What Are the Four Marks of the Church?

Words We Say Every Sunday

In the Nicene Creed, Catholics say: “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Most people say the words without stopping to think about them. But these four words, known as the four marks of the Church, are a summary of what the Church is.

They are called “marks” because they are signs by which Christ’s Church can be recognised. They are not achievements the Church earns by her own effort. They are gifts from Christ, and the Church receives them from Him (CCC 811).

One

The Church is one because she has one founder, Jesus Christ, and one soul, the Holy Spirit (CCC 813).

Jesus prayed at the Last Supper “that they may all be one” (John 17:21). He did not found a collection of separate churches. He founded one Church, with one faith, one set of sacraments, and one structure of authority handed down from the apostles (CCC 815).

This unity is not uniformity. The Catholic Church includes Latin Catholics and Eastern Catholics, with different rites, languages, customs and spiritual traditions. A Maronite Catholic in Lebanon and a Latin Catholic in Dublin worship differently, yet they share the same faith, the same sacraments, and communion with the same Pope.

What about other Christians? The Church teaches that the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church (CCC 816). At the same time, she recognises that many elements of truth and holiness exist outside her visible boundaries. Baptised Christians of other communities are truly brothers and sisters in Christ, even though they are not in full communion (CCC 818–819). The divisions among Christians are a wound, and the Church works and prays for their healing.

Holy

The Church is holy because Christ, her founder, is holy, and because He gave Himself up for her to make her holy (Ephesians 5:25–26; CCC 823).

This is the mark people find hardest to accept, because they can see clearly that Catholics, including clergy, are often not holy at all. History is full of scandal, and so is the present.

But the Church’s holiness does not come from her members. It comes from Christ. She is holy because she teaches the truth He gave her, because she offers the sacraments through which He sanctifies us, and because she has produced countless saints in every age (CCC 824–829).

The Church is, as the Catechism puts it, at once holy and always in need of purification (CCC 827). She is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. That sinners are found in her is no argument against her. It is exactly why she exists.

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek katholikos, meaning “universal” or “according to the whole.” It was first used of the Church by St Ignatius of Antioch around the year 107 (CCC 830).

The Church is catholic in two senses.

First, she possesses the whole of what Christ gave: the fullness of the faith, all the sacraments, and the ordained ministry in apostolic succession (CCC 830).

Second, she is sent to the whole world. Christ commanded the apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The Church is not the religion of one people or culture. She belongs to every nation, every age and every kind of person (CCC 831).

Apostolic

The Church is apostolic because she is built on the foundation of the apostles (Ephesians 2:20; CCC 857). This means three things.

She was founded on the apostles. Christ chose the Twelve, gave them authority, and sent them out.

She keeps the apostles’ teaching. The faith Catholics hold today is the same faith the apostles handed down. It has developed and been explained more clearly, but it has not been changed.

She is still guided by the apostles’ successors. The bishops are the successors of the apostles, and the Pope is the successor of Peter. Through the laying on of hands, in an unbroken chain stretching back to the apostles themselves, authority has been passed down from generation to generation. This is called apostolic succession (CCC 861–862).

Why the Marks Matter

In the early centuries, when various groups claimed to be the true Church, Christians pointed to these marks to show where Christ’s Church was to be found. St Augustine remarked that even heretics, when asked by a stranger where the Catholic church was, would not dare point to their own meeting place.

The marks are still a useful guide. They are not proofs in the mathematical sense, but they are signs. Taken together, they point to a Church that is united across the world, has produced saints in every century, is at home in every culture, and can trace her leadership back to the apostles.

Signs of Christ

The four marks are ultimately not about the Church at all, but about Christ. The Church is one because He is one. She is holy because He is holy. She is catholic because His mission is to all people. She is apostolic because He sent the apostles.

When Catholics say these words in the Creed, they are professing faith not in an institution, but in Christ who lives and works in His Church.

See also Why Do Catholics Have a Pope, and What Does He Actually Do? and What Is the Difference Between the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed?

Go deeper: What Does It Mean That the Church of Christ ‘Subsists In’ the Catholic Church?