814 From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God’s gifts and the diversity of those who receive them. Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gathered together. Among the Church’s members, there are different gifts, offices, conditions, and ways of life. “Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions.” The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church’s unity. Yet sin and the burden of its consequences constantly threaten the gift of unity. And so the Apostle has to exhort Christians to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
815 What are these bonds of unity? Above all, charity “binds everything together in perfect harmony.” But the unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of communion:
- profession of one faith received from the Apostles;
- common celebration of divine worship, especially of the sacraments;
- apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God’s family.
816 “The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. … This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsistit in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.”
1 Comment
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Weblog 
A very close family member, who is a “traditionalist,” has sadly fallen into the error of sede vacantism. While I am all too aware of the problematic (to put it mildly) papacies since Pius XII, I am also aware that the Holy Spirit remains in charge of the Church, despite all human error in Her highest ranks.
This family member has expressed the hope that I will someday “join” her in her point of view. My reply: Our Lord told us to pray that all may be one, not that a few may be proven “right.”
BTW, the principle articulated in #816, above, has caused–and continues to cause–no end of confusion and distress among many of the faithful. I will not reiterate the reasons in this post.