1. There is only one way to recognize the true Catholic Church,….by her four visible signs as enumerated in the Nicene Creed. These are; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. These visible signs are taken from Divine Revelation and are signs established by God to specifically describe His true Church. There are no other ways of recognizing the true Church.
To judge a church as not Catholic, it must be shown that the church does not have the four visible signs. And to show that it is Catholic it must be shown that the church has the four visible signs. God made these signs visible and easy to recognize so that to see their presence or absence can be known at a glance.
2. The obligation to prove Catholicity is on the Catholic. The obligation to prove that someone is not a Catholic is on the accuser.
A Catholic, by the fact that he is a Catholic, will automatically exhibit the four visible signs of the true Church. Nobody has to ask him. That is his witnessing obligation to God; to unceasingly witness to the fact that he is Catholic. He is saved that way and he converts others that way.
As a Catholic exhibiting the four visible signs he is complying with his obligation to God and neighbor. To God by his witnessing Faith; to his Catholic neighbors by encouraging them to be Catholics; and for non-Catholics by teaching them how to become Catholics.
3. Saints do not label others as sinners; Catholics do not label others as non-Catholics. A Catholic with the four visible signs never judges the Catholicity or non-Catholicity of other people. Charity obliges him, first, to encourage Catholics to be fervent Catholics and, secondly, to instruct non-Catholics on how to become Catholics.
A true Catholic lives quietly in actively attaining these two goals. This is Pope John Paul II and Benedict’s ‘new’ evangelization. No ostentatious exhibitionism but silence and solitude.
4. On the other hand, sinners label everybody sinners. Non-Catholics label everybody else non-Catholics
The obligation to prove that others are not Catholic is on the accuser. He must prove the absence of the four visible signs of the true Catholic Church. There is no other way of proving the Catholicity or non-Catholicity of a person.
It is certain that those who accuse others as being non-Catholics, whether it is true or not, do not have the four visible signs of the true Catholic Church. In other words, they are certainly Protestants, according to St. Robert Bellarmine. Isn’t it the Arian, the Donatist, the Lutherans and the Anglicans who accused Catholics of not being Catholic enough?
It is their lack of Charity that makes them accuse others for not being Catholic. And with that lack of Charity comes a thousand others sins, like, rash judgments based on their ignorance, unjust accusations, lies, envy, avarice, impurity, being gay, injustice, etc.
It is, therefore, very disconcerting when the Catholic Vatican labels the Orthodox as schismatics, when the Orthodox have more visible signs of the true Church than the Vatican specially these days. Doesn’t the Orthodox of Putin condemn homosexuality? And yet Catholic Vatican encourages and even shelters them in the Curia.
It is equally disconcerting to see the Vatican labeling the Lefebrev group as schismatics, when their Mass is more according to the ‘Summorum Pontificum’ of Pope Benedict than the hundreds of vernacular Catholic masses that look more like Protestant vaudevilles.
5. It is important for all to know for sure if he is Catholic or not. If he is a Catholic he would have the four visible signs of the true Church. If he has the four signs, he would know if others have the four signs, too. He would just compare his four signs with the four signs of the others.
But if one does not have the four signs, it would be impossible for him to judge if the other has the four signs or not. Yet these are the one’s that are hasty in declaring that others are not Catholics.
The reason why they are hasty is this; since they do not have the four signs, this means that they are against Christ. And because they are against Christ, they would be necessarily be against the Mystical Body of Christ. ‘He who is not for Me is against Me.
So, by necessity, those who who not have the four visible signs of the true Church will surely go and persecute those with the four visible signs. They would be indifferent to those without the four signs of the true Church.
This is the reason why Pope Francis appeared in a newspaper cartoon as a wrecking steel ball destroying the Catholic Church. Not having any of the four signs nor the 15 Marks of the true Church (of St. Bellarmine), he must be against Christ and His Church.
6. The two last Bishop’s Synod of 2014 and 2015 were very revealing. During those Synods two works of St. Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit saint and Doctor of the Church, which were all the time in Latin were suddenly translated into English. Two books caught the world’s attention. One is the ‘Marks of the Catholic Church,’ which is an expanded version of the four marks from the Nicene Creed into 15 Marks and ‘De Romano Pontifice’ which deals on different topics about the Pope including the fact if he is an anti-pope.
That those two works appeared during the last two Synod answered a lot of question on what was going on in the Synod’s; why were the bishops who were bound to teach the Church to obey Christ were now encouraging the Church to disobey Christ. Why would the Pope rig the outcome of the Synod. How come for the first time in history 13 Cardinals confronted the Pope. Why did the Africans and Polish bishops distanced themselves from the Pope’s disobedience to Christ’s command on marriage?
From the work of St. Bellarmine, it appeared that most Archdiocese, Dioceses and parishes do not have the 15 Marks of the true Church. Most religious orders of men and women do not have the same marks. Most of the Catholic faithful do not have the signs either. And so those accusing others for not being Catholics are having a grand time since nobody knows what are the Marks of the Church they could not be refuted. But with those books just released in English, it appeared that, like during the Synod, at least one third of the cardinals and bishops have none of the 15 Marks of the Church. According to St. Robert Bellarmine, the Catholic Church is being run by Protestants, both in the parish and diocesan level. Except in Poland and Africa.
7. You are for Christ or against Christ.
If you have the 15 Marks of the Church, you are for Christ. If you do not have the 15 signs you are against Christ. And if you are against Christ, you are also against those who have the 15 signs because they are the Mystical Body of Christ.
8. The four visible signs of the true Church as described in the Nicene Creed and the 15 Marks of the true Church described by St. Bellarmine, are identical. The latter are just the expanded version of the former. All of them are clear, simple and visible signs of the true Church. Well explained, a child can detect if a Diocese or parish is truly Catholic or not. Each so called Catholic should examine themselves by applying these signs on themselves………before they apply them to others.