Council of Trent on the nature of saving faith
Assent to revealed truth, made saving by love
For faith, unless hope and charity be added thereto, neither unites man perfectly with Christ
THE POSITION
Faith "is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification" (chapter 8), but faith alone does not unite a person perfectly with Christ unless hope and charity are joined to it. Canon 12 condemns the view that justifying faith is nothing but trust in God's mercy forgiving sins for Christ's sake.
4 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 the nature of saving faith", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/trent/saving-faith (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/trent/saving-faith).