Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

1. In what sense it is lawful to distinguish the body and the soul of the Church. The Church, as is clear from what has been said, is likened to an organic body, i. e. a living or animated one. Hence the body of the Church is always and necessarily informed by the soul, just as the human body, in order to be a human body, is always and necessarily informed by the human soul. Therefore the body of the Church in relation to the soul of the Church cannot be distinguished in the sense as if the former existed without the latter, or the latter without the former. The soul and the body of the Church are not two Churches, one invisible, the other visible, but they constitute one Church at once visible and living.

Nevertheless, this notwithstanding, in the Church, as in the human individual, we can distinguish a twofold element: a material, visible, determinable element, which they significantly call the body of the Church, and a formal, invisible, determining element, which is the soul of the Church. If, however, it is asked:

2. What belongs to the body, and what to the soul of the Church thus understood, the theologians answer:

a) Whatever in the Church is external, visible, and as it were determinable is to be attributed to its body, namely: α) the men who constitute the visible assembly of the Church; β) the external bonds and means by which these men are mutually joined into a visible assembly and conspire toward the pursuit of the same end, namely the preaching and confession of faith, the administration and reception of the sacraments, governance and obedience toward superiors; γ) finally, the external manifestation itself of the interior charisms.

b) Whatever in the Church is internal, invisible, and as it were determining must be said to belong to its soul, namely: α) sanctifying grace, which is the formal principle of the supernatural life; β) faith, hope, and charity, which always accompany sanctifying grace and are the proximate principles of the operations of the supernatural life; γ) the other supernatural habits (virtues), as well as actual grace, without which no supernatural operation can take place; δ) whatever gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit, by which supernatural holiness and activity is amplified and rendered more efficacious.¹