Four Marks of the Church

They were not established in doctrine until the First Council of Constantinople in 381 as an antidote to certain heresies that had crept into the Church in its early history.

In some languages, for example, German, the Latin "catholica" was substituted by "Christian" before the Reformation by some, although this was an anomaly[5] and continues in use by some Protestant churches.

While "there are numerous elements of sanctification and of truth which are found outside her structure", these, "as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel towards Catholic Unity".

The communities born out of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation "do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constituent element of the Church.

[non-primary source needed] In the same letter, he tells Christians: "You are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (1 Cor.

[11] Elsewhere, Paul says: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal.

[13] The word catholic is derived from the Ancient Greek adjective καθολικός (romanized: katholikos), meaning "general", "universal".

[23] This describes the Church's foundation and beliefs as rooted and continuing in the living tradition of the apostles of Jesus.

They also have apostolic succession in that their bishops derive their authority through a direct line of laying on of hands from the apostles, a claim that they accept can be made by the other churches in this group.