Digital Continent Digital Continent Easter 2017 | Page 64

Conclusion
The Albigensian heresy questioned the goodness of the One God, the creator. If matter
were evil and spirit good and if God created only what was good as written in sacred scripture,
“and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (RSV, Gen 1:31),
then matter cannot be evil as it is created by God. If the holy Spirit is one with God the Father
and God the Son, then God the Spirit must be one in matter and spirit and therefore must be
good. The heresy is erroneous as it separates the unity of the most holy Trinity, the Father and
the Son from the Holy Spirit. God, and the Spirit existing from the beginning of time as revealed
through Sacred Scripture, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth
was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God
was moving over the face of the waters” (RSV, Gen1:1-2). The Son of God existing from the
beginning of time, “and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool
of the day,” (RSV, Gen 3:8). The holy Trinity existing together as one before the beginning of
time and space.
St. Dominic’s work in the Lanquedoc and Pope Innocent III’s calling of the council at
Lateran in 1215 came together through divine providence for the purpose of reforming the
Church and denouncing heresy both at home and abroad. In rebuking the erroneous beliefs of the
Cathar heresy, the Church today has a more perfect understanding of the holy Trinity as
demonstrated by the Church’s current Pope, Francis, who wrote in the encyclical letter,
Laudato Si,