THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

SECTION TWO, Paragraph 6. Man.

BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE:

362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once
corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in
symbolic language when it affirms that “then the LORD God formed man of
dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being. Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

363 In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person.
But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of
greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image:
“soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.

364 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:

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his
very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of
the material world. Through him they are thus brought to
their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise
freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not
despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body
as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and
will raise it up on the last day.

Imprimi Potest
+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church