The Creed of Vatican II?
A Translation
One of the most important theological loci is the confession/creed/profession of faith. There have been quite a few of them used in the history of the Church. What they have in common is that they clearly deliniate that they are to be used as a law of faith rather than simply as a didactic document (like an encyclical, allocution, etc.).
Cardinal Ottaviani wrote up a pretty cool profession of faith for the Council Fathers at Vatican II in the preparatory sessions. It combines a number of different sources (Nicene Creed, Trent, Vatican I, Pascendi, etc.). I like it so I decided to translate it here for all of your reference.
I. I with firm believe and profess all and each of the things contained in the Symbol of faith which the Holy Roman Church uses, namely: Credo in unum Deum… [1]
II. I also firmly receive all and each of the things which have declarated by the inerrant Church, whether defined by a solemn judgement, or asserted by the ordinary and universal magisterium: especially those things which are opposed to the errors of this time. [2]
III. First, I profess a personal God, the principle and end of all things, can be known with certainty (and therefore demonstrated) by the natural light of reason, through the things that have been made, as a cause is known through its effects; and that this same, as supreme Lord, must be acknowledged not only by individual human beings, but also by civil society. [3]
IV. I also believe without hesitation that Jesus Christ is one and the same, He whom we profess by faith to be true God, and whose life on earth the Gospels bear witness to; and I acknowledge Him as the Mediator, who by the sacrifice of the Cross made satisfaction to divine justice for the sins of the whole human race. [4]
V. I attest that the Immaculate and ever-Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of mankind, is to be honored in a singular way by the Church; and I declare that by her genuine veneration the worship of God and of Jesus Christ is not diminished, but rather increased. [5]
VI. I accept by faith the one Church of Jesus Christ, the ark of salvation: namely, that Church which He Himself founded and acquired with His blood, and which He entrusted to be shepherded by Saint Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs. To them I promise and swear true obedience, and to whose supreme magisterium (also in the explanation of the natural law) I sincerely submit myself. Moreover, I acknowledge that the bishops, in communion with and under the authority of the Roman Pontiff, are the successors of the Apostles. [6]
VII. I believe that there are seven Sacraments of the New Law, truly and properly so called, instituted by Jesus Christ, through which the grace that they signify is conferred; and that there is no salvation except through Baptism, the gateway of the Church, received either in reality or at least by desire (sive re sive voto). [7]
VIII. I profess that the Sacrifice of the Mass is effected by the priest alone, duly ordained, insofar as he acts in the person of Christ the High Priest, and that the divine Victim is immolated; and that the same Victim is offered to God the Father by the faithful together with the priest and through the priest. [8]
IX. Furthermore, I adore the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, confected in the unbloody Sacrifice, and I believe that in it are contained truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ; likewise, I believe that by the words of consecration there takes place a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood of the Lord (this conversion the Catholic Church most fittingly calls Transubstantiation). Moreover, I also profess that under either species the whole and entire Christ is present, and that the Sacrament is truly received. [9]
X. I also accept the Sacramentals as received by the Church. I acknowledge indulgences for the living and the dead; likewise, I hold that the invocation of the Saints, as well as the veneration of their relics and images, are salutary for the Christian people. [10]
XI. I sincerely accept by faith original sin (by which all human beings sinned in our first parent Adam) as a sin in the proper sense of the word, transmitted by generation and proper to each individual. [11]
XII. I acknowledge the external arguments of revelation (above all miracles and prophecies) as most certain signs by which the Christian religion, divinely originated, is conclusively demonstrated; and I likewise maintain that these remain even today suited to human understanding. I also hold that the Church herself, considered in herself, by reason of her catholic unity, outstanding holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good, by her marvelous propagation and her invincible stability, is a perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable testimony of her divine mission. [12]
XIII. I sincerely receive the doctrine of the faith handed down from the Apostles through the orthodox Fathers, transmitted to us in the same sense and with the same meaning. Therefore, although the understanding of revealed truth grows in the Church, I reject as heretical the notion of an evolution of dogmas that would pass, in the course of time, into a meaning different from that which the Church once taught. [13]
XIV. I hold that the deposit of faith (that is, the word of God, both written and handed down) was completed with the Apostles. I firmly maintain that Sacred Scripture, immune from every error, must be interpreted under the guidance of the Magisterium of the Church, according to the norm of Tradition and in accordance with the analogy of faith. [14]
XV. I profess that faith is not a blind religious feeling or merely an effect of the soul, but a true assent of the intellect to a truth received from without through hearing; namely, that we believe to be true what has been revealed and attested by a personal God, on account of the authority of God Himself, who is supremely truthful. In believing, we render full obedience of intellect and will, under the inspiration and assistance of God’s grace. [15]
XVI. Likewise, I profess without hesitation all the other things defined and declared by the Ecumenical Councils (especially by the most sacred Synod of Trent and by the Ecumenical Council Vatican I) above all concerning the primacy of jurisdiction and the infallible magisterium of the Roman Pontiff; just as I condemn and reject those things which in the same Councils and in the Encyclical Letters, namely Pascendi and Humani generis, have been condemned and rejected. [16]
XVII. This true Catholic faith (outside of which no one can be saved) I freely profess at present and sincerely hold; and I shall take care, God helping me, that it be preserved whole and inviolate by me and by those subject to me, with the greatest constancy, until my last breath of life. Thus I, the same N., before God and Jesus Christ, who will judge me unto eternal life or eternal punishment, promise, vow, and swear. [17]
NOTES
[1]: Taken from the Tidentine profession of faith, D994. The Symbol is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan, D86
[2]: cf., Vatican I’s de fide cath., D1792, where the two-fold magisterium [is mentioned], and the beginning of the Anti-Modernist Oath, D2145
[3]: cf., the Anti-Modernist Oath, D2145; see also D1650, against Bonetty; D1672, against Frohschammer; D1785 and 1806: Vatican Council I and Humani generis (D2320), where the certain demonstration of the existence of a personal God is treated. The following was added: ‘and that the same, as supreme Lord, must be acknowledged not only by individual human beings,’ in order to posit a general principle against laicism (cf. Pius XI: Ubi arcano, D2190; Quas primas, D2197
[4]: On the distinction between the historical Christ and the Christ of faith, cf. Pius X, Pascendi, D2076; see also the Anti-Modernist Oath D2145: “through the true and historical Christ.” On the distorted notion of Christ’s satisfaction, cf. Humani generis D2318
[5]: This is directed against those who say that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is peripheral. The expression “ever-Virgin” is used on account of recent errors concerning the virginity of the Mother of God.
[6]: This is directed against those Catholics who say that the Roman Church must at last renounce her claim to be the one true Church of Christ. There is an allusion to Acts 20:28, in order to signify, under a single mode, both the mystical and the juridical aspect of the Church. The words “I promise and swear obedience” are taken from the Tridentine formula (D999). The words concerning the explanation of natural law were added because of the many pontifical decisions in moral and social matters.
[7]: This is an abbreviated Tridentine formula (D996). On Baptism and the desire for Baptism, see the Council of Trent (D796). The necessity of Baptism for salvation is affirmed on account of new theories widely disseminated concerning the salvation of infants who die without Baptism.
[8]: This paragraph is set forth against those who attempt to deny the essential difference between the hierarchical priesthood and the universal priesthood. See Pius XII, Mediator Dei (D2300), where the participation of the faithful in the priesthood of Christ is treated.
[9]: Cf. the Tridentine formula (D997) and Humani generis (D2318). As to the word “I adore,” cf. the hymn “Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum” and the hymn “Tantum ergo Sacramentum veneremur cernui.” Cernui, that is, worshipping with head bowed.
[10]: An abbreviated Tridentine formula (D998).
[11]: Cf. the Tridentine profession (D996) and the Council of Trent (D790), with Humani generis (D2328).
[12]: Cf. the Anti-Modernist Oath (D2145) in comparison with Humani generis (D2305). On the Church as a motive of credibility, cf. Vatican Council I (D1794). There are today those who, constantly emphasizing the culpability and sins of the Church, completely obscure this criterion.
[13]: Cf. the Anti-Modernist Oath (D2145), in comparison with Humani generis (D2309 ff.).
[14]: We follow the Decree Lamentabili (D2021): “Revelation…was not completed with the Apostles.” On the interpretation of Sacred Scripture with due regard for the Magisterium, Tradition, and the analogy of faith, cf. Humani generis (D2315).
[15]: See the Anti-Modernist Oath (D2145). The formula has been completed from Vatican Council I (D1789): “We are bound to render full obedience of intellect and will to God who reveals.”
[16]: Cf. the Tridentine formula augmented in the year 1877, concerning which augmentation see D1000 with note 1. We have added Pascendi, the Anti-Modernist Oath (D2146), and Humani generis.
[17]: Cf. the final words of the Tridentine Profession (D1000). In this place we have introduced the last things of man, concerning which today one is scarcely permitted even to speak in Ignatian spiritual exercises, as being regarded as antiquated and displeasing to the contemporary religious sensibility.