The communion of saints

I refer to the letter by Frans Said (The Sunday Times, July 26). The Church has two formulas for the profession of faith, as the author rightly pointed out - the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the latter normally recited during Sunday Mass and other solemnities of the liturgical calendar.

The two formulas are given side by side in The Catechism of the Catholic Church under No. 196. As the Catechism states, these two creeds "occupy a special place in the Church's life".

The Apostles' Creed has always been considered in the Roman Church as the baptismal creed. And in this creed, summarised in the form of question and answer in the sacrament of baptism, we recite: "I believe... in the communion of saints..." It is the formula the Church has always used and is still using in all languages.

The Nicene Creed, formulated in two of the earliest councils, that of Nicea and of Constantinople (325, 381 AD), which is common to all the great Churches of both east and west, and to other Christian denominations, omits these words which are never found or mentioned either in the original Greek and Latin, or in the translations in modern languages.

Having said this, I can assure Mr Said that during Mass, if the Nicene Creed is recited, nowhere in the Catholic Church are the words in question pronounced. The Church has always believed and will always believe in the communion of saints, because as the Catechism explains, "since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others..." (No. 947).

The Church, always coherent in her teaching, celebrates not only All Saints Day but also All Souls Day, to remind us that we "who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together" form one Church, the one mystical Body of Christ (Nos. 960-2).