THE DECLARATION OF UTRECHT, A TRANSLATION OF THE PROFESSION OF FAITH, OR DECLARATION, FORMULATED BY THE OLD CATHOLIC BISHOPS ASSEMBLED AT UTRECHT.September 24, 1889 
  1. 1.  We adhere to the Rule of Faith laid down by St. Vincent of Lerins in these terms: "Id teneamus, ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere proprieque catholicum." For this reason we persevere in professing the faith  of the primitive Church, as formulated in the ecumenical symbols and specified precisely   by the unanimously accepted decision of the Ecumenical Councils held in the undivided Church of the first thousand years.
  2. 2.We therefore reject the decrees  of the so-called Council of the Vatican, which were promulgated on July 18th 1870 concerning the infallibility and the universal Episcopate of the Bishop of Rome, decrees which contradict the faith of the ancient Church, and which destroy its ancient canonical constitution by attributing to the Pope the plentitude of ecclesiastical powers over all Dioceses and over all the faithful. By denial of his primal jurisdiction we do not wish to deny the historic primacy which several Ecumenical Councils and the Fathers of the ancient Church have attributed to the Bishop of Rome by recognizing him as the Primus inter pares.
  3. 3.We also reject the dogma of     the Immaculate Conception promulgated by Pius IX in 1854 in defiance of the Holy Scriptures and in contradiction to the tradition of the first centuries.

  1. 4.     As for other Encyclicals published by the Bishops of Rome in recent times – for example, the Bulls Unigenitus and Auctorem fidei, and the Syliabus of  1864 – we reject them on all such points as are in contradiction of the doctrine of the primitive church, and    we do not recognize them as binding   on the conscience of the faithful.  We also renew the ancient protest of the Catholic Church of Holland against the errors of the Roman Curia, and against its attacks upon the rights of national Churches.
  2. 5.We refuse to accept the decrees of the Council of Trent in matters of discipline and as for the dogmatic decisions of   that Council, we accept them only so   far as they are in harmony with the teaching of the primitive Church.
  3. 6.Considering that the Holy Eucharist  has always been the true central point  of Catholic worship, we consider it our duty to declare that we maintain with perfect fidelity the ancient Catholic doctrine concerning the Sacramental     of the Altar, by believing that we   receive the Body and the Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ under the species   of bread and wine. The Eucharistic celebration in the Church is neither a continual repetition nor a renewal of   the expiratory sacrifice which Jesus offered once for all upon the Cross,    and it is the act by which we represent upon earth and appropriate to    ourselves the one offering which Jesus Christ makes in Heaven, according  to the Epistle to the Hebrews ix. 11, 12,   for the salvation of redeemed    humanity, by appearing for us in the presence of God (Heb. Ix. 24). The character of the Holy Eucharist being thus understood, it is, at the same    time, a sacrificial feast, by means of which the faithful, in receiving the     body and Blood of our Savior, enter      into communion with one another           (I Cor. X. 17).


  1. 7. We hope that Catholic theologians,   in maintaining the faith of the undivided Church, will succeed in establishing      an agreement upon all such questions  as caused controversy ever since the Churches became divided. We exhort   the priests under our jurisdiction to teach, both by preaching and by the instruction of the young, especially     the essential Christian truths professed by all Christian confessions, to avoid,    in discussing controversial doctrines,  any violation of truth or charity, and in word and deed to set an example to   the members of our churches in accordance with the spirit of             Jesus Christ our Saviour.
  2. 8.    By maintaining and professing    faithfully the doctrine of Jesus Christ,    by refusing to admit those errors      which by the fault of men have crept   into the catholic Church, by laying     aside the abuses in ecclesiastical matters, together with the worldly tendencies of hierarcy, we believe      that we shall be able to combat efficaciously the great evils of our     day, which are unbelief and indifference in matters of religion.