One infinite God; classical theism; Creator, omnipotent, perfectly good
The Catholic Church affirms classical theism: God is one, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, all-good, all-holy, and the creator of all things from nothing (creation ex nihilo). God is Being itself (ipsum esse subsistens, as St. Thomas Aquinas defined), the first cause of all that exists, who sustains all creation in being. God is both utterly transcendent—beyond all creaturely concepts—and genuinely immanent, intimately present to each creature.
Catholic theology draws heavily on the Greek philosophical tradition (particularly Aristotelian metaphysics as transformed by Aquinas) while insisting that the full truth about God is known only through divine revelation in Scripture and Tradition. The divine attributes—simplicity, immutability, eternity, omnipresence—are systematically treated in the Catechism (§§198–231). God's love and mercy, revealed supremely in the sending of his Son, are the central attributes for Catholic spirituality and moral life.
Key Distinctions
- Theism type:
- classical monotheism — one God, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent
- Primary divine attribute:
- love and holiness (biblical); divine simplicity affirmed (God is what he has)
Scripture References
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), §§198–231
- Vatican I, Dei Filius (1870), Chapter 1
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, QQ. 2–26
- Vatican II, Dei Verbum (1965), §§2–4