1. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS DIVINE
"Moreover, in order that we may perform satisfactorily the duty of embracing the true faith and of continuously persevering in it, God, through His only-begotten Son, has instituted the Church and provided it with clear signs of His institution, so that it can be recognized by all as the guardian and teacher of the revealed word." (Vatican I, Dz 1793).
2. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THE UNIQUE ARK OF SALVATION
"The Catholic Church firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within Her, not only pagans, but also Jews, heretics, and schismatics, cannot become participants in eternal life but will depart 'into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels' (Mt. 25:41), unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock..." (Council of Florence, Dz 714).
3. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS VISIBLE AND INDEFECTIBLE
"Moreover, what the Chief of pastors and the Great Pastor of sheep, the Lord Jesus, established in the blessed Apostle Peter for the perpetual salvation and perennial good of the Church, this by the same Author must endure always in the Church which was founded upon a rock and will endure firm until the end of the ages." (Vatican I, Dz 1824 [cf., Dz 1793 above]).
"The one Church of Christ is visible to all and will remain, according to the Will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it." (Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, §15).
4. THE CHURCH IS FOUNDED UPON PETER AND HIS SUCCESSORS FOREVER
"If anyone then says that it is not from the institution of Christ the Lord Himself or by divine right that the blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church...let him be anathema...."
"If anyone thus speaks, that the Roman Pontiff has only the office of inspection or direction but not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not only in things which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the discipline and government of the Church spread over the whole world...let him be anathema." (Vatican I, Dz 1825, 1831).
"But it is opposed to the truth and in evident contra-diction with the divine constitution of the Church to hold that, while each bishop is individually bound to obey the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, taken collectively the bishops are not so bound." (Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum).
5. THE POPE HAS POWER ONLY "UNTO EDIFICATION AND NOT UNTO DESTRUCTION" (II Cor 13:10) OF CHRIST'S CHURCH
"For, the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might disclose new doctrine, but that by His help they might guard sacredly the revelation transmitted through the apostles and the deposit of faith, and might faithfully set it forth." (Vatican I, Dz 1836).
"And for these sacraments instituted by Christ the Lord, in the course of the ages the Church has not and could not substitute other sacraments, since, as the Council of Trent teaches, the seven sacraments of the New Law have all been instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and the Church has no power over the “substance of the sacraments,” that is, over those things which, with the sources of divine revelation as witnesses, Christ the Lord Himself decreed to be preserved in a sacramental sign..." (Pius XII, Sacramentum Ordinis, Dz 2301).
"It is well known unto all men...with what great care and pastoral vigilance our predecessors the Roman Pontiffs have discharged the office entrusted by Christ Our Lord to them in the person of the most blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, have unremittingly discharged the duty of feeding the lambs and the sheep, and have diligently nourished the Lord’s entire flock with the words of faith, imbued it with salutary doctrine, and guarded it from poisoned pastures. And those our predecessors, who were the assertors and champions of the august Catholic religion, of truth and justice, being as they were chiefly solicitous for the salvation of souls, held nothing to be of so great importance as the duty of exposing and condemning, in their most wise Letters and Constitutions, all heresies and errors which are hostile to moral honesty and to the eternal salvation of mankind..." (Pius IX, Quanta Cura §1).
6. CHURCH TEACHING CANNOT CHANGE
Revelation, constituting the object of Catholic faith, was not completed with the apostles (Condemned by Saint Pius X, Lamentabili, Dz 2021).
"Further, by divine and Catholic faith, all those things must be believed which are contained in the written word of God and in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church, either in a solemn pronouncement or in her ordinary and universal teaching power, to be believed as divinely revealed..."
"Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a d