors of the Fraticelli (the Church and the Sacraments) *

[Condemned in the law "Gloriosam Ecclesiam," January 23, 1318]

910 Dz 484 As a report worthy of faith holds, the sons of the above mentioned rashness and impiety have been driven to this weakness of mind, that they think impiously in opposition to the most renowned and salutary truth of the Christian faith; they contemn the sacraments of the Church which should be venerated, and in an attack of blind fury they who should be crushed by it, press against the glorious primacy of the Roman Church, saying that it ought to be overthrown by all nations.

911 Dz 485 (1) Thus, the first error which breaks forth from their dark workshop invents two churches, the one carnal, packed with riches, overflowing with riches [others, luxuries], stained with crimes which they declare the Roman prefect and other inferior prelates dominate; the other spiritual, cleansed by frugality, beautiful in virtue, bound by poverty, in which they only and their companions are held, and which they, because of the merit of their spiritual life, if any faith should be applied to lies, rule.

912 Dz 486 (2) The second error, by which the conscience of the above mentioned insolent is stained, cries out that the venerable priests of the Church and other ministers of jurisdiction and order' are so devoid of authority that they cannot pass sentences, nor perform the sacraments nor instruct nor teach the subject people, imagining that these have been deprived of all ecclesiastical power, whom they see are free of their own heresy; because only in themselves (as they themselves vainly think), just as the sanctity of a spiritual life, so authority remains; and in this matter they are following the error of the Donatists. . . .

913 Dz 487 (3) The third error of these men conspires with the error of the Waldensians, since both declare that an oath was to be taken in no case, propounding that who happen to be bound by the sacredness of an oath are defiled by the contagion of mortal sin and are bound by punishment.

914 Dz 488 (4) The fourth blasphemy of such wicked men, breaking forth from the poisoned fount of the Waldensian teachings pretends that priests rightly and even legitimately ordained according to the form of the Church, yet weighed down by any sins cannot consecrate or confer the ecclesiastical sacraments. . . .

915 Dz 489 (5) The fifth error so blinds the minds of these that they declare that the Gospel of Christ has been fulfilled in them alone at this time, because up to now (as they foolishly think) it has been concealed or indeed entirely extinct. . . .

916 Dz 490 There are many other things which these very presumptuous men are said to babble against the venerable sacrament of matrimony; many things which they foolishly believe concerning the course of time and the end of time; many things which they propagate with lamentable vanity concerning the coming of the Antichrist which they declare even now to be close at hand. All these things, because we recognize them as partly heretical, partly senseless, partly fabulous, we decree must be condemned together with their authors rather than pursued or refuted with a pen. . . .



The Errors of John of Pouilly ("Confession and the Church") *

[Examined and condemned in the edict "Vas electionis," July 21, 1321]



921 Dz 491 (1). That they who have confessed to brothers having the general permission of hearing confessions are bound to confess again those same sins which have been confessed, to their own priest.

922 Dz 492 (2). That under the existing law "everyone of each sex" published in the General Council [Later. IV. see n. 437] the Roman Pontiff cannot bring it about that parishioners be not bound to confess all their sins once a year to their own priest, who, it says, is the parish curate; indeed neither could God do this, because, as it says, this involves contradiction.

923 Dz 493 (3). That the Pope cannot give the general power of hearing confessions, indeed neither can God, without the one who has confessed to one having general power being bound to confess these same sins again to his own priest, who, it says, as we have already indicated, is the parish curate. . . .

924 All the above mentioned articles and each one of them we, by apostolic authority, condemn and reprove as false and erroneous and deviating from sound authority . . . . declaring that the true and Catholic doctrine is contrary to them.

Hell and Limbo(?)*

[From the letter "Nequaquam sine dolore" to the Armenians, Nov. 21, 1321]

926 493a It (The Roman Church) teaches. . . . . that the souls . . . . . of those who die in mortal sin, or with only original sin descend immediately into hell; however, to be punished with different penalties and in different places.

The Poverty of Christ*

[From the edict "Cum inter nonnullos," Nov. 13, 1323]

930 Dz 494
Since among some learned men it often happens that doubt is again raised as to whether should be branded as heretical to affirm persistently that our Redeemer and Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles did not possess anything either in particular or even in common, even though there are different and adverse opinions on that question, we, in a desire to put an end to this controversy, declare on the advice of our brethren by this perpetual edict that a persistent assertion of this kind shall henceforth be branded as erroneous and heretical, since it expressly contradicts Sacred Scripture, which in many passages asserts that they did have some possessions; and since with regard to the aforementioned it openly submits that Sacred Scripture itself, by which surely the articles of orthodox faith are approved, contains a ferment of falsehood and consequently, in so far as in it lies, completely voiding the faith of Scripture it renders the Catholic faith, by destroying its approval, doubtful and uncertain. Moreover, in the future to affirm persistently that the right to use these same possessions which Sacred Scripture testifies that they had was by no means appropriate to our aforesaid Redeemer and His apostles, and that they did not have the right to sell or to donate them or to acquire others by means of them, which, nevertheless, Sacred Scripture testifies that they did according to the aforesaid or submits expressly that they could have done, since such an assertion evidently includes use and deeds on their part, in the aforesaid, it is not just; since surely it is wicked, contrary to Sacred Scripture, and to Catholic doctrine about the use, actions, or deeds on the part of our Redeemer, the Son of God, we declare on the advice of our brethren that the persistent assertion shall henceforth be worthily branded as erroneous and heretical.



Errors of Marsilius of Padua and John of Jandun

(The Constitution of the Church) *

[Examined and condemned in the edict "Licet iuxta doctrinam" Oct. 23, 1327]

941 Dz 495 (1) That what we read about Christ in the Gospel of St. Matthew, that He Himself paid tribute to Caesar, when He ordered the stater which had been taken from the mouth of the fish (cf. Mt 17,26) to be given to those who sought a drachma, He did this not with condescension out of liberality or piety, but forced by necessity.

[ Thence according to the Bull they concluded ]:

That all temporal affairs of the Church are subject to the emperor and he can accept these things as his own.

942 Dz 496 (2) That blessed Peter the Apostle had no more authority than the other Apostles had nor was he the head of the other apostles. Likewise that God did not send forth any head of the Church, nor did He make anyone His vicar.

943 Dz 497 (3) That it pertains to the emperor to correct, to appoint, to depose, and to punish the pope.

944 Dz 498 (4) That all priests, whether the pope or archbishop or a simple priest, are by the institution of Christ equal in authority and jurisdiction.

945 Dz 499 (5) That the whole Church joined together can punish no man by forced punishment, unless the emperor permits this.

946 Dz 500 We declare by sentence the above mentioned articles..... to be contrary to Sacred Scripture and enemies of the Catholic faith, heretics, or heretical and erroneous, and also that the above mentioned Marsilius and John, will be heretics-rather they will be manifest and notorious archheretics.

Errors of Eckart (The Son of God, etc.) *

[Examined and condemned in the edict "In agro dominico," Mar. 27, 1329]

951 Dz 501 (1) And when asked why God did not create the world first, he answered that God was not able to create the world first, * because He cannot make things before He is; therefore, as soon as God was, He immediately created the world.

952 Dz 502 (2) Likewise it can be granted that the world existed from eternity.

953 Dz 503 (3) Likewise at the same time and once, when God was, when He begot the Son coeternal with Himself, through all things coequal God, He also created the world.

954 Dz 504 (4) Likewise in every work, even evil, evil I say, as of punishment and of sin, the glory of God is manifested and reflects equally.

955 Dz 505 (5) Likewise he who blames anyone, in the blame itself by the sin of blaming praises God, and the more he blames and the more gravely he sins, the more he praises God.

956 Dz 506 (6) Likewise anyone by blaspheming God Himself, praises God.

957 Dz 507 (7) Also he seeking anything here or there seeks evil and badly be cause he seeks the denial of good and the denial of God, and he prays God to be denied to him.

958 Dz 508 (8) In those men who do not seek after wealth, or honors, or utility, or interior devotion, or sanctity or reward, or the kingdom of heaven, but renounce all these things even that which is theirs, God is honored.

959 Dz 509 (9) Recently I have considered whether I would wish to receive or to wish for anything from God; I wish to deliberate exceedingly well about this, because when I was receiving from God, then I was under Him or below Him, as a servant or slave, and He [was] as a master in giving, and thus we ought not to be in eternal life.

960 Dz 510 (10) We are transformed entirely in God, and we are changed into Him; in a similar manner as in the sacrament the bread is changed into the body of Christ; so I am changed into Him because He Himself makes me to be one with Him, not like (to Him); through the living God it is true that there is no distinction there.

961 Dz 511 (11) Whatever God the Father gave to His only begotten Son in human nature, all this He has given to me; here I except nothing, neither union, nor sanctity, but He has given all to me as to Himself.

962 Dz 512 (12) Whatever Sacred Scripture says about Christ, all this also is verified with respect to every good and divine man.

963 Dz 513 (13) Whatever is proper to divine nature, all this is proper to the just and divine man; because of this that man operates whatever God operates, and together with God he created heaven and earth, and he is the generator of the eternal Word, and God without such a man does not know how to do anything.

964 Dz 514 (14) A good man ought so to conform his will to the divine will that he himself wishes whatever God wishes; because God wishes me to have sinned in some way, I would not wish that I had not committed sins, and this is true repentance.

965 Dz 515 (15) If man had committed a thousand mortal sins, if such a man were rightly disposed, he ought not to wish that he had not committed them.

966 Dz 516 (16) God properly does not prescribe an exterior act.

967 Dz 517 (17) An exterior act is not properly good or divine, neither does God properly operate it or produce it.

968 Dz 518 (18) We bring forth the fruit not of exterior actions which do not make us good, but of interior actions which the Father abiding in us does and operates.

969 Dz 519 (19) God loves souls, not works outside.

970 Dz 520 (20) A good man is the only begotten Son of God.

971 Dz 521 (21) A noble man is that only begotten Son of God whom the Father has begotten from eternity.

972 Dz 522 (22) The Father begot me His son and the same Son. Whatever God does, this is one; because of this He Himself begot me His Son without any distinction.

973 Dz 523 (23) God is one in all ways and according to every reason, so that in Himself He cannot find any multitude in intellect or outside intellect; for he who sees two, or sees a distinction, does not see God, for God is one beyond the above number, neither is He counted one [read: number I with anyone. It follows, therefore, that no distinction can exist or be understood in God Himself.

974 Dz 524 (24) Every distinction is foreign to God, either in nature or in person; it is proved that nature itself is one and this oneness, and any person is one and the oneness which is nature.

975 Dz 525 (25) When it is said: "Simon, do you love me more than these?" (Jn 21,15 f.), the sense is: That is, more than those and indeed well but not perfectly. For in the first and the second and more and less there is both a degree and a rank; in oneness, however, there is no degree nor rank. Therefore, he who loves God more than his neighbor, (loves) indeed well but not yet perfectly.

976 Dz 526 (26) All creatures are one pure nothing; I do not say that they are something ordinary or anything, but that they are one pure nothing.

In addition there is an objection against the above said Eckart, because he preached two other articles under these words:

977 Dz 527 (1) Something is in the soul which is uncreated and incapable of creation; if the entire soul were such, it would be uncreated and incapable of creation, and this is the intellect.

978 Dz 528 (2) That God is not good nor better nor best; so I speak badly whenever I call God good, as if I should call white black.

979 Dz 529
. . . We condemn and expressly disapprove the first fifteen articles and also the two last ones as "heretical," but the eleven others already mentioned as "evil-sounding, rash, and suspected of heresy," and no less any books or works of this Eckart containing the above mentioned articles or any one of them.


BENEDICT XII 1334-1342

The Beatific Vision of God and the Last Days *

[From the edict "Benedictus Deus," Jan. 29, 1336]

1000 Dz 530 By this edict which will prevail forever, with apostolic authority we declare: that according to the common arrangement of God, souls of all the saints who departed from this world before the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; also of the holy apostles, the martyrs, the confessors, virgins, and the other faithful who died after the holy baptism of Christ had been received by them, in whom nothing was to be purged, when they departed, nor will there be when they shall depart also in the future; or if then there was or there will be anything to be purged in these when after their death they have been purged; and the souls of children departing before the use of free will, reborn and baptized in that same baptism of Christ, when all have been baptized, immediately after their death and that aforesaid purgation in those who were in need of a purgation of this kind, even before the resumption of their bodies and the general judgment after the ascension of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, into heaven, have been, are, and will be in heaven, in the kingdom of heaven and in celestial paradise with Christ, united in the company of the holy angels, and after the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ have seen and see the divine essence by intuitive vision, and even face to face, with no mediating creature, serving in the capacity of an object seen, but divine essence immediately revealing itself plainly, clearly, and openly, to them, and seeing thus they enjoy the same divine essence, and also that from such vision and enjoyment their souls, which now have departed, are truly blessed and they have eternal life and rest; and also [the souls] of those who afterwards will depart, will see that same divine essence, and will enjoy it before the general judgment;

1001 and that such vision of the divine essence and its enjoyment makes void the acts of faith and hope in them, inasmuch as faith and hope are proper theological virtues; and that after there has begun or will be such intuitive and face-to-face vision and enjoyment in these, the same vision and enjoyment without any interruption [intermission] or departure of the aforesaid vision and enjoyment exist continuously and will continue even up to the last judgment and from then even unto eternity.

1002 Dz 531
Moreover, we declare that according to the common arrangement of God, the souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin immediately after their death descend to hell where they a-re tortured by infernal punishments, and that nevertheless on the day of judgment all men with their bodies will make themselves ready to render an account of their own deeds before the tribunal of Christ, "so that everyone may receive the proper things of the body according as he has done whether it be good or evil" (
2Co 5,10).



Errors of the Armenians *

[From the book "Iam dudum" sent to the Armenians in the year 1341]

1006 Dz 532 (4) Also that the Armenians say and hold that the personal sin of our first parents themselves was so serious that all of their children propagated from their seed up to the passion of Christ have been deservedly condemned for the aforesaid personal sin, and they have been thrust into hell after death, not because they themselves have contracted some original sin from Adam, since they say that children have no original sin at all, neither before the passion of Christ nor after, but that the aforementioned condemnation before the passion of Christ followed them by reason of the gravity of the personal sin which Adam and Eve committed by transgressing the divine precept which had been given to them; but after the passion of our Lord, by which the sin of our first parents was erased, the children who are born from the sons of Adam are not subject to this condemnation, nor are they to be thrust into hell by reason of the aforesaid sin, because Christ erased entirely the sin of our first parents in His passion.

1007 Dz 533 (5) Also that a certain teacher of the Armenians called Mechitriz, which is interpreted the paraclete, has again introduced and taught that the human soul of the son is propagated from the soul of his father, as the body from his body; and also one angel from another, because since a human soul is rational and an angel is of intellectual nature, they are in a way spiritual lights, and from themselves they propagate other spiritual lights.

1008 Dz 534 (6) Also the Armenians say that the souls of children who are born from Christian parents after the passion of Christ, if they die before they are baptized, go to a terrestial Paradise in which Adam was before sin; but the souls of children who are born after the passion of Christ from non-Christian parents and who die without baptism go to the place where the souls of their parents are.

1010 Dz 535 (17) Also that the Armenians commonly believe and hold that in another world there is no purgation of souls, because, as they say, if a Christian confesses his sins, all his sins and the punishments of his sins are forgiven him. They do not even pray for the dead, that their sins may be forgiven them in another world, but in general they pray for all the dead, as for blessed Mary, the apostles. . . .

1011 Dz 536 (18) Also that the Armenians believe and hold that Christ descended from heaven and became incarnate for the salvation of men, not on account of the fact that the sons propagated from Adam and Eve after their sin contracted from them original sin, from which through the incarnation and death of Christ they will be saved, since they say that no such sin exists in the sons of Adam; but they say that Christ for the salvation of man became incarnate and suffered, because through His passion the sons of Adam who preceded the aforesaid passion have been freed from hell in which they were, not because of original sin which was in them, but because of the gravity of the personal sin of our first parents. They also believe that Christ for the salvation of children who were born after His passion became incarnate and suffered, because by His passion He entirely destroyed hell. . . .

1012 Dz 537 (19) In such a degree they (the Armenians) say that (the aforesaid) concupiscence of the flesh is a sin and evil, that even Christian parents when they lie together in marriage commit a sin . . . . because they say that the marriage act and even matrimony itself is a sin. . . .

1013 Dz 538 (40) Some indeed say that bishops and priests of the Armenians do nothing toward the remission of sins either principally or ministerially, but God alone remits sins; neither bishops nor priests are employed to perform the aforesaid remission of sins, except that they have received the power of speaking from God, and so when they absolve they say: "May God forgive you your sins" or, "I forgive you your sins on earth and God forgives you in heaven."

1014 Dz 539 (42) Also the Armenians hold and say that the passion of Christ alone, without any other gift of God, even grace, suffices for the remission of sins; they do not say that sanctifying grace is required for the granting of remission of sins, nor that in the sacraments of the new law sanctifying grace is given.

Dz 540 (48) Also the Armenians say and hold that, if the Armenians commit any crime whatsoever once, certain ones excepted, their church can absolve them, as far as the fault and the punishment of the aforesaid sins are concerned; but, if afterwards anyone should commit the aforesaid sins again, he could not be absolved by their church.

1015 Dz 541 (49) Also they say that if any one . . . takes a third [wife] or a fourth, one after another, he cannot be absolved by their church, because they say that such a marriage is fornication. . . .

1016 Dz 542 (58) Also the Armenians hold and say that for what is true baptism, these three things are required: namely water, chrism . . . and the Eucharist, so that if anyone should baptize another in water while saying: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen" and afterwards he should not be anointed with the (aforesaid) chrism, he would not be baptized. . . .

Dz 543 (64) Also the Catholicon of lesser Armenia says that the sacrament of confirmation is of no value, and if it has any value he himself has given permission to his priests that they confer the same sacrament.

1018 Dz 544 (67) Also that the Armenians do not say that, after the aforesaid words of the consecration of bread and wine are said, the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the true body and blood of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, and arose again, is accomplished; but they hold that this sacrament is an example or likeness or figure of the true body and blood of the Lord . . . on account of which they do not call the sacrament of the Altar the body and blood of the Lord, but a victim or sacrifice or communion. . . .

1019 Dz 545 (68) Also the Armenians say and hold that if an ordained priest or bishop commits fornication, even in secret, he loses the power of consecrating and of administering all the sacraments.

1020 Dz 546 (70) Also the Armenians do not say nor hold that the sacrament of the Eucharist worthily received operates in him who receives remission of sin, or the relaxation of punishments due to sin, or that through it the grace of God or its increase is granted; but . . . the body of Christ enters into his body and is changed into him as other foods are changed in the one who has been fed. . . .

Dz 547 (92) Also that among the Armenians there are only three orders, namely the offices of acolyte, deacon, and priest, which orders the bishops confer after money has been promised or received. And in the same manner the aforesaid orders of the priesthood and diaconate are confirmed, that is, through the imposition of the hands, by saying certain words, with this change only, that in the ordination of the deacon the order of diaconate is expressed, and in the ordination of the priest the order of the priesthood. For no bishop among them can ordain another bishop except the Catholicon alone. . . .


Dz 548 (95) Also that the Catholicon of lesser Armenia gave power to a certain priest that he might be able to ordain to the diaconate those of his subjects whom he wished.

Dz 549 (109) Also that among the Armenians no one is punished for any error whatsoever which he may hold. . . . [117 numbers are extant].


CLEMENT VI 1342-1352


The Satisfaction of Christ, the Treasure of the Church, Indulgences *

[From the Bull of jubilee, "Unigenitus Dei Filius," Jan. 25, 1343]

1025 Dz 550 The only begotten Son of God . . . "made unto us from God, wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption" (1Co 3), "neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His own blood entered once into the holies having obtained eternal redemption" (He 9,12). "For not with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of His very (Son) as of a lamb unspotted and unstained He has redeemed us" (cf. 1P 1,18-19), who innocent, immolated on the altar of the Cross is known to have poured out not a little drop of blood, which however on account of union with the Word would have been sufficient for the redemption of the whole human race, but copiously as a kind of flowing stream, so that "from the soles of His feet even to the top of His Head no soundness was found in Him" (Is 1,6). Therefore, how great a treasure did the good Father acquire from this for the Church militant, so that the mercy of so great an effusion was not rendered useless, vain or superfluous, wishing to lay up treasures for His sons, so that thus the Church is an infinite treasure to men, so that they who use it, become the friends of God (Sg 7,14).

1026 Dz 551 Indeed this treasure . . . through blessed Peter, the keeper of the keys of heaven and his successors, his vicars on earth, He has committed to be dispensed for the good of the faithful, both from proper and reasonable causes, now for the whole, now for partial remission of temporal punishment due to sins, in general as in particular (according as they know to be expedient with God), to be applied mercifully to those who truly repentant have confessed.

1027 Dz 552 Indeed, to the mass of this treasure the merits of the Blessed Mother of God and of all the elect from the first just even to the last, are known to give their help; concerning the consumption or the diminution of this there should be no fear at any time, because of the infinite merits of Christ (as was mentioned before) as well as for the reason that the more are brought to justification by its application, the greater is the increase of the merits themselves.

Errors (philosophical) of Nicholas of Autrecourt *

[Condemned and publicly recalled by him in the year 1347]



1028 Dz 553 1 . . . That through natural appearances no certainty, as it were, be had regarding things; yet that measure can be had in a short time, if men turn their intellect to things and not to the intellect of Aristotle and his commentator.

1029 Dz 554 2 . . . That clearly from the above mentioned evidence from one matter another matter cannot be inferred or concluded, or from the nonexistence of one, the nonexistence of another.

1030 Dz 555 3 . . . That the propositions: "God is" and "God is not" signify entirely the same thing, although in a different way.

1031 Dz 556 9 . . .That the certainty of evidence does not have degrees.

1032 Dz 557 10 . . . That we do not have from our soul the certainty of evidence concerning another material substance.

1033 Dz 558 11 . . . That with the certainty of faith excepted there was not another certainty except the certainty of the first principle, or that which can be resolved into the first principle.

1034 Dz 559 14 . . . That we do not know clearly that other things can be from God because of some effect--that some cause works efficiently which is not God--that some efficient cause is or can be natural.

1035 Dz 560 15 . . . That we do not know clearly whether any effect is or can be produced naturally.

1036 Dz 561 17 . . . That we do not know clearly that in any production the subject concurs.

1037 Dz 562 21 . . . That in any demonstrated matter whatever no one knows clearly that in truth it surpasses all others in nobility.

1038 Dz 563 22 . . . That in any demonstrated matter no one knows clearly that this thing is not God, if by God we understand the most noble substance.

1039 Dz 564 25 . . . That one does not know clearly that in truth it can be reasonably conceded, "if any matter has been produced, God has been produced."

1040 Dz 565 26 . . . That it cannot be shown clearly that in truth any matter at all is eternal.

1041 Dz 566 30 . . . That these consequences are not clear: "An act of understanding exists; therefore intelligence exists. An act of willing exists, therefore will exists."

1042 Dz 567 31 . . . That it cannot be shown clearly that in truth all things which are apparent are true.

1043 Dz 568 32 . . .That God and the creature are not something.

1045 Dz 569 40 . . .That whatever exists in the universe is better that, than not that.

1048 Dz 570 53 . . .That this is the first principle and not another: "If something is, it is something."

The Primacy of the Roman Pontiff*

[From the letter "Super quibusdam" to the Consolator, the Catholicon of the Armenians, Sept. 20, 1351]

1050 570a 3 . . . We ask: In the first place, whether you and the Church of the Armenians which is obedient to you, believe that all those who in baptism have received the same Catholic faith, and afterwards have withdrawn and will withdraw in the future from the communion of this same Roman Church, which one alone is Catholic, are schismatic and heretical, if they remain obstinately separated from the faith of this Roman Church.

1051 570b In the second place, we ask whether you and the Armenians obedient to you believe that no man of the wayfarers outside the faith of this Church, and outside the obedience of the Pope of Rome, can finally be saved.

1052 570c But in the second chapter . . . we ask:

First, whether you have believed, believe, or are prepared to believe with the Church of the Armenians which is obedient to you, that blessed Peter received complete power of jurisdiction over all faithful Christians from our Lord Jesus Christ; and that every power of jurisdiction, which in certain lands and provinces and in different parts of the world especially and particularly Jude Thaddeus and the other Apostles had, was completely subject to the authority and power which blessed Peter received from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, over whomsoever are believers in Christ in all parts of the world, and that no apostle or any other one whosoever received that very complete power over all Christians except Peter alone.

1053 570d In the second place, whether you have believed, have held, or are prepared to believe and to hold with the Armenians subject to you that all the Roman Pontiffs, who succeeding blessed Peter have entered canonically and will enter canonically, have succeeded blessed Peter the Roman Pontiff and will succeed in the same plentitude in the jurisdiction of power over the complete and universal body of the militant church which blessed Peter himself received from our Lord Jesus Christ.

1054 570e In the third place, if you and the Armenians subject to you have believed and do believe that the Roman Pontiffs who have been and we who now are the Roman Pontiff and, those who in future will be successively as legitimate vicars of Christ and full of power in the highest degree, have received immediately from Christ Himself over the complete and universal body of the church militant, every jurisdiction of power which Christ as fitting head had in human life.

1055 570f In the fourth place, if you have believed and now believe that all the Roman Pontiffs who have been and we who are, and others who will be in the future from the plentitude of past power and authority have been able, are able, and will be able directly by our own power and theirs both to judge all those subject to our jurisdiction and theirs, and to establish and delegate ecclesiastical judges to judge whomsoever we wish.

1056 570g In the fifth place, if you have believed and now believe that to such an extent has been, is, and will be both pre-eminent authority together with juridical power of the Roman Pontiffs who have been, of us who are, and of those who in future will be, has been, is, and will be so extensive, that by no one have they been, can we be, or will they in the future be able to be judged; but they have been, we are, and they will be reserved for judgment by God alone; and that from our sentences and judgments it has not been possible nor will it be possible for an appeal to be made to any judges.

1057 570h In the sixth place, if you have believed and still believe that the plentitude of the power of the Roman Pontiff extends so far that it is possible to transfer patriarchs, the Catholicon, the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and whatsoever other prelates from the offices in which they have been established to other offices of greater or lesser jurisdiction, or, as their sins demand, to demote, to depose, excommunicate, or to surrender them to Satan.

1058 570i In the seventh place, if you have believed and still believe that the Pontifical authority cannot or ought not to be subject to any imperial or regal or other secular power, in so far as pertains to a judicial institution, to correction or to deposition.

1059 570k In the eighth place, if you have believed and now believe that the Roman Pontiff alone is able to establish sacred general canons, to grant plenary indulgences to those who visit the thresholds of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, or to those who go to the Holy Land, or to any of the faithful who are truly and fully repentant and have confessed.

1060 570l In the ninth place, if you have believed and do believe that all who have raised themselves against the faith of the Roman Church and have died in final impenitence have been damned and have descended to the eternal punishments of hell.

1061 570m In the tenth place, if you have believed and still believe that the Roman Pontiff regarding the administration of the sacraments of the Church, can tolerate and even permit different rites of the Church of Christ, in order that they may be saved, provided that those matters are always preserved which belong to the integrity and necessity of the sacraments.

1062 570o In the eleventh place, if you have believed and now believe that the Armenians, who are obedient to the Roman Pontiff in different parts of the world and who observe studiously and with devotion the forms and rites of the Roman Church in the administration of the sacraments and in ecclesiastical duties, fasts, and other ceremonies do well, and by doing this merit eternal life.

1063 570p In the twelfth place, if you have believed and now believe that no one can be transferred from episcopal offices to the archiepiscopal, patriarchal, or to the Catholicon by his own authority, nor even by the authority of any secular leader whomsoever, whether he be king or emperor, or any one also distinguished by any such power or earthly office.

1064 570q In the thirteenth place if you have believed, and still believe that the Roman Pontiff alone, when doubts arise regarding the Catholic faith, through authentic decision can impose the limit to which all must inviolably adhere, and that whatever by the authority of the keys handed to him by Christ, he determines to be true is true and Catholic, and what he determines to be false and heretical, must be so regarded.

1065 In the fourteenth place, if you have believed and now believe that the New and Old Testaments in all their books, which the authority of the Roman Church has given to us, contain undoubted truth in all things.


Denzinger EN 904