The Apostles’ Creed (Catholic): full text and what it means

What is the Apostles’ Creed?

From the beginning, the Church gathered the heart of the faith into short formulas, above all for people preparing for Baptism: before being baptized, each one said aloud what they believed. That is where creeds come from. They are also called professions of faith, or symbols of faith. In Greek, a symbolon was one half of an object broken in two and used as a token: when the two halves matched, you knew whom to trust. In the same way, the Creed is the sign by which Christians recognize one another.

When each of us says “I believe,” we are not speaking only for ourselves: we join the faith of the whole Church, the faith of the apostles, of the saints and of Christians in every country. That is why the Creed is both deeply personal and shared by all.

• What is faith? →

The full text of the Apostles’ Creed

This is the full Apostles’ Creed, in the traditional English that Catholics pray:

Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

To learn it with children, with audio, it is on Little Prayer Stories:

• The Apostles’ Creed for kids, on Little Prayer Stories →

How do you pray the Creed?

You can pray it at any time, alone or as a family, slowly and thinking about what it says: it is good to know it by heart. In the Rosary it is the first prayer, after the Sign of the Cross, holding the crucifix.

At Mass on Sundays and solemnities, after we have heard the Word of God and the homily, we all stand and say the Creed. It is our answer: God has spoken to us in the readings, and we reply by saying together what we believe. When we reach the words that say the Son of God became man, we make a profound bow, bowing from the waist, and at Christmas and on the Annunciation we genuflect. The Nicene Creed is the one usually said at Mass, though the Apostles’ Creed may be used, above all in Lent and Easter Time.

• The parts of the Mass →
• How to pray the Rosary, which begins with the Creed, on Angelus →

Who wrote the Apostles’ Creed? Is it in the Bible?

An old story says each of the twelve apostles wrote one line, but that is a legend. The Apostles’ Creed has that name because it faithfully sums up the faith they taught. It grew out of the creed the Church of Rome asked people to profess before Baptism from the early centuries, and it gradually took the form we pray today.

Its words are not found together in the Bible, but everything it says comes from it. Saint Paul, for example, already sums up the heart of it: that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). And Jesus sent the apostles to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), the order the Creed follows.

How many parts does the Creed have?

The Creed follows the order of the Holy Trinity, so it has three parts. The first speaks of God the Father and creation. The second, the longest, speaks of Jesus Christ and our salvation. The third speaks of the Holy Spirit and his work: the Church, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. By tradition, those three parts are counted as twelve articles, like the twelve apostles.

• The Holy Trinity →

What does each part of the Creed mean?

Every line of the Creed is a truth of the faith. This is what it means, from beginning to end:

• God the Father, Creator

  We believe in one God, who is Father: everything that exists, heaven and earth, comes from him. Almighty means nothing is impossible for him, and his power is the power of a Father who loves.

• Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord

  Jesus is the eternal Son of God, God just as the Father is. Christ means the Anointed One: he is the promised Messiah. And Lord is the name the Bible gives to God.

• Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary

  The Son of God became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, without a human father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the Incarnation, which we celebrate at the Annunciation and at Christmas.

• He suffered, was crucified, died and was buried

  Jesus truly suffered under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, a real figure of history, and died on the cross for our sins. Saying he was buried tells us he really died.

• He descended into hell

  It does not mean the hell of the damned. Here hell means the realm of the dead: Jesus went there to open heaven to the just who had died waiting for the Savior, like Abraham, Moses and David.

• He rose, ascended into heaven and will come again

  On the third day he rose with his glorified body and conquered death. Forty days later he ascended into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of the Father means he reigns with him in glory. At the end of time he will come to judge the living and the dead, that is, everyone.

• The Holy Spirit, the Church and the communion of saints

  We believe in the Holy Spirit, God just as the Father and the Son are. The Church is holy because Jesus makes her holy, and catholic because she is for every people and keeps the whole faith. The communion of saints is the great family of the Church: those of us on earth, those being purified, and the saints in heaven, united and praying for one another.

• The forgiveness of sins, the resurrection and eternal life

  God forgives our sins in Baptism and in confession. At the end of time our bodies too will rise, which is what the resurrection of the body means, and we will live with God for ever.

At the end we say “amen.” It is a Hebrew word from the same root as believing, and it repeats with all our heart the “I believe” we started with: yes, I trust what God has said.

• The Holy Spirit →
• The Virgin Mary →

Apostles’ Creed vs Nicene Creed

Both say the same faith. The Nicene Creed, or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, comes from the first two great councils of the Church, Nicaea in the year 325 and Constantinople in 381. It is longer because it explains in more detail who Jesus is and who the Holy Spirit is, and the Churches of the East and the West share it. It is the one usually said at Sunday Mass. The Apostles’ Creed is the ancient baptismal creed of the Church of Rome: shorter, and the first one children learn.

The Rosal course follows the Creed

The Rosal course follows the Creed, unit by unit, starting from its first words:

• Unit 1: believing

  Before saying “I believe,” we need to know what believing is: God seeks us, speaks to us through the Bible and Tradition, and faith is our answer.

• Unit 2: God the Father

  One God, who is love and cares for us as a Father, and the mystery of the Holy Trinity, with the Holy Spirit.

• Unit 3: the Creator

  God made heaven and earth, what we see and what we don’t: the world, people in his image, and the angels.

• Unit 4: why we need a Savior

  Sin, which wounds the world, and God’s first promise to save us.

• Unit 5: God prepares his people

  Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets, who prepare for the coming of the Savior.

• Unit 6: the Son of God becomes man

  Mary, the Annunciation and the Incarnation: Jesus, true God and true man, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So far it reaches the Incarnation. The life of Jesus, his Passion and Resurrection, the Church and eternal life are the parts of the Creed that come next.