Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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APOSTOLICITY

That quality of the Catholic Church by which she is derived from the Apostles. There is an apostolicity of origin, since the Church was first organized by the apostles chosen by Christ; of teaching because what the Church teaches now is essentially what was taught by the Apostles; and of succession in office, since there has been an unbroken historical transmission of episcopal powers, through ordination, from the Apostles to all the bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome today.