1.5. What are the four marks of the Catholic Church, and why are they important?
The Church is:
One: She teaches the same faith everywhere and at all times;
Holy: Her founder is holy, her doctrine sanctifies, and she produces saints;
Catholic: She is universal in time, place, and teaching;
Apostolic: She traces her authority directly to the Apostles and preserves their unaltered doctrine.
These marks distinguish the true Church from all counterfeits. Vatican II’s ecumenical spirit, which says the Church “subsists” in a larger reality that includes heretics and schismatics, contradicts this doctrine and was condemned by prior magisterial teaching.