Council of Trent on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Through baptism, as the ordinary means
the charity of God is poured forth, by the Holy Spirit, in the hearts
THE POSITION
Chapter 7 names baptism as the instrumental cause of justification. In the same act of justification, God's charity is poured out by the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those justified and inheres in them. Chapter 4 adds that justification "cannot be effected, without the laver of regeneration, or the desire thereof", so baptism is the ordinary means, and the desire for it can stand in its place.
7 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Met in twenty-five sessions over three periods, at Trento in northern Italy except for two sessions held at Bologna in 1547. Called by Paul III and closed under Pius IV. It answered the Reformation point by point: Scripture and tradition, the canon, original sin, justification and the seven sacraments. From the Sixth Session on, each subject is set out in chapters and then in canons ending "let him be anathema." The Catholic Church counts it the nineteenth ecumenical council; the Orthodox and Protestant churches do not count it as ecumenical. Read here in J. Waterworth's 1848 translation.
Cite this page
"Council of Trent on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/trent/indwelling (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/trent/indwelling).