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Two new orders of architecture emerged from the Church of this era. The earlier, ], style employed massive walls, rounded arches, and ceilings of masonry. To compensate for the absence of large windows, interiors were brightly painted with scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints. Later, the ] near Paris, marked a new trend in cathedral building.<ref name="Woods122">Woods, ''How the Church Built Western Civilization'' (2005), pp.&nbsp;119&ndash;22</ref> The new ] style of architecture with its large windows and high, pointed arches, provided improved lighting and geometric harmony that was meant to direct the worshiper's mind to God who "orders all things".<ref name="Woods122"/> Two new orders of architecture emerged from the Church of this era. The earlier, ], style employed massive walls, rounded arches, and ceilings of masonry. To compensate for the absence of large windows, interiors were brightly painted with scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints. Later, the ] near Paris, marked a new trend in cathedral building.<ref name="Woods122">Woods, ''How the Church Built Western Civilization'' (2005), pp.&nbsp;119&ndash;22</ref> The new ] style of architecture with its large windows and high, pointed arches, provided improved lighting and geometric harmony that was meant to direct the worshiper's mind to God who "orders all things".<ref name="Woods122"/>


Eight new monastic orders were founded in the twelfth century, many consisting of noblemen who took monastic vows and whose functions were increasingly military after the Crusades began.<ref name="Norman62">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church'' (2007), p.&nbsp;62</ref> ] monk, ] exerted great influence over the new orders and produced reforms to ensure purity of purpose.<ref name="Norman62"/> His influence led ] to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of ].<ref name="Duffy101">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;101</ref> In the following century, new ], including the ]s and the ], were founded to bring ] into urban settings. Eight new monastic orders were founded in the twelfth century, many consisting of noblemen who took monastic vows and whose functions were increasingly military after the Crusades began.<ref name="Norman62">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church'' (2007), p.&nbsp;62</ref> ] monk ] exerted great influence over the new orders and produced reforms to ensure purity of purpose.<ref name="Norman62"/> His influence led ] to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of ].<ref name="Duffy101">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;101</ref> In the following century, new ], including the ]s and the ], were founded to bring ] into urban settings.


] was a ] belief in extreme asceticism which taught that all matter was evil, accepted suicide and denied the value of church sacraments. It spread widely in twelfth century France. After a ] was murdered by the Cathars in 1209, ] declared the ].<ref name="Duffy112">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;112</ref> Abuses committed by the crusaders caused Innocent III to institute the first ] to prevent future abuses and to root out the remaining Cathars.<ref name="Vidmar144">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;144</ref> The inquisition saw 230 people sentenced to prison and 21 executed.<ref name="Vidmar144"/> Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of ] invasion or for political purposes.<ref name=christopherblack/> The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning.<ref name="Casey">Casey, ''Early Modern Spain: A Social History'' (2002), pp.&nbsp;229–30</ref><ref name="christopherblack">Black, ''Early Modern Italy'' (2001), pp.&nbsp;200–2</ref> In the fourteenth century, King ] created his own inquisition for his suppression of the ].<ref name="Norman93">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History'' (2007), p.&nbsp;93</ref> ] also created their own inquisition from 1480, originally in order to deal with the distrusted ex-Jewish and ex-Muslim converts.<ref name="Kamen48">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), pp.&nbsp;48&ndash;49</ref> Over a 350 year period this ] executed between 3,000 and 4,000 people,<ref name="Vidmar150">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), pp.&nbsp;150&ndash;52</ref> most of them in the first few decades of its existence, this being around two percent of those accused.<ref name="kamen203">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), pp.&nbsp;59, 203</ref> The inquisition played a major role in the final expulsion of Islam from the kingdoms of Sicily and Spain.<ref name="McManners187">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;187</ref> In 1482 ], condemned the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, but Ferdinand ignored his protests.<ref name="kamen49">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), p.&nbsp;49, quote: "In this bull the pope protested ...the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by lust for wealth, and that many true and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing disgust to many."</ref> Historians note that for centuries Protestant propaganda and popular literature exaggerated the horrors of the inquisitions and identified the entire Catholic Church with the occasional excesses wrought by secular rulers.<ref name="Norman92">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History'' (2007), p.&nbsp;93, quote: "...subsequent Protestant propaganda for centuries identified the entire Catholic Church in Spain, and elsewhere, with their occasional excesses. By the nineteenth century political liberals and religious dissenters took the 'crimes' of the Inquisition to be the ultimate proofs of the vile character of 'popery', and an enormous popular literature on the subject poured from the presses of Europe and North America. At its most active, in the sixteenth century, nevertheless, the Inquisition was regarded as far more enlightened than the secular courts: if you denied the Trinity and repented you were given penance; if you stole a sheep and repented you were hung. It has been calculated that only one per cent of those who appeared before the Inquisition tribunals eventually received death penalties. But the damage wrought by propaganda has been effective, and today the 'Spanish' Inquisition, like the Crusades, persists in supplying supposedly discreditable episodes to damn the memory of the Catholic past."</ref><ref name="McManners215">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;215, quote: "The inquisition has come to occupy such a role in European demonology that we must be careful to keep it in proportion. ...and the surviving records indicate that the proportion of executions was not high."</ref><ref name="Vidmar146">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;146, quote: "The extent of the Inquisition trials for heresy has been highly exaggerated. Once the Inquisition was established...the pyromania which had characterized lay attempts to suppress heresy came to an end. Ninety percent of the sentences were "canonical" or church-related penances: fasting, pilgrimage, increased attendance at Mass, the wearing of distinctive clothing or badges, etc. The number of those who were put to death was very small indeed. The best estimate is that, of every hundred people sentenced, one person was executed, and ten were given prison terms. Even these latter could have their sentences reduced once the inquisitors left town."</ref> While one percent of those tried in the inquisitions received death penalties, scholars confirm that even at its most active point, the inquisitions as a whole were regarded as far more enlightened than secular courts whose judgments and punishments were often far more severe.<ref name="Norman93"/><ref name="Vidmar150"/> Twelfth century France saw a widespread belief in ], a ] belief in extreme asceticism which taught that all matter was evil, accepted suicide and denied the value of church sacraments. After a ] was murdered by the Cathars in 1209, ] declared the ].<ref name="Duffy112">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;112</ref> Abuses committed by the crusaders caused Innocent III to institute the first ] to prevent future abuses and to root out the remaining Cathars.<ref name="Vidmar144">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;144</ref> The inquisition saw 230&nbsp;people sentenced to prison and 21&nbsp;executed.<ref name="Vidmar144"/> Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of ] invasion or for political purposes.<ref name=christopherblack/> The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning.<ref name="Casey">Casey, ''Early Modern Spain: A Social History'' (2002), pp.&nbsp;229–30</ref><ref name="christopherblack">Black, ''Early Modern Italy'' (2001), pp.&nbsp;200–2</ref> In the fourteenth century, King ] created an inquisition for his suppression of the ].<ref name="Norman93">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History'' (2007), p.&nbsp;93</ref> ] formed an inquisition in 1480, originally to deal with distrusted ex-Jewish and ex-Muslim converts.<ref name="Kamen48">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), pp.&nbsp;48&ndash;49</ref> Over a 350-year period this ] executed between 3,000 and 4,000 people,<ref name="Vidmar150">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), pp.&nbsp;150&ndash;52</ref> most of them in the first few decades of its existence. This represented around two percent of those accused.<ref name="kamen203">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), pp.&nbsp;59, 203</ref> The inquisition played a major role in the final expulsion of Islam from the kingdoms of Sicily and Spain.<ref name="McManners187">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;187</ref> In 1482 ], condemned the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, but Ferdinand ignored his protests.<ref name="kamen49">Kamen, ''The Spanish Inquisition'' (1997), p.&nbsp;49, quote: "In this bull the pope protested ...the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by lust for wealth, and that many true and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing disgust to many."</ref> Historians note that for centuries Protestant propaganda and popular literature rs.<ref name="Norman92">Norman, ''The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History'' (2007), p.&nbsp;93, quote: "...subsequent Protestant propaganda for centuries identified the entire Catholic Church in Spain, and elsewhere, with their occasional excesses. By the nineteenth century political liberals and religious dissenters took the 'crimes' of the Inquisition to be the ultimate proofs of the vile character of 'popery', and an enormous popular literature on the subject poured from the presses of Europe and North America. At its most active, in the sixteenth century, nevertheless, the Inquisition was regarded as far more enlightened than the secular courts: if you denied the Trinity and repented you were given penance; if you stole a sheep and repented you were hung. It has been calculated that only one per cent of those who appeared before the Inquisition tribunals eventually received death penalties. But the damage wrought by propaganda has been effective, and today the 'Spanish' Inquisition, like the Crusades, persists in supplying supposedly discreditable episodes to damn the memory of the Catholic past."</ref><ref name="McManners215">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;215, quote: "The inquisition has come to occupy such a role in European demonology that we must be careful to keep it in proportion. ...and the surviving records indicate that the proportion of executions was not high."</ref><ref name="Vidmar146">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;146, quote: "The extent of the Inquisition trials for heresy has been highly exaggerated. Once the Inquisition was established ... the pyromania which had characterized lay attempts to suppress heresy came to an end. Ninety percent of the sentences were "canonical" or church-related penances: fasting, pilgrimage, increased attendance at Mass, the wearing of distinctive clothing or badges, etc. The number of those who were put to death was very small indeed. The best estimate is that, of every hundred people sentenced, one person was executed, and ten were given prison terms. Even these latter could have their sentences reduced once the inquisitors left town."</ref> While one percent of those tried in the inquisitions received death penalties, scholars confirm that even at its most active point, the inquisitions as a whole were regarded as far more enlightened than secular courts whose judgments and punishments were often far more severe.<ref name="Norman93"/><ref name="Vidmar150"/>


The fourteenth century was marked by a growing sense of church-state conflicts. In 1309 ] became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of ] in southern France to escape instability in Rome,<ref name="Duffy122">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;122</ref> a period known as the ]. The Papacy eventually returned to Rome in 1378 at the urging of ] and other devout men and women who reverenced the Roman church as the ].<ref name="McManners232">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;232</ref><ref name="Vidmar155">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;155</ref> With the death of ] later that year, the papal election was disputed between supporters of Italian and French-backed candidates leading to the ]. For 38&nbsp;years, separate claimants to the papal throne sat in Rome and Avignon. Efforts at resolution in 1409 further complicated the issue with the election of a third, compromise pope.<ref name="McManners240">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;240</ref> The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the ] where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming ] pope.<ref name="McManners240"/> The fourteenth century was marked by a growing sense of church-state conflicts. In 1309 ] became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of ] in southern France to escape instability in Rome,<ref name="Duffy122">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;122</ref> a period known as the ]. The papacy returned to Rome in 1378 at the urging of ] and other devout men and women who revered the Roman church as the ].<ref name="McManners232">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;232</ref><ref name="Vidmar155">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p.&nbsp;155</ref> With the death of ] later that year, the papal election was disputed between supporters of Italian and French-backed candidates leading to the ]. For 38&nbsp;years, separate claimants to the papal throne sat in Rome and Avignon. Efforts at resolution in 1409 further complicated the issue with the election of a third, compromise pope.<ref name="McManners240">McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p.&nbsp;240</ref> The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the ] where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming ] pope.<ref name="McManners240"/>


===Late Medieval and Renaissance=== ===Late Medieval and Renaissance===

Revision as of 14:53, 13 May 2008

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The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world's population. It is made up of one Western church (the Latin Rite) and 22 Eastern Catholic churches, and is divided into 2,782 jurisdictional areas around the world. The Church looks to the Bishop of Rome (the pope), currently Pope Benedict XVI, as their highest visible authority in matters of faith, morals, and church governance. The Church community is composed of an ordained ministry and the laity. Numerous religious communities exist within the Church and are composed of members from each of these groups.

The primary mission of the Catholic Church is to spread the message of Jesus Christ, found in the four Gospels, and to administer sacraments that aid the spiritual growth of its members. To further its mission, the Church operates social programs and institutions throughout the world. These include schools, universities, hospitals, missions, and shelters, as well as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities that help the poor, families, the elderly, and the sick.

The Catholic Church and some historians assert that, via Apostolic Succession, it is the Christian community founded by Jesus in his act of consecrating Saint Peter. Believing itself to be preserved by the Holy Spirit from error in doctrinal matters, the Church has defined its doctrines through various ecumenical councils, following the example set by the first Apostles in the Council of Jerusalem. Catholic faith is summarized in the Nicene Creed and detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Formal Catholic worship is ordered by the liturgy, which is regulated by Church authority. The celebration of the Eucharist, one of seven Church sacraments and a key part of every Catholic Mass, is considered the center of Catholic worship.

The history of the Catholic Church is virtually inseparable from the history of Western civilization. The Church has affected and shaped the lives and beliefs of Christians and non-Christians alike for almost two thousand years. In the 11th century, the Eastern Church and the Western Church split, largely over disagreements regarding Papal primacy. Eastern churches which maintained or later re-established communion with Rome now form the Eastern Catholic Churches. In the 16th century, partly in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Church engaged in a substantial process of reform and renewal, known as the Counter-Reformation. Although the Catholic Church believes that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus, the Church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of Christian communities separated from itself to bring people to salvation, and that Catholics are called by the Holy Spirit to work for unity or ecumenism among all Christians. Modern challenges facing the Church include the rise of secularism, and controversy over its opposition to abortion, contraception, and euthanasia.

Origin and mission

Main articles: History of the Roman Catholic Church and History of the Papacy
This detail of a fresco by Perugino (1481-82) in the Sistine chapel shows Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter.

The Catholic Church traces its founding to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles and sees the bishops of the Church as the successors of the apostles, and the pope in particular as the successor of Peter, leader of the apostles. Catholics cite the Gospel of Matthew to support this view: "... you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". According to church belief, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in an event Christians call Pentecost brought this promised "church" fully into the world. Scholars such as emeritus Fellow and former dean of Peterhouse, Cambridge, Edward Norman agree that the Church was founded by Jesus during his earthly life and believe the historical record reveals that it was considered a Christian doctrinal authority from the beginning. Others like University of Cambridge history professor Eamon Duffy, caution that the insufficient number of clear written records surviving from the early years of Christianity make such precision difficult to confirm. Dismissing a letter from Pope Clement I dated to the year 95 that other historians cite as evidence of a presiding cleric, Duffy questions the concept of apostolic succession and doubts that there was a ruling bishop in the Roman church in the first century. Calling "suspiciously tidy" the first historical document to list the Roman bishops back to Saint Peter which was supplied by Irenaeus in the second century, Duffy states, "there is no sure way to settle on a date by which the office of ruling bishop had emerged in Rome, and so to name the first pope, but the process was certainly complete by the time of Anicetus in the mid-150s, when Polycarp, the aged bishop of Smyrna, visited Rome, and he and Anicetus debated amicably the question of the date of Easter".

The Church believes that its mission is founded upon Jesus' biblical command to his followers to spread the faith across the world: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you: and Lo, I am with you always, until the close of the age". Pope Benedict XVI summarized the Church's mission as a three-fold responsibility which includes proclaiming the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, and exercising the ministry of charity. He states that these duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. The Church therefore administers social programs throughout the world. Through Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities, Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, shelters, and ministries to the poor, as well as ministries to families, the elderly and the marginalized, the church applies the tenets of Catholic social teaching and tends to the corporal and spiritual needs of others.

Beliefs

Main article: Roman Catholic theology

The Catholic Church is a trinitarian Christian church whose beliefs are detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Nicene Creed sets out the main principles of Catholic Christian belief. This creed is recited at Sunday Masses and is the core statement of belief in many other Christian churches as well. Catholic teachings have been refined and clarified by major councils of the Church, convened by Church leaders at important points throughout history. The first such council, the Council of Jerusalem was convened by the apostles around the year 50. The most recent was Vatican II, which closed in 1965.

A 19th century painting by Carl Heinrich Bloch showing Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount

The Catholic Church believes that it is guided by the Holy Spirit, and that it is protected by divine revelation from falling into doctrinal error. It bases this belief on biblical promises that Jesus made to his apostles. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells Peter, "... the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against" the church, and in the Gospel of John, Jesus states, "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth". According to the church, the Holy Spirit reveals God's truth through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium. Sacred Tradition consists of those beliefs handed down through the church since the time of the Apostles. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are collectively known as the deposit of faith. This is in turn interpreted by the Magisterium, or the teaching authority of the Church. The Magisterium includes those pronouncements of the pope that are considered infallible, as well as the pronouncements of ecumenical councils and those of the college of bishops in union with the pope when they condemn false interpretations of scripture or define truths.

According to the Catechism, Christ instituted seven sacraments and entrusted them to the Church. These are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. They are vehicles through which God's grace is said to flow into all those who receive them with the proper disposition. The Church encourages individuals to engage in adequate preparation before receiving certain sacraments. Different liturgical traditions or rites exist throughout the worldwide Church that reflect "particular expressions characterized by the culture". These are the Latin rite (most commonly used), the Byzantine rite, the Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean rites. Because of this diversity, some variations exist in the liturgical practices of administering the sacraments within the different rites yet all hold the same beliefs.

The beliefs of other Christian denominations differ from those of Catholics in varying degrees. Eastern Orthodox belief differs mainly with regard to papal infallibility, the filioque clause and the immaculate conception of Mary, but is otherwise quite similar. Protestant churches vary in their beliefs, but they generally differ from Catholics regarding the authority of the pope and church tradition, as well as the role of Mary and the saints, the role of the priesthood, and issues pertaining to grace, good works and salvation. The five solas were one attempt to express these differences.

God the Father, original sin and Baptism

Main article: Original sin
Guido Reni's Archangel Michael (1636), shows Michael—one of three archangels—defeating Lucifer.

The central statement of Catholic faith, the Nicene Creed, begins, "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen." Thus, Catholics believe that God is not a part of nature, but that he created nature and all that exists. He is viewed as a loving and caring God who is active both in the world and in people's lives. He desires his creatures to love him and to love one another. Before the creation of mankind, however, God made spiritual beings called angels. In an event known as the "fall of the angels", a number of them chose to rebel against God and his reign. The leader of this rebellion has been given many names including "Lucifer", "Satan" and the devil. The sin of pride, considered one of seven deadly sins, is attributed to Satan for desiring to be God's equal. A fallen angel tempted the first humans, Adam and Eve, who then committed the original sin which brought suffering and death into the world. This event, known as the Fall of Man, left humans separated from their original state of intimacy with God, a separation that can persist beyond death. The Catechism states that "the account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms ... a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man" resulting in "a deprivation of original holiness and justice ..." that makes each person "subject to ignorance, suffering, and the dominion of death: and inclined to sin ..." People can be cleansed from this original sin and all personal sins through Baptism. This sacramental act of cleansing admits one as a full member of the natural and supernatural Church and is only conferred once in a person's lifetime.

Jesus, sin, and Penance

In the messianic texts of the Jewish Tanakh, which make up much of the Christian Old Testament, God promised to send his people a savior. The Church believes that this savior was Jesus whom John the Baptist called "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". The Nicene Creed refers to Jesus as "the only begotten son of God, ... one in being with the Father. Through him all things were made." In a supernatural event called the Incarnation, Catholics believe that God came down from heaven for our salvation, became man through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin Jewish girl named Mary. They believe that Jesus' mission on earth included giving people his word and example to follow, as recorded in the four Gospels. The Church teaches that following the example of Jesus helps believers to grow more like him, and therefore to true love, freedom, and the fullness of life. Sinning is the opposite of following Jesus, robbing people of their resemblance to God while turning their souls away from God's love. People can sin by failing to obey the Ten Commandments, failing to love God, and failing to love other people. Some sins are more serious than others, ranging from lesser, venial sins, to grave, mortal sins that sever a person's relationship with God. Through the passion of Jesus and his crucifixion, it is taught that all people have an opportunity for forgiveness and freedom from sin, and so can be reconciled to God.

Since Baptism can only be received once, the sacrament of Penance is the principal means by which Catholics may obtain forgiveness for subsequent sin and receive God's grace and assistance not to sin again. This is based on Jesus' words to his disciples in the Gospel of John 20:21–23. A penitent confesses his sins to a priest who may then offer advice or impose a particular penance to be performed. The penitent then prays an act of contrition and the priest administers absolution, formally forgiving the person of his sins. A priest is forbidden under penalty of excommunication to reveal any matter heard under the seal of confession. Penance helps prepare Catholics before they can validly receive the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist.

Holy Spirit and Confirmation

File:Stpetersbasilicaholyspiritwindow.jpg
A stained glass window in St. Peter's Basilica depicts the Holy Spirit as a dove, a common motif in Christian art, referencing John the Baptist's proclamation that he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus at his baptism "like a dove".

Jesus told his apostles that after his death and resurrection he would send them the "Advocate", the "holy Spirit", who "will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you". In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" The Nicene Creed states that the Holy Spirit is one with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) thus, for Catholics, receiving the Holy Spirit is receiving God, the source of all that is good. Catholics formally ask for and receive the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Confirmation. Sometimes called the sacrament of Christian maturity, Confirmation is believed to bring an increase and deepening of the grace received at Baptism. Spiritual graces or gifts of the Holy Spirit can include wisdom to see and follow God's plan, right judgment, love for others, courage in witnessing the faith, knowledge, reverence, and rejoicing in the presence of God. The corresponding fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. To be validly confirmed, a person must be in a state of grace, which means that they cannot be conscious of having committed a mortal sin. They must also have prepared spiritually for the sacrament, chosen a sponsor or godparent for spiritual support, and selected a saint to be their special patron and intercessor. Infant baptism in the Eastern rites is immediately followed by the reception of Confirmation and the Eucharist.

Church, works of mercy, and Anointing of the Sick

Catholics believe that the Church is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth. Jesus told his disciples "Remain in me, as I remain in you ... I am the vine, you are the branches". Thus, for Catholics, the term "Church" refers not merely to a building or even to the organizational hierarchy but first and foremost to the people of God who abide in Jesus and form the different parts of his spiritual body. Catholic belief holds that the Church exists simultaneously on earth (Church militant), in purgatory (Church suffering), and in heaven (Church triumphant); thus Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other saints are alive and part of the living Church. This unity of the Church in heaven and on earth is called the "communion of the saints". Although the Catholic Church believes and teaches that it is the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus, it also believes that the Holy Spirit can make use of other churches to bring people to salvation. In its apostolic constitution, the church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is active in Christian churches and communities separated from itself, and that Catholics are called by the Holy Spirit to work for unity among all Christians.

Catholic social teaching is based on the teaching of Jesus and commits Catholics to the welfare of others. Although the Catholic Church operates numerous social ministries throughout the world, individual Catholics are also required to practice spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Corporal works of mercy include feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, immigrants or refugees, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison. Spiritual works require the Catholic to share their knowledge with others, to give advice to those who need it, comfort those who suffer, have patience, forgive those who hurt them, give correction to those who need it, and pray for the living and the dead. The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, however, is performed by a priest, who will anoint with oil the head and hands of the ill person and pray a special prayer for them while laying on hands.

Final judgment and afterlife

The Last Judgment—Fresco in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. 1537-41

The Nicene Creed ends with, "We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." Accordingly, the Church teaches that each soul will appear before the judgment seat of Christ immediately after death and receive a particular judgment based on the deeds of their earthly life. Chapter 25:35–46 of the Gospel of Matthew underpins the Catholic belief that a day will also come when Jesus will sit in a universal judgment of all mankind. The final judgment will bring an end to human history. It will also mark the beginning of a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells and God will reign forever.

There are three states of afterlife in Catholic belief. Heaven is a time of glorious union with God and a life of unspeakable joy that lasts forever. Purgatory is a temporary place for the purification of souls who, although saved, are not free enough from sin to enter directly into heaven. It is a state requiring penance and purgation of sin through God's mercy aided by the prayers of others. Finally, those who freely chose a life of sin and selfishness, were not sorry for their sins and had no intention of changing their ways go to hell, an everlasting separation from God. The church teaches that no one is condemned to hell without freely deciding to reject God and his love. He predestines no one to hell and no one can determine whether anyone else has been condemned. Catholicism teaches that God's mercy is such that a person can repent even at the point of death and be saved, like the good thief who was crucified next to Jesus.

Prayer and worship

In the Catholic Church, a distinction is made between the formal, public liturgy and other prayers or devotions. The liturgy is regulated by Church authority and consists of the Eucharist and Mass, the other sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours. All Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life of the Church but individual or communal prayer and devotions, while encouraged, are a matter of personal preference.

The Church provides a set of precepts that every Catholic is expected to follow. These set a minimum standard for personal prayer and require the Catholic to attend Mass on Sundays, confess sins at least once a year, receive the Eucharist at least during Easter season, observe days of fasting and of abstinence from meat as established by the church, and help provide for the Church's needs.

Mass, Eucharist, and liturgical year

Main articles: Eucharist (Catholic Church), Catholic liturgy, and Sacraments of the Catholic Church

At the Last Supper, Catholics believe that Jesus ratified a New Covenant by instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist. Similar variations on the words of institution are found in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and I Corinthians;"Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me". "Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." The New Covenant in Jesus' Blood, according to Catholics, is continually celebrated and renewed in the Eucharist. This sacrament, celebrated at each Mass, is considered the source and summit of Christian life.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Holy Mass at the canonization of Frei Galvão in São Paulo, Brazil on May 11, 2007.

The celebration of the Mass in the Eastern Catholic Churches is termed Divine Liturgy. Variations in this Liturgy between the different Eastern Churches reflect different cultural traditions. The ordinary form of the Mass in the Latin rite or the Mass of Paul VI, is most often celebrated in the vernacular and separated into two parts. The first, called Liturgy of the Word, consists of readings from the Old and New Testament, a Gospel passage and the priest's homily or explanation of one of those passages. The second part, called Liturgy of the Eucharist is the celebration of the Eucharist. Catholics believe that the bread and wine brought to the altar are changed through the power of the Holy Spirit into the true Body and the true Blood of Christ through transubstantiation. This Mass is almost identical in form to that practiced by the earliest Christians.

The extraordinary form of the Mass is also known as the Tridentine or Traditional Latin Mass. This Mass was codified by the Council of Trent to reaffirm traditional Catholic teaching that the Mass is the same sacrifice of Calvary offered in a non-bloody manner as opposed to Protestant belief that the Mass is not an actual sacrifice. Although it was superseded by the vernacular as the primary form of the Mass, it was never forbidden after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council; it had been offered by an Indult since Pope John Paul II's 1988 motu proprio, Ecclesia Dei and can now be said by any Roman rite priest according to Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum.

Because the Church teaches that Christ is fully present in the Eucharist, there are strict rules about its celebration and reception. The ingredients of the bread and wine used in the mass are specified, and a fast of one hour prior to receiving Communion is in effect. Only Catholics who are in a state of grace are admitted to communion; anyone who is in a state of mortal sin must not receive the Eucharist without having received absolution through the sacrament of Penance. According to Church belief, receiving the Eucharist forgives venial sins. Because the Church respects their celebration of the Mass as a true sacrament, intercommunion with the Eastern Orthodox in "suitable circumstances and with Church authority" is both possible and encouraged. Although the same is not true for Protestant churches, in circumstances of grave necessity, Catholic ministers may give the sacraments of Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to Protestants if they ask for them of their own will, give evidence of holding the Catholic faith regarding these sacraments, and possess the required dispositions.

The Latin rite Catholic liturgical year follows key events in the life of Jesus. It begins with Advent, the time of preparation for both the celebration of Jesus' birth, and his expected second coming at the end of time. Christmas follows, beginning on the night of 24 December, Christmas Eve, and ending with the feast of the baptism of Jesus on 13 January. Lent is the 40-day period of purification and penance that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. The Holy Thursday evening Mass of the Lord's Supper marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum which includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. These days recall Jesus' last supper with his disciples, death on the cross, burial and resurrection. The seven week liturgical season of Easter immediately follows the Triduum climaxing at Pentecost. This recalls the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' disciples after the Ascension of Jesus. The rest of the liturgical year is known as Ordinary Time.

Liturgy of the Hours

Main article: Liturgy of the Hours

The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office, is the official daily liturgical prayer of the Church. It makes particular use of the Psalms as well as readings from the New and Old Testament, and various prayers. It is an adaptation of the ancient Jewish practice of praying the Psalms at certain hours of the day or night. Catholics who pray the Liturgy of the Hours use a set of books issued by the Church called a breviary. By canon law, priests and deacons are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours each day. Religious orders often make praying the Liturgy of the Hours a part of their rule of life; the Second Vatican Council encouraged the Christian laity to take up the practice.

Devotional life and personal prayer

Main articles: Catholic spirituality and Marian doctrines of the Catholic Church
Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus during the flight into Egypt depicted in a panel from Albrecht Dürer's Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, c. 1494-1497.

In addition to the Mass, the Catholic Church considers personal and communal prayer to be one of the most important elements of Christian life. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus instructs his disciples to "pray always". The Church considers personal prayer a Christian duty, one of the spiritual works of mercy and principal ways its members nourish a relationship with God. The Catechism identifies three types of prayer: vocal prayer (sung or spoken), meditation, and contemplative prayer. Quoting from the early church father John Chrysostom regarding vocal prayer, the Catechism states, "whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on the number of words, but on the fervor of our souls". Meditation is prayer where the "mind seeks to understand the why and how of Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking". Contemplative prayer is being with God, taking time to be close to and alone with him. Two of the core prayers of the Catholic Church are the Rosary and Stations of the Cross. These prayers are most often vocal, yet always meditative and contemplative. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a common form of contemplative prayer, whereas Benediction is a common vocal method of prayer. Lectio divina which means "sacred reading" is a form of meditative prayer. The Church encourages patterns of prayer intended to develop into habitual prayer. This includes such daily prayers as grace at meals, the Rosary, or the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as the weekly rhythm of Sunday Eucharist and the observation of the year-long liturgical cycle.

Prayers and devotions to Mary and the saints are a common part of Catholic life but are distinct from the worship of God. The Church teaches that the saints "do not cease to intercede with the Father for us ... so by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped". Catholics hold the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus in special regard. She is believed to have been born without the stain of original sin, a doctrine considered infallible and termed the Immaculate Conception. She is honored with many loving titles such as "Blessed Mother", and "Mother of God". She is considered to be a spiritual mother to each believer of Christ. Because of her influential role in the life of Jesus, prayers and devotions asking for her intercession, such as the Rosary, the Hail Mary and the Memorare are common Catholic practices. The Church devotes several liturgical feasts to Mary throughout the church year and pilgrimages to Marian shrines such as Lourdes, France and Fátima, Portugal are a common form of devotion.

Church organization and community

The spiritual head and leader of the Catholic Church on earth is the pope. He governs from Vatican City in Rome, a sovereign state of which he is also the Head of State. He is elected by the College of Cardinals, composed of bishops or priests who have been granted special status by the pope to serve as his advisors. They may theoretically select any male member of the Church, but that person must be ordained as a bishop before taking office. The Church community is governed according to the Code of Canon Law. The Roman Curia assists the pope in the administration of the church.

The basic administrative unit of the Catholic Church is the diocese. There are more than 2,500 Catholic dioceses in the world, each of which is led by a bishop. Every diocese is further divided into individual communities called parishes, which are usually staffed by at least one priest.

The worldwide Church community is made up of ordained members and the laity. Members of religious orders such as nuns, friars and monks are considered lay members unless individually ordained as priests.

Ordained members and Holy Orders

Main articles: Catholic Church hierarchy, College of Bishops, Priesthood (Catholic Church), and Deacon
Priestly Ordination, a popular depiction of Catholic ordination from the 1920s

Lay men become ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders, and form a three-part hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons. As a body the College of Bishops are considered to be the successors of the apostles. Along with the pope, the College includes all the cardinals, patriarchs, primates, archbishops and metropolitans of the Church. Only bishops are allowed to perform the sacraments of Holy Orders and Confirmation. While bishops are responsible for teaching, governing and sanctifying the faithful of their diocese, priests and deacons have these same responsibilities at a more local level, the parish, subordinate to the ministry of the bishop. Priests, bishops and deacons preach, teach, baptize, witness marriages, and conduct wake and funeral services, but only priests and bishops may administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick.

Although deacons may be married, only celibate men are ordained as priests in the Latin Rite. Clergy who have converted from other denominations are sometimes excepted from this rule. The Eastern Catholic Churches ordain both celibate and married men. All rites of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition that, after ordination, marriage is not allowed. Men with transitory homosexual leanings may be ordained deacons following three years of prayer and chastity, but men with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies who are sexually active cannot be ordained.

All programs for the formation of men to the Catholic priesthood are governed by Canon Law. They are designed by national bishops' conferences such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and vary slightly from country to country. The conferences consult Vatican documents such as Pastores Dabo Vobis, Novo Millennio Ineunte, Optatam Totius, and others to create these programs. In some countries, priests are required to have a college degree plus another four years of full time theological study in a seminary or other approved institution. In other countries a degree is not strictly required, but seminary education is longer. Candidates for the priesthood are also evaluated in terms of human, spiritual and pastoral formation. The sacrament of Holy Orders is always conferred by a bishop through the laying-on of hands, following which the newly ordained priest is formally clothed in his priestly vestments.

Because the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus were all male, only men may be ordained in the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that women have different yet equally important roles in church ministry. In Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Christifidelis Laici, he states that women were equally called to be disciples of Jesus who were given tasks connected to spreading the Gospel. Throughout history women have held prominent roles within the Church as Abbesses, missionaries, and Doctors of the Church.

Lay members, Marriage

Main article: Laity

The laity consists of all those Catholics who are not ordained clergy. Saint Paul compares the diversity of roles in the Church to the different parts of a body—all being equally important to enable the body to function properly. Lay members are equally called to live according to Christian principles, work to spread the message of Jesus, and effect change in the world for the good of others. The Church calls these actions participation in Christ's priestly, prophetic and royal offices.

Marriage, the single life, and the consecrated life are all lay vocations. The sacrament of Holy Matrimony is the only sacrament not actually conferred by a priest or bishop. The couple desiring marriage are themselves the ministers of the sacrament while the priest or deacon serves as witness. Church law makes no provision for divorce but annulments may be requested in strictly defined circumstances. Since the church condemns all forms of artificial birth control, married persons are expected to be open to new life in their sexual relations. Natural family planning is approved.

Tertiaries are laypersons who live according to the third rule of orders such as the Franciscans or Carmelites, either within a religious community or outside. Although all tertiaries make a public profession, participate in the good works of their order and can wear the habit, they are not bound by public vows unless they live in community. Lay ecclesial movements consist of lay Catholics organized for purposes of teaching the faith, cultural work, mutual support or missionary work. Such groups include: Communion and Liberation, Neocatechumenal Way, Regnum Christi, Opus Dei, Life Teen and many others.

Some non-ordained Catholics practice formal, public ministries within the Church. These are called lay ecclesial ministers, a broad category which may include pastoral life coordinators, pastoral assistants, youth ministers, and campus ministers.

Members of religious orders

Teresa of Ávila, shown in a 1615 painting by Peter Paul Rubens, was a Carmelite nun honored as a Doctor of the Church because of her influence in shaping Church theology and spirituality.
Main articles: Consecrated life (Catholic Church) and Roman Catholic religious order

Both the ordained and the laity may enter the religious or consecrated life—either as monks or nuns, if cloistered, or friars and sisters if not. A candidate takes vows confirming their desire to follow the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.

The majority of those wishing to enter the consecrated life join a religious institute, (also referred to as a monastic or religious order.) They follow a common rule such as the Rule of St Benedict, which includes the vows of poverty chastity and obedience, and agree to live under the leadership of a superior. They usually live in community, although occasionally an individual is given permission to live as a hermit, or to reside elsewhere, for example as a serving priest or chaplain. Examples of religious institutes include the Sisters of Charity, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Cistercians, Marist Brothers, Paulist Fathers and the Society of Jesus, but there are many others. The Church recognizes several other forms of consecrated life, including secular institutes, societies of apostolic life, and consecrated widows and widowers. It also makes provision for the approval of new forms.

Demographics

Further information: Roman Catholicism by country

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian church, encompassing over half of all Christians, and is the largest organized body of any world religion. Church membership exceeds 1.131 billion people. While the number of practicing Catholics worldwide is not reliably known, membership is growing particularly in Africa and Asia. Some parts of Europe, Ireland and the United States have experienced a priest shortage in recent years as the number of priests has not increased in proportion to the number of Catholics. As of 2005, Brazil had the greatest number of Catholics. The worldwide Catholic Church is made up of one Western or Latin and 22 Eastern Catholic autonomous particular churches. The Latin Church is divided into jurisdictional areas called dioceses, known as eparchies in the Eastern Church. Each diocese or eparchy is headed by a bishop, patriarch or eparch who is appointed by the pope. At the end of 2006, counting both dioceses and eparchies, there were 2,782 sees.

Membership

According to canon law, one becomes a member of the Catholic Church by being baptized in the Church. Christians baptized outside of the Church or those never baptized may be received by participating in a formation program such as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Formation programs may include the reception of the sacrament of Penance and are regulated by the diocesan bishop. In all rites, after going through formation and making a profession of faith, candidates receive the sacraments of initiation at the Easter vigil on Holy Saturday.

A person can excommunicate themselves or be excommunicated from membership in the Church by committing certain particularly grave sins. Examples include violating the seal of confession (committed when a priest discloses the sins heard in the sacrament of Penance), persisting in heresy, creating schism, becoming an apostate, or having an abortion. Throwing away the sacramental bread and wine received during the Eucharist or taking or retaining them for a sacrilegious purpose are also considered excommunicable offenses. Excommunication is the most severe ecclesiastical penalty because it prevents a person from validly receiving any church sacrament. It can only be forgiven by the pope, the bishop of the diocese where the person resides, or priests authorized by him. Among those who have been excommunicated or incurred excommunication are Arius, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and members of the group Womenpriests.

Church history

Main articles: History of the Roman Catholic Church and Role of Catholic Church in Civilization Further information: History of Christianity, History of Western civilization, and Criticism of the Catholic Church

Roman Empire

Early Christians were martyred as entertainment in the Colosseum in Rome, a short distance from Vatican City. Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1883.

The Catholic Church considers Pentecost to be its moment of origin because this was the day when the apostles first emerged from hiding to publicly preach the message of Jesus after his death. They traveled to various Jewish communities in northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece and Rome forming the first Christian communities. By the year 100 more than forty Christian communities existed in these areas.

From the first century onward, the Church of Rome was respected as a doctrinal authority because the Apostles Peter and Paul had led the Church there. The apostles had already convened the first Church council, the Council of Jerusalem, in or around the year 50 to reconcile doctrinal differences concerning the Gentile mission. Although competing forms of Christianity emerged early and persisted into the fifth century, the Roman Church retained the practice of meeting in ecumenical councils to ensure that any doctrinal differences were quickly resolved.

In the first few centuries of its existence, the Church defined and formed its teachings and traditions into a systematic whole under the influence of theological apologists such as Pope Clement I, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Augustine of Hippo. Because early Christians refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods or to defer to Roman rulers as gods, they were frequently subject to persecution. The ferocity or absence of the persecution varied depending upon the policies of the emperor in question. Persecution began under Nero in the first century, and by the mid-third century it was extensive throughout the empire, culminating in the great persecution of Diocletian and Galerian at the beginning of the fourth century, which was seen as a final attempt to wipe out Christianity. In spite of these persecutions evangelization efforts persisted, leading to the Edict of Milan which legalized Christianity in 313.

In 325 the First Council of Nicaea was convened in response to the Arian challenge concerning the nature of the trinity of God. The council established a Church administration and formulated the Nicene Creed as a basic statement of Christian belief. During the reign of Pope Sylvester I, Emperor Constantine I commissioned the first Basilica of St. Peter, as well as the Lateran, a papal residence and several other sites of lasting importance to Christianity. Many standard Christian practices had been established by the end of Constantine's life including the observation of Sunday as the official day of worship, the use of the altar as the focal point of each church, the sign of the cross, and the liturgical calendar. By 380, Christianity became the official religion of the Empire.

Over subsequent decades a series of ecumenical christological councils formally codified critical elements of the theology of the Church. The Council of Rome in 382 set the Biblical canon, listing the accepted books of the Old and New Testament, and in 391 the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible was made. The Council of Ephesus in 431 clarified the nature of Jesus' incarnation, declaring that he was both fully man and fully God. However Monophysite disagreements over the precise nature of the incarnation of Jesus led to the first of the various Oriental Orthodox Churches breaking away from the Catholic Church in 451.

Early Middle Ages

Further information: Middle Ages and Christian monasticism
Saint Benedict, father of Western monasticism and author of Rule of St Benedict. Detail from fresco by Fra Angelico, c. 1437-1446.

After the final fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the Catholic faith competed with Arianism for the conversion of the barbarian tribes. The conversion of Clovis I, pagan king of the Franks in 496 marked the beginning of the steady rise of the faith in the West. In 530, Saint Benedict wrote his Rule of St Benedict as a practical guide for monastic community life. Its message soon spread to monasteries throughout Europe. Monasteries became major conduits of civilization, preserving craft and artistic skills while maintaining intellectual culture within their schools, scriptoriums and libraries. They were also agricultural, economic and production centers as well as a focus for spiritual life. As a result, the Church soon saw the conversion of the Visigoths and Lombards who were abandoning Arianism for Catholicism. Pope Gregory the Great, who played a notable role in these conversions, dramatically reformed ecclesiastical structure and administration, which then launched a renewed missionary effort. Subsequently, missionaries such as Augustine of Canterbury, Saint Boniface, Willibrord and Ansgar took Christianity into northern Europe, allowing Catholicism to spread among the Germanic peoples, the Irish and the Slavic peoples, reaching the Vikings and other Scandinavians in subsequent centuries.

In the early 700's, iconoclasm became the source of conflict between the Eastern and Western churches. Under the direction of the Byzantine Emperors, Iconoclasts forbade the creation and veneration of images, claiming this to be a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Iconodules, backed by the Pope and the Western Church, disagreed with this interpretation. The dispute was resolved in 787 when the Second Council of Nicaea ruled in favor of icons. Afterward, the Church ushered in the Carolingian Renaissance when the pope crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in 800, partially in response to the dispute over iconoclasm. Charlemagne attempted to create an international unity through the common bond of Christianity. Although this resulted in many reforms including the creation of an improved system of education and unified laws, it also created a problem for the Church when succeeding emperors sought to appoint future popes. In 858 disagreements between the Eastern and Western churches arose again when Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople, favored by the pope, was deposed in favor of the more extreme Photios. The pope refused to recognize Photios, declared his election invalid and excommunicated him. Although Rome eventually approved his election, the dispute added to the growing alienation between the churches.

High Middle Ages

Further information: High Middle Ages

The Cluniac reform of monasteries that began in 910 placed abbots under the direct control of the pope rather than the secular control of feudal lords, eliminating a major source of corruption. This sparked a great monastic renewal. Monasteries, convents, and cathedrals still operated virtually all schools and libraries. After 1100, some older cathedral schools split into lower grammar schools and higher schools for advanced learning. First in Bologna, then at Paris and Oxford, many of these higher schools developed into universities and became the direct ancestors of modern Western institutions of learning. Monastic contributions to western society included the teaching of metallurgy, the introduction of new crops, the invention of musical notation, and the creation and preservation of literature.

During the eleventh century Christianity was permanently divided as a result of the East-West schism. A dispute over whether Constantinople or Rome held jurisdiction over the church in Sicily led to mutual excommunications in 1054. The Western (Latin) branch of the church has since become known as the Catholic Church, while the Eastern (Greek) branch became known as the Orthodox Church. The Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439) each failed to heal the schism. Some Eastern churches have subsequently reunited with the Catholic Church, and others claim never to have been out of communion with the pope. Officially, the two churches remain in schism, although excommunications were mutually lifted in 1965.

Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont (1095), where he preached the First Crusade; later manuscript illumination of ca. 1490.

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095 after receiving an appeal from Byzantine emperor Alexius I to help ward off a Turkish invasion. Urban also believed that a Crusade might help bring about reconciliation with Eastern Christianity. Fueled by reports of Muslim atrocities against Christians, most notably by the Caliph Hakim, the series of military campaigns known as the Crusades began in 1096. They were intended to return the Holy Land to Christian control. These goals were not permanently realized and episodes of brutality committed by the armies of both sides left a legacy of mutual distrust between Muslims and Western and Eastern Christians. The sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade left Eastern Christians embittered, despite the fact that Pope Innocent III had expressly forbidden any such attack. In 2001 Pope John Paul II apologized to the Orthodox Christians for the sins of Catholics including the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.

Two new orders of architecture emerged from the Church of this era. The earlier, Romanesque, style employed massive walls, rounded arches, and ceilings of masonry. To compensate for the absence of large windows, interiors were brightly painted with scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints. Later, the Basilique Saint-Denis near Paris, marked a new trend in cathedral building. The new Gothic style of architecture with its large windows and high, pointed arches, provided improved lighting and geometric harmony that was meant to direct the worshiper's mind to God who "orders all things".

Eight new monastic orders were founded in the twelfth century, many consisting of noblemen who took monastic vows and whose functions were increasingly military after the Crusades began. Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux exerted great influence over the new orders and produced reforms to ensure purity of purpose. His influence led Pope Alexander III to launch reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law. In the following century, new mendicant orders, including the Franciscans and the Dominicans, were founded to bring consecrated religious life into urban settings.

Twelfth century France saw a widespread belief in Catharism, a dualistic belief in extreme asceticism which taught that all matter was evil, accepted suicide and denied the value of church sacraments. After a papal legate was murdered by the Cathars in 1209, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade. Abuses committed by the crusaders caused Innocent III to institute the first inquisition to prevent future abuses and to root out the remaining Cathars. The inquisition saw 230 people sentenced to prison and 21 executed. Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of Moorish invasion or for political purposes. The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning. In the fourteenth century, King Philip IV of France created an inquisition for his suppression of the Knights Templar. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella formed an inquisition in 1480, originally to deal with distrusted ex-Jewish and ex-Muslim converts. Over a 350-year period this Spanish Inquisition executed between 3,000 and 4,000 people, most of them in the first few decades of its existence. This represented around two percent of those accused. The inquisition played a major role in the final expulsion of Islam from the kingdoms of Sicily and Spain. In 1482 Pope Sixtus IV, condemned the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, but Ferdinand ignored his protests. Historians note that for centuries Protestant propaganda and popular literature rs. While one percent of those tried in the inquisitions received death penalties, scholars confirm that even at its most active point, the inquisitions as a whole were regarded as far more enlightened than secular courts whose judgments and punishments were often far more severe.

The fourteenth century was marked by a growing sense of church-state conflicts. In 1309 Clement V became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of Avignon in southern France to escape instability in Rome, a period known as the Avignon Papacy. The papacy returned to Rome in 1378 at the urging of Catherine of Siena and other devout men and women who revered the Roman church as the See of Peter. With the death of Pope Gregory XI later that year, the papal election was disputed between supporters of Italian and French-backed candidates leading to the Western schism. For 38 years, separate claimants to the papal throne sat in Rome and Avignon. Efforts at resolution in 1409 further complicated the issue with the election of a third, compromise pope. The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the Council of Constance where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming Martin V pope.

Late Medieval and Renaissance

Main articles: Reformation, English Reformation, and Counter-Reformation Further information: Roman Catholic Church and colonialism and Catholicism and the wars of religion

Through the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries European missionaries and explorers spread Catholicism to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Pope Alexander VI awarded colonial rights over most of the newly discovered lands to Spain and Portugal. In December 1511, Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos openly rebuked the Spanish authorities governing Hispaniola for their mistreatment of the American natives, telling them "you are in mortal sin ... for the cruelty and tyranny you use in dealing with these innocent people". Although King Ferdinand enacted the Laws of Burgos and Valladolid in response, enforcement was lax. The issue did rouse a crisis of conscience in 16th century Spain. An outpouring of self-criticism and philosophical reflection among Catholic theologians, most notably Francisco de Vitoria, led to debate on the nature of human rights, and the birth of modern international law.

In 1521, through the leadership and preaching of the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the first Catholics were baptized in what became the first Christian nation in Southeast Asia, the Philippines. The following year, Franciscan missionaries arrived in what is now Mexico. They worked hard to convert the Indians and to care for their health and well-being by establishing schools and hospitals. They taught the Indians better farming methods, and new and easier ways of weaving and making pottery. Because some people questioned whether or not the Indians were really men who deserved baptism, Pope Paul III made a declaration in 1537 that "the Indians are truly men." Afterward, the conversion effort gained momentum. Over the next 150 years, the missions expanded into southwestern North America. The native people were legally defined as children, and priests took on a paternalistic role, often enforced with corporal punishment. Elsewhere, in India, Portuguese missionaries and the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelized among non-Christians and a Christian community which claimed to have been established by Thomas the Apostle.

Whitby Abbey England, one of hundreds of European monasteries destroyed during the Reformation

In Europe, the Renaissance was a period of renewed interest in art, ancient and classical learning, and a re-examination of accepted beliefs. Cathedrals and churches served as picture books and art galleries for millions of uneducated people. The stained glass windows, frescoes, statues, paintings and panels told stories of saints and biblical characters. The Church sponsored great artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, who created some of the world's most famous artworks. The most famous scholar of the age, Erasmus, in 1509 wrote In Praise of Folly which captured a widely held opinion about corruption in the church. Abuses of power, usury, clerical wealth and hypocrisy all contributed to a general feeling among educated people that reform of some sort was necessary. In 1517, Martin Luther included his Ninety-Five Theses in a letter to several bishops, hoping to spark debate. His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences. Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and others further criticized Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into the Protestant Reformation. In Germany, the reformation led to war between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 and was followed by a more serious conflict, the Thirty Years' War, which broke out in the following century. In France a series of conflicts termed the French Wars of Religion were fought between 1562 and 1598 between the Huguenots and the forces of the French Catholic League. The popes took sides and became financial supporters of the Catholic League. This ended under Pope Clement VIII who supported King Henry IV's 1598 Edict of Nantes, which granted civil and religious toleration to Protestants.

The English Reformation was ostensibly based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment and was initially more of a political than a theological dispute. However, growing theological disputes eventually came to the fore. The Acts of Supremacy made the English monarch head of the English church thereby establishing the Church of England. Then, beginning in 1536, some 825 monasteries throughout England, Wales, and Ireland were dissolved and Catholic churches were confiscated. Henry VIII executed those like Thomas More, who disagreed with his Act of Supremacy. Later he reversed most of the Reformation legislation dealing with religious policy beginning with the Six Articles in 1539 which reaffirmed Catholic doctrine including transubstantiation and the practice of celibacy. However this reversal did not extend to papal authority or the dissolution of monasteries and when he died in 1547, all monasteries, friaries, convents of nuns and shrines were gone. Mary I of England reunited the Church of England with Rome and, against the advice of her Catholic spiritual advisor, persecuted Protestants during the Marian Persecutions. After some provocation, the following monarch, Elizabeth I enforced the Act of Supremacy. This prevented Catholics from becoming members of professions, holding public office, voting, or educating their children. Executions of Catholics under Elizabeth I then surpassed the Marian persecutions and persisted under subsequent English monarchs. Penal laws were also enacted in Ireland but were less effective than in England. In part because the Irish people associated Catholicism with nationhood and national identity, they resisted persistent English efforts to eliminate the Church. The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and subsequent actions of the English parliament eventually helped to eliminate some of the oppressive anti-Catholic laws throughout the British empire.

Melk Abbey—adjoining Wachau Valley, Lower Austria—exemplifies the Baroque style

The Catholic Church responded to doctrinal challenges and abuses highlighted by the Protestant Reformation at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). The council became the driving-force of the Counter-Reformation, reaffirming central Catholic doctrines like transubstantiation and the requirement for love and hope as well as faith to attain salvation. It also reformed many areas of the Church's mission, most importantly by improving the education of the clergy and consolidating the central jurisdiction of the Roman Curia. The hostile criticisms of the Reformation were among factors that sparked new religious orders including the Theatines, Barnabites and Jesuits, some of which became the great missionary orders of later years. Improvement to the education of the laity was another positive effect of the era, with a proliferation of secondary schools reinvigorating higher studies such as history, philosophy and theology. To popularize Counter-Reformation teachings, the Church encouraged the Baroque style in art, music and architecture. Baroque religious expression was stirring and emotional, created to stimulate religious fervor.

Elsewhere, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier introduced Christianity to Japan. By the end of the sixteenth century tens of thousands of Japanese followed Roman Catholicism. Church growth came to a halt in 1597 under the Shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa who, in an effort to seal Japan off from the outside world, launched a severe persecution of Christians. Japanese were forbidden to leave the country and Europeans were forbidden to enter. Despite this, a minority Christian population survived into the nineteenth century.

Age of Reason

Toward the latter part of the seventeenth century, Pope Innocent XI attempted to reform many Church abuses such as simony, nepotism and lavish papal expenditures which had caused him to inherit a papal debt of 50,000,000 scudi. By eliminating certain honorary posts, and introducing a raft of economic measures, he was able to balance the books. He then proceeded to promote missionary activity all over the world and condemned all religious persecution. Despite the changes, the European religious conflicts of the Reformation era provoked a backlash against Christianity. Outside of Italy secular powers gained control of virtually all major Church appointments and much of the Church's property. Matters grew still worse with the violent anti-clericalism of the French Revolution. The Church was outlawed, all monasteries destroyed, 30,000 priests were exiled and hundreds more were killed. When Pope Pius VI took sides against the revolution in the First Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy. The pope was imprisoned by French troops the following year and died after six weeks of captivity. After a change of heart, Napoleon then re-established the Catholic Church in France with the signing of the Concordat of 1801. All over Europe, the end of the Napoleonic wars brought Catholic revival, renewed enthusiasm, and new respect for the papacy following the depredations of the previous era.

Church from the Indian settlement of San Ignacio Miní

In the Americas, the Church expanded its missions in cooperation with the Spanish government and military. Junípero Serra, the Franciscan priest in charge of this effort, founded a series of missions which quickly became important economic, political, and religious institutions. These missions brought grain, cattle, and a new way of living to the Indian tribes of California. Overland routes were established from New Mexico that resulted in the colonization of San Francisco in 1776 and Los Angeles in 1781. However, by bringing Western civilization to the area, these missions and the Spanish government have been held responsible for wiping out nearly a third of the native population, primarily through disease.

This period also saw the Church struggling against the colonial abuses of the Portuguese and Spanish governments. In South America, the Jesuits protected native peoples from enslavement by establishing semi-independent settlements called reductions. Pope Gregory XVI, challenging Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty, appointed his own candidates as bishops in the colonies, condemned slavery and the slave trade in 1839, and approved the ordination of native clergy in the face of government racism.

While missionary expansion was occurring in the Americas, the Church in China experienced missionary setbacks in 1721 when the Chinese Rites controversy led the Kangxi Emperor to ban Christian missions in that country. This controversy added fuel to growing criticism of the Jesuit order. In 1773, European rulers united to force Pope Clement XIV to dissolve the Jesuits. The Jesuits were held in disdain throughout Europe because they symbolized the strength and independence of the Church. They also defended the rights of native peoples in South America, hindering the efforts of European powers to maintain absolute rule over their domains.

Modern era

In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements. Controversy over papal infallibility and other issues led to the formation of a small breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church.

File:Cristeros Caídos.jpg
Dead fighters of the 1926–29 uprising known as the "Cristero War", in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico

This era in Latin America saw anti-clerical regimes come to power from 1860 onward. The confiscation of Church properties and restrictions on people's religious freedoms generally accompanied secularist or Marxist-leaning governmental reforms. One such regime was that of Mexico in 1860. Church properties were confiscated and basic civil and political rights were denied to religious orders and the clergy. Harsh enforcement of these measures eventually led to an uprising known as the Cristero War. Between 1926 and 1934 the number of priests in Mexico fell by over 3000 due to assassination, emigration or expulsion. Despite persecution, the Church continued to grow in Mexico, and a 2000 census reported that 88 percent of Mexicans identified themselves as Catholic. Another example includes Argentina, where extravagant press denunciations of the clergy, destruction of churches, and confiscation of Catholic schools occurred under the regime of General Juan Perón in 1954 as he tried to extend state control over national institutions.

The Industrial Revolution of this era led to increasing concern about the deteriorating conditions of urban workers. Inspired by the German Catholic industrialist Lucien Harmel, Pope Leo XIII published the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum explaining Catholic social teaching in terms that rejected socialism but advocated the regulation of working conditions, the establishment of a living wage, and the right of workers to form trade unions.

A few decades later, in 1938, Pope Pius XI warned Catholics that antisemitism was incompatible with Christianity. Yet World War II presented new challenges for the Catholic Church in this area because even though no church teachings promote the killing of Jews, some historians accuse Pope Pius XII of not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities. Although the historical record reveals his words and efforts were clearly against the Nazis, his actions continue to be a source of debate. Prominent members of the Jewish community such as Golda Meir and Albert Einstein contradicted the criticisms and spoke highly of Pius' efforts to protect Jews, others noted the significant numbers of Jews saved by the Church. Stating that some 400,000 Jewish lives were saved, one Israeli consul claimed that the Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives during the war than all other churches, religious institutions and rescue organizations combined. Some efforts to help save Jewish lives failed and by the end of the war, almost 5,000 Catholic priests had been executed by the Nazis and many others imprisoned.

Vatican II and beyond

In the aftermath of World War II, communist governments came to power in Eastern Europe and religious affiliation was strongly discouraged. The resistance of the Church and in particular the leadership of Pope John Paul II were credited with helping to bring about the downfall of communist governments across Europe in 1991.

Pope John XXIII, opening the Second Vatican Council in 1962

The Catholic Church engaged in a comprehensive process of reform during and immediately after the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). Tasked with making the historical teachings of the Church clear to the modern world, the council issued documents on numerous topics, including the nature of the church, the mission of the laity, and religious freedom. It also issued directives for a revision of the liturgy, including permission for the Latin liturgical rites to use vernacular languages as well as Latin in the Mass and the other sacraments. The Church also embarked on new efforts to improve Christian unity. In addition to finding common ground on certain issues with Protestant churches, the Catholic Church has discussed the possibility of unity with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In Latin America, the 1960s saw the emergence of Liberation Theology. Growing out of sympathy for working-class movements in Latin American cities, this new movement sought revolutionary change to improve the lot of the poor. Using a radical interpretation of the Gospel, Liberation Theology aimed to redefine the mission of the Church toward achieving political change. A chief promoter of this effort was the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez. Liberation Theology was subsequently denounced by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Calling the movement "dangerous", the Church sees it as a return to the pre-modern notion of establishing a Christian society through coercive political management. The movement is still alive in Latin America today although somewhat diminished in popularity.

The sexual revolution of the 1960s brought challenging new issues for the Church to address. Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968 affirmed the sanctity of life from conception to natural death and rejected the use of contraception, while both abortion and euthanasia were considered to be murder. The Church's rejection of the use of condoms has provoked criticism, especially with respect to countries where AIDS and HIV attain epidemic proportions. The Church maintains that countries like Kenya, where behavioral changes are endorsed instead of condom use, have experienced greater progress towards controlling the disease than countries solely promoting condoms.

Efforts to lead the Church to consider the ordination of women led Pope John Paul II to issue two documents to explain Church teaching. Mulieris Dignitatem was issued in 1988 to clarify women's equally important and complimentary role in the work of the Church. Then in 1994, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis explained that the Church only extends ordination to men in order to follow the example of Jesus, who chose only men for this specific duty.

Serious lawsuits emerged in 2001 claiming that deviant priests had sexually abused minors. Some priests resigned, some others were defrocked and jailed and financial settlements were agreed with many victims. The US Church, where the vast majority of sex abuse cases occurred, commissioned a comprehensive study that found 4 percent of all priests who served in the US from 1950 to 2002 faced some sort of sexual accusations. This percentage was far surpassed in a 2004 US government investigation of student sexual abuse by US public school teachers. Although public school administrators engaged in exactly the same behavior when dealing with accused teachers, the Church was widely criticized when it was discovered that some bishops knew about allegations and reassigned the accused instead of removing them. Some bishops and psychiatrists noted that the prevailing psychology of the times suggested that people could be cured of such behavior with counseling. Many of the abusive priests had received counseling before being reassigned. Pope John Paul II responded by stating there is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who abuse children. The Church instituted reforms to prevent future abuse by requiring fingerprinting and background checks for Church employees and, because a significant majority of victims were teenage boys, disallowing ordination of men with deeply seated homosexual tendencies. They also require all dioceses faced with an allegation to alert the authorities, conduct an investigation and remove the accused from duty. In 2008, the Church called the scandal "exceptionally serious" and estimated that it was "probably caused by 'no more than 1 per cent' of the 400,000" worldwide Catholic priests.

See also

For a list of articles related to this topic, see Category:Roman Catholic Church.

References

Footnotes

  1. Whitehead, Kenneth (1996). "How Did the Catholic Church Get Her Name?". Eternal Word Television Network. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  2. Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum on the Publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  3. ^ "Number of Catholics and Priests Rises". Zenit News Agency. 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  4. ^ "CIA World Factbook". United States Government Central Intelligence Agency. 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  5. ^ Vatican, Annuario Pontificio (Pontifical Yearbook) (2007), p. 1172
  6. Paul VI, Pope (1964). "Lumen Gentium". Chapter 3. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  7. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 1
  8. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 153
  9. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 50
  10. "Statistics on the Church's Mission Work". National Institute for the Renewal of the Priesthood. 2003-02-27. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  11. ^ Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), pp. 98–9 Cite error: The named reference "OneFaith98" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. Herzog, Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1911), p. 80
  13. Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 281, quote: "Some (Christian communities) had been founded by Peter, the disciple Jesus designated as the founder of his church. ... Once the position was institutionalized, historians looked back and recognized Peter as the first pope of the Christian church in Rome"
  14. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), pp. 11, 14, quote: "The Church was founded by Jesus himself in his earthly lifetime." , "The apostolate was established in Rome, the world's capital when the church was inaugurated; it was there that the universality of the Christian teaching most obviously took its central directive – it was the bishops of Rome who very early on began to receive requests for adjudication on disputed points from other bishops." Cite error: The named reference "Norman11" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), pp. 37, 43–4
  16. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 37, Chapter 1 The Early Christian Community subsection entitled "Rome", quote: "In Acts 15 scripture recorded the apostles meeting in synod to reach a common policy about the Gentile mission."
  17. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), pp. 37–8, Chapter 1 The Early Christian Community subsection entitled "Rome", quote: "The 'synod' or, in Latin, 'council' (the modern distinction making a synod something less than a council was unknown in antiquity) became an indispensable way of keeping a common mind, and helped to keep maverick individuals from centrifugal tendencies. During the third century synodal government became so developed that synods used to meet not merely at times of crisis but on a regular basis every year, normally between Easter and Pentecost."
  18. ^ Marthaler, Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Traditional Themes and Contemporary Issues (1994), preface
  19. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 71
  20. Orlandis, A Short History of the Catholic Church (1993), preface
  21. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 100
  22. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 81
  23. ^ "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 2 paragraph 15". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1964. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  24. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 110
  25. Shorto, Russel (2007). "Keeping the Faith". New York Times Magazine. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. Paragraph number 881 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 46
  28. ^ Matthew 16:18–19
  29. McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 36, Chapter 1 The Early Christian Community subsection entitled "Rome", quote: "Towards the latter part of the first century, Rome's presiding cleric named Clement wrote on behalf of his church to remonstrate with the Corinthian Christians who had ejected clergy without either financial or charismatic endowment in favour of a fresh lot; Clement apologized not for intervening but for not having acted sooner."
  30. Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 7
  31. Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), pp. 9–11
  32. Matthew 28:19–20
  33. Paragraph number 849 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 12
  35. Benedict XVI, Pope (2005). "Deus Caritas Est". Vatican. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  36. John Paul II, Pope (1997). "Laetamur Magnopere". Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  37. ^ Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, With a History and Critical Notes (1910), pp. 24, 56
  38. Richardson, The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology (1983), p. 132
  39. John 16:12–13
  40. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 16–9
  41. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 30
  42. Paragraph number 1131 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  43. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 298
  44. Mongoven, The Prophetic Spirit of Catechesis: How We Share the Fire in Our Hearts (2000), p. 68
  45. Paragraph number 1200–1209 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  46. Langan, The Catholic Tradition (1998), p. 118
  47. Parry, The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (1999), p. 292
  48. McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), pp. 254–60
  49. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 7
  50. Matthew 22:37–40
  51. ^ Paragraph numbers 390, 392, 405 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  52. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 57
  53. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), pp. 18–9
  54. Romans 5:12
  55. ^ Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 308
  56. ^ Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), pp. 71–2
  57. John 1:29
  58. McGrath, Christianity: An Introduction (2006), pp. 4–6
  59. John 10:1–30
  60. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 265
  61. ^ Paragraph numbers 1850, 1857 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  62. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 77
  63. Paragraph number 608 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  64. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 336
  65. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 344
  66. Paragraph number 1310 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  67. Paragraph numbers 1385, 1389 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  68. John 14:26
  69. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 37
  70. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 230–1
  71. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 88
  72. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 277
  73. Paragraph number 1233 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  74. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 131
  75. John 15:4–5
  76. Paragraph numbers 777–8 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  77. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), pp. 113–4
  78. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 114
  79. ^ Paragraph number 956 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  80. Paragraph number 750 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  81. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 373
  82. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 379–86
  83. Matthew 25:35–36
  84. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 397
  85. Luke 23:39–43
  86. ^ Paragraph numbers 2041–3 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  87. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 232–3
  88. Matthew 26:26–28
  89. Mark 14:22–24
  90. Luke 22:19–20
  91. 1 Cor 11:23–25
  92. Luke 22:19
  93. Matthew 26:27–28
  94. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 320
  95. ^ Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 325
  96. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 328
  97. Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 189–190, quote: "Some of the earliest Christian writings, such as the Didache, or the 'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,' chapters 9–10 (late first and early second century), and the First Apology of Justin Martyr, chapters 65–67 (about A.D. 155), describe the primitive form of the Mass and its prayers in a way that bears striking resemblance to the basic format of the Mass today. In fact, the main elements of St. Justin's description of the Mass are almost identical to the form Catholics now employ."
  98. Paragraph numbers 1345–6 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  99. Traufler, The Mass (1927), p. 79
  100. John Paul II, Pope (1988). "Ecclesia Dei". Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  101. Benedict XVI, Pope (2007). "Summorum Pontificum". Eternal Word Television Network. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  102. Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 326
  103. ^ Kreeft, Catholic Christianity (2001), p. 331
  104. ^ Paragraph numbers 1399–1401 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  105. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 116
  106. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), p. 198
  107. "Canon 276". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  108. Paragraph numbers 1174–8, 1196 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  109. Luke 18:1
  110. Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), pp. 86, 98
  111. ^ Paragraph numbers 2697–2724 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2008-02-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  113. ^ Schreck, The Essential Catholic Catechism (1997), pp. 199–200
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  119. "Canon 42". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
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  130. USCCB, Program for Priestly Formation (2006), preface
  131. USCCB, Program for Priestly Formation (2006), para. 243
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  139. ^ "Canons 573–746". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  140. "Canons 573–602, 605–709". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  141. "Canon 654". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  142. "Canon 587". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  143. "Canon 605". 1983 Code of Canon Law. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
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  157. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 19–20
  158. ^ Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 281, quote: "By the year 100, more than 40 Christian communities existed in cities around the Mediterranean, including two in North Africa, at Alexandria and Cyrene, and several in Italy."
  159. Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 40–2, quote: "Several pieces of evidence indicate that the Bishop of Rome even after Peter held some sort of preeminence among other bishops. ...(lists several historical documents)... None of these examples, taken by themselves, would be sufficient to prove the primacy of the successors of Peter and Paul. Taken together, however, they point to a Roman authority which was recognized in the early church as going beyond that of other churches."
  160. Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), pp. 27–8, quote: "A distinguished succession of theological apologists added intellectual authority to the resources at the disposal of the papacy, at just that point in its early development when the absence of a centralized teaching office could have fractured the universal witness to a single body of ideas. At the end of the first century there was St. Clement of Rome, third successor to St. Peter in the see; in the second century there was St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus of Lyons and St. Justin Martyr; in the fourth century St. Augustine of Hippo, the greatest theologian of the Early Church."
  161. ^ Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 282
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  164. Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 284
  165. Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 286
  166. Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 35
  167. Le Goff, Medieval Civilization (1964), pp. 5–20
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  169. Woods, How the Church Built Western Civilization (2005), p. 27
  170. Le Goff, Medieval Civilization (1964), p. 120
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  183. Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders (1997), p. 8
  184. Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 130–31
  185. Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), p. 140 quote: "And so when Urban called for a crusade at Clermont in 1095, one of his motives was to bring help to the beleaguered Eastern Christians."
  186. Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), p. 155 quote: "Stories were also circulating about the harsh treatment of Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem at the hands of the infidel, inflaming Western opinion."
  187. Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 121
  188. Le Goff, Medieval Civilization (1964), pp. 65–67
  189. Tyerman, God's War: A New History of the Crusades (2006), pp. 525–60
  190. "Pope sorrow over Constantinople". BBC News. 2004-06-29. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
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  195. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 144
  196. ^ Black, Early Modern Italy (2001), pp. 200–2
  197. Casey, Early Modern Spain: A Social History (2002), pp. 229–30
  198. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 93
  199. Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (1997), pp. 48–49
  200. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 150–52
  201. Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (1997), pp. 59, 203
  202. McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 187
  203. Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (1997), p. 49, quote: "In this bull the pope protested ...the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by lust for wealth, and that many true and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing disgust to many."
  204. Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 93, quote: "...subsequent Protestant propaganda for centuries identified the entire Catholic Church in Spain, and elsewhere, with their occasional excesses. By the nineteenth century political liberals and religious dissenters took the 'crimes' of the Inquisition to be the ultimate proofs of the vile character of 'popery', and an enormous popular literature on the subject poured from the presses of Europe and North America. At its most active, in the sixteenth century, nevertheless, the Inquisition was regarded as far more enlightened than the secular courts: if you denied the Trinity and repented you were given penance; if you stole a sheep and repented you were hung. It has been calculated that only one per cent of those who appeared before the Inquisition tribunals eventually received death penalties. But the damage wrought by propaganda has been effective, and today the 'Spanish' Inquisition, like the Crusades, persists in supplying supposedly discreditable episodes to damn the memory of the Catholic past."
  205. McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 215, quote: "The inquisition has come to occupy such a role in European demonology that we must be careful to keep it in proportion. ...and the surviving records indicate that the proportion of executions was not high."
  206. Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 146, quote: "The extent of the Inquisition trials for heresy has been highly exaggerated. Once the Inquisition was established ... the pyromania which had characterized lay attempts to suppress heresy came to an end. Ninety percent of the sentences were "canonical" or church-related penances: fasting, pilgrimage, increased attendance at Mass, the wearing of distinctive clothing or badges, etc. The number of those who were put to death was very small indeed. The best estimate is that, of every hundred people sentenced, one person was executed, and ten were given prison terms. Even these latter could have their sentences reduced once the inquisitors left town."
  207. Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 122
  208. McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 232
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  210. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (2002), p. 240
  211. Koschorke, A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (2007), p. 13
  212. Woods, How the Church Built Western Civilization (2005), p. 135
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  214. Koschorke, A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (2007), p. 21
  215. Samora et al, A History of the Mexican-American People (1993), p. 20
  216. Jackson, From Savages to Subjects: Missions in the History of the American Southwest (2000), p. 14
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  227. Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (1996), p. 470, quote: "The (English) Reformation must not be confused with the changes introduced into the Church of England during the 'Reformation Parliament' of 1529–36, which were of a political rather than a religious nature, designed to unite the secular and religious sources of authority within a single sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not until later make any substantial change in doctrine."
  228. Schama, A History of Britain 1: At the Edge of the World? (2003), pp. 309–11
  229. Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), p. 236 quote: "While no longer the powerful spiritual force and centers of learning they were in the early Middle Ages, the monasteries were an important part of traditional church life and their destruction was an important factor in the gradual triumph of reformation ideas in England. The spread of these ideas occurred in spite of Henry, who though defiant of the Pope remained deeply devoted to traditional Catholicism and was determined to maintain its substance. It is true that under the pressure of political necessity Henry allowed the publication of the ambiguous Ten Articles (1536) and he also approved of the Act that set up the English Bible in all the churches. But his Six Articles (1539) reaffirmed Catholic doctrine and imposed savage penalties for denial of transubstantiation, private Masses, private confession, or the need for clerical celibacy."
  230. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 220, quote: "Henry, seeing how far Cranmer had tried to take him in making the land Lutheran or Calvinist, pulled the plug in September 1538 and passed the Six Articles, which tried to restore the ancient faith, including the practice of celibacy for the clergy. By 1543 most of the Reformation legislation was reversed. One man, John Lambert, was made an example in November 1538. He was burned by being dragged in and out of the fire for holding the very same beliefs about the Eucharist that Cranmer held. Cranmer was made to watch the whole brutal event. He also had to send his wife back to Germany."
  231. Haigh, The English Reformation Revised (1987), p. 10, quote: "The dominance of the evangelicals was broken in the coups of 1539–40, when Henry's distaste for radical religion and for Anne of Cleves allowed conservatives to reverse religious policy and overthrow Cromwell."
  232. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, Volume 2 (1985), p. 75, quote: "In England, he took steps to make the church conform as much as possible to Roman Catholicism, except in the matter of obedience to the pope. He also refused to restore monasteries, which he had suppressed and confiscated under the pretense of reformation, and whose properties he had no intention of returning."
  233. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp. 225–6
  234. Schama, A History of Britain 1: At the Edge of the World? (2003), pp. 272–3.
  235. Jackson, Ireland Her Own (1991), p. 514
  236. Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), pp. 131–2
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  238. Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 91
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Bibliography

Further reading

Chronological order of publication (oldest first)

  • Johnson, Kevin Orlin (1994). Why do Catholics do that?. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345397266.
  • Keating, Karl (1995). What Catholics Really Believe-Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 0898705533.
  • Crocker, III, H. W. (2001). Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2,000-Year History. Prima Lifestyles. ISBN 0761529241. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Brighenti, Kenneth (2003). Catholicism for Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Pub. ISBN 0764553917.
  • Pope Benedict XVI (2005). Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB. ISBN 1574557203.
  • O'Gorman, PhD, Bob (2006). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Catholicism, 3rd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to). Indianapolis, IN: Alpha. p. 432. ISBN 1592575358.
  • Brighenti, Kenneth (2007). Catholicism Answer Book: The 300 Most Frequently Asked Questions. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 320. ISBN 1402208065.
  • Dubruiel, Michael (2007). The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You. Huntington, Ind: Our Sunday Visitor. p. 272. ISBN 1592762697.
  • DeTurris Poust, Mary (2008). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Catholic Catechism (Complete Idiot's Guide to). Indianapolis, IN: Alpha. p. 336. ISBN 1592577075.
  • O'Collins, Gerald (2008). Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 144. ISBN 019954591X.

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