Skip to main contentAccessibility feedback

Are we born with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

Question:

My RCIA instructor stated, "Jesus says that we are all born with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit." Where is that supported?

Answer:

We are not born with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The human body shares in the dignity of ‘the image of God’: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit” (CCC 364, emphasis added).

Perhaps your instructor was speaking of baptismal birth: “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become . . . a temple of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1265).

Did you like this content? Please help keep us ad-free
Enjoying this content?  Please support our mission!Donatewww.catholic.com/support-us