CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

PART ONE - THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE

III. CHRIST JESUS -- "MEDIATOR AND FULLNESS OF ALL REVELATION"[25]

God has said everything in his Word

65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last
days he has spoken to us by a Son."[26] Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one,
perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than
this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2:

In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once
in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in
parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning
God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of
offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some
other novelty.[27]

There will be no further Revelation

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass
away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord
Jesus Christ."[28] Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely
explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the
centuries.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been
recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It
is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by
it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium
knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of
Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which
Christ is the fulfilment, as is the case in certain nonChristian religions and also in certain recent
sects which base themselves on such "revelations".

IN BRIEF

68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the
definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and
purpose of his life.

69 God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in
words.

70 Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he manifested himself to our first
parents, spoke to them and, after the fall, promised them salvation (cf. Gen 3:15) and offered them
his covenant.

71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf. Gen 9:16). It will
remain in force as long as the world lasts.

72 God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant
God formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he
prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.

73 God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his
covenant for ever. The Son is his Father's definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation
after him.

ARTICLE 2 - THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE
REVELATION

74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth":[29] that is, of
Christ Jesus.[30] Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation
may reach to the ends of the earth:

God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples
should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations.[31]