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Roman Catholic Church

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

Roman Catholic Church

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n.
The Christian church characterized by an episcopal hierarchy with the pope as its head and belief in seven sacraments and the authority of tradition.


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Houghton Mifflin Companion to US History:

Roman Catholic Church

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With some 50 million members, the Roman Catholic church is much the largest religious organization in America. Yet at the time of the American Revolution, there were only a few American Catholics: mostly people from Spanish and French colonies, along with a handful of English-speaking Catholics who lived mainly in the Middle Colonies, especially Maryland.

Neither Catholic Europe nor the overwhelmingly Protestant United States anticipated then that the new nation would prove hospitable to the emergence of a strong American Catholicism. For one thing, the church was proudly Roman, and the new nation was manifestly committed to developing American institutions--in religion as well as in politics and economics. Throughout the nineteenth century, furthermore, the church became increasingly ultramontane, concentrating ever more authority in Rome and skeptical of adaptations to national folkways. The Vatican Council of 1869-1870 endowed the popes with ordinary jurisdiction in every Catholic diocese.

Second, American religious culture, almost from the start, was pluralistic; even in those few colonies that attempted to establish the one true religion, dissenting faiths soon were granted considerable freedoms. The First Amendment to the Constitution stipulated that there would be no established religion in the new nation, and no state tried for very long to maintain an establishment. In fact, Protestants quickly came to acknowledge that most other religious groups were legitimate "denominations" of the true church. In contrast, Catholics were obliged by their faith to insist that theirs was the one true church. Catholics could accept the separation of church and state only as an unfortunate necessity in a culture where so many erroneous churches flourished.

Finally, American culture, in religion as in politics and economics, was deeply individualistic, antihierarchical, and anti-authoritarian. Laypeople, speaking for themselves or in concert with a congregation, were accustomed to judge the clergy as functionaries expected to give a moving sermon, preach up a revival, or meet other lay needs. In contrast, the trend in Catholicism, since the Council of Trent, had been to emphasize hierarchy and the authority of priests, bishops, and popes. (Not until the middle of the twentieth century--when Catholics began to stress the "mystical body of Christ," which included both laypeople and clergy, and in the Second Vatican Council, the "people of God"--was the celebration of unqualified clerical authority reconsidered.) Much of the drama in the history of the American Catholic church centered around attempts to transcend these seeming contradictions between Americanism and Catholicism.

The first leader of an American Roman Catholic church was John Carroll (1735-1815), a member of a prominent Maryland family. Carroll, chosen the first bishop of the American church in 1790, endorsed the separation of church and state because he believed it essential to Catholic freedom in a pluralist society like America and because he felt that established churches in Europe had suffered gravely from state control. He argued that the church in America should be headed by a bishop nominated by the American clergy. He wanted also to avoid overclose supervision of the young American church by the Roman Curia.

Carroll believed that American Catholics would be best served by American-born, American-trained priests and hoped that the laity would play an active role in managing their parishes. In his early years as bishop, he endorsed the use of English in the liturgy, believing that free men and women would place a high value on intelligibility. He seems to have favored a private, internal piety more than public, clerically led, devotional exercises. In his later years, however, Carroll was troubled by the lengths to which republicanism had been carried in France and was distressed by the unwillingness of some laypeople to accept the leadership of priests or bishops. Increasingly, he stressed tradition and the virtue of laypeople submitting to the clergy, the clergy to the bishops, and the bishops to Rome. These later attitudes would dominate the American church for the next century and more.

The earlier vision was never completely abandoned, however. Toward the end of the century, a group of Americanist churchmen, inspired by Isaac Thomas Hecker (1819-1888), the founder of the Paulist Fathers, and led by Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul (1838-1918), proclaimed the perfect harmony of Catholicism with the individualism and activism of American life.

But from the early nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth, the experience of the Roman Catholic church in America was shaped less by episcopal preferences than by the fact that it had become the "Church of the Immigrants." The huge influx of Catholics--from Ireland and Germany in the middle of the nineteenth century; from Italy, Poland, and the Balkans between 1880 and 1924; and from Latin America beginning in the 1920s--was the major reason for the church's spectacular growth. It also defined many of the tasks the church had to assume.

Until the 1920s, America did not limit the numbers of immigrants, but its welcome was qualified by the expectation that immigrants would speedily Americanize. To some Americans, Catholicism was one of those foreign traits that immigrants should cheerfully renounce. But most of the newcomers, uprooted from their native culture, clung to their ancestral religion not only because of its spiritual claims but also because it served as surrogate for their personal, familial, and ethnic identity. Catholicism was valued and defended for what made it distinctive, not for those characteristics that might be shown to resemble the traits of American denominations. That European Catholicism was, increasingly in these years, stressing the contradictions between modern culture and genuine Catholicism ensured that the immigrant strain in the American church would generally be supported by European church leaders and especially by Rome. As a consequence, the Church of the Immigrants redoubled its efforts to protect Catholics against an American culture, which, one editor wrote, "exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life." Catholics needed an array of separate institutions--churches, asylums, schools--to shelter them.

Most strikingly, they needed schools. In nineteenth-century America immigrants encountered a culture that wholeheartedly believed that children could not be satisfactorily educated in the home, the neighborhood, or the church. State after state passed laws requiring all children to attend schools. And state after state established public schools that reflected the values supposedly common to all its citizens. Inevitably, in a largely non-Catholic culture, many of the schools were oblivious to the special heritage, present needs, and future aspirations of Catholics, and some may even have been designed to "grind the Catholicity" out of Catholic children. As a result, Catholics undertook, sometimes reluctantly, to build a separate but equal school system. One bishop after another declared that "a parish without a parochial school is not a Catholic parish"--indeed, that a parish should build a school before it built a church. The fact that at no time did more than half the Catholic children of school age attend parochial schools does not diminish the church's remarkable achievement in providing a school system that would, as far as possible, educate their children in the ways, and to the ends, that they--not American society--desired.

The parish also assumed an increasing number of other obligations. Spiritual societies organized a new, more intense, and more public devotionalism. A Rosary Society or a Confraternity of the Sacred Heart required the regular recitation of certain prayers, regular attendance at Mass, regular reception of Communion. By the end of the nineteenth century, large urban parishes frequently sustained a myriad of additional societies designed to meet "spiritual, recreational, educational, and charitable" interests. For a large proportion of Catholics, the parish was the center of their lives.

A common characteristic of all these activities in the immigrant parish was the dominant role of the priest, who, as one observer wrote, was expected to be "cult leader, confessor, teacher, counselor, social director, administrator, recreation director ... and a social worker." Not surprisingly, priests claimed and were granted enormous authority. Whereas in earlier years, laypeople had sometimes been allowed to help manage parish life, by the mid-nineteenth century priests were roundly condemning lay initiatives as a "trusteeism" contrary to the right ordering of a hierarchical church. In the same spirit, bishops asserted their unqualified right to assign or reassign priests. Taking advantage of American law, bishops constituted themselves "corporations sole," which enabled them to hold all church property in a diocese in their own names. American Catholics, readily deferring to priestly authority, had little difficulty accepting the most extravagant interpretations of papal infallibility.

Most resistance to the exercise (if not the principle) of authority in nineteenth-century Catholicism derived from the presence in many dioceses of a large number of diverse nationalities. Bishops had frequently been willing to create "national parishes," to which all Catholics speaking the same foreign tongue could repair. But when it was not possible to assign a priest of the same nationality, controversies were likely to ensue. German Catholics were less disposed to yield trusting obedience when an Irish Catholic priest was assigned to "their" parish. Bishops almost invariably backed up priests against "disloyal" laypeople. And Rome made clear that in appointing a bishop it would not compromise its authority by deferring to the ethnic predilections of the priests and people in the diocese.

The two dominant notes of the nineteenth-century church--the Church of the Immigrants--were a heightened authority of the clergy and hierarchy and a pronounced public, communal devotionalism for the laity, both of them conducing to a preoccupation with specifically Catholic culture. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Catholics in this era participated only gingerly in the American society of which they were an increasingly numerous part. They publicly celebrated their patriotism. In New York City, parochial schools installed an American flag in their classrooms before the public schools did. They did probably more than their share of the fighting in the Civil War, World War I, and even the Spanish-American War (which some Europeans saw as an assault on Catholic Spain). But they took no active role, as Catholics, in politics. Priests and bishops in large cities with substantial concentrations of Catholic voters no doubt benefited from the deferential attention paid them by machine bosses. But the clergy generally abstained from public partisanship. Most of them recognized that Catholic political action was all too likely to engender anti-Catholic outbursts. They also sensed that the political process was likely to require compromises.

In a century when many Americans were enthusiastic reformers, most Catholics chose to remain on the sidelines. Contemporary culture was undoubtedly sinful, but it was unlikely to be redeemed by social action. Although consistently preaching the virtue of temperance, Catholic leaders were disenchanted when the temperance crusade focused increasingly on political measures. The church sympathized with the plight of the disproportionately large numbers of Catholics in the working class, but it was the exceptional priest or bishop who condoned unions or supported labor legislation. Pope Leo xiii, in 1891, issued an encyclical on the condition of labor, but for a generation American Catholics pointed more enthusiastically to his criticism of socialism than to his demand that the church support the legitimate aspirations of the workers. When the National Catholic Welfare Conference (formed to foster the war effort in 1917) sponsored a program of postwar social reconstruction, the response of the bishops was lukewarm. The Church of the Immigrants would not easily abandon its traditional social conservatism.

By the middle of the twentieth century, however, the Catholic church in the United States had changed considerably. Although new Catholic immigrants continued to flood in--particularly from the Caribbean and Latin America--most American Catholics were no longer immigrants in fact, in memory, or in outlook. By the criteria of wealth, education, and occupational status, they outdid, as a group, American Protestants. They no longer had to fear discrimination; the election of John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, as president in 1960 corroborated the growing conviction that American culture was not innately hostile; the church need not be preoccupied with sheltering Catholics from the age. And American Catholics found in the papacy of John xxiii and in many of the conclusions of the Second Vatican Council reason to believe that Rome would not disapprove of a more confident, more activist stance in the American church.

The laity was encouraged to participate in new ways in the life of the parish. With much of the liturgy in English and with the priest facing the congregation and praying with them, not for them, laypeople were invited to sing hymns and exchange greetings of peace with each other. Increasingly the devotional spirit found expression less in parish missions than in meetings where Catholics could respond more personally and individually to the leadings of the spirit.

Fears of trusteeism abated sufficiently for many parishes to establish councils in which lay members could help shape policy. A sharp decline in vocations to holy orders made it almost inevitable that the laity would take on more responsibilities in the work of the church. The traditional conception of the priesthood was sometimes challenged by proposals--not yet accepted by the hierarchy--that women or married men be consecrated as priests. These developments did not constitute a challenge to the authority of the church, but rather an assertion that laypeople were, as much as the clergy, "people of God" with gracious freedoms as well as duties. Although the popes, generally supported by the American hierarchy, continued to proclaim that artificial birth control was a sinful violation of natural law, increasing numbers of American Catholics claimed, as Catholics, the right to act as their consciences dictated.

Many Catholics came to feel not only free but obliged on occasion to call on the nation to reform. Invoking both American traditions and Catholic principles, clergy and laity gave strong support to the civil rights movement, and a few were prominent critics of the Vietnam War. Many were particularly outspoken in demanding social justice, even to the point of casting doubt on the essential morality of the American capitalist system. And Catholics, deploring abortion, have taken a leading role in demanding that the government guarantee "the right to life."

It is no doubt premature to conclude that these striking developments of the latter part of the twentieth century defined the contours of a "new Catholicism." Considerable numbers of American Catholics did not welcome the new departures in liturgical practice, or the new roles of clergy and laity, or the provocative witness of the church against some of the failings of American culture. And the American church's options continued to be limited by its loyal membership in the world church. The pontificate of John Paul ii made it clear that the plans of American Catholics remained subject to authoritative criticism (as well as endorsement) from Rome.

Bibliography:

Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present (1985); James Hennesey, S.J., American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States (1981).

Author:

Robert D. Cross

See also Abortion; Birth Control; Coughlin, Father Charles E.; Day, Dorothy; Ethnicity; Missionaries; Religion; Serra, Junípero.


Columbia Encyclopedia:

Roman Catholic Church

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Roman Catholic Church, Christian church headed by the pope, the bishop of Rome (see papacy and Peter, Saint). Its commonest title in official use is Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. "Roman Catholic" is a 19th-century British coinage and merely serves to distinguish that church from other churches that are "Catholic" (see catholic church). The term "Roman Church," when used officially, means only the archdiocese of Rome. Roman Catholics may be simply defined as Christians in communion with the pope.

Organization of the Church

There are within the church a number of rites, i.e., ancient, independent traditions of discipline and worship, differentiated through isolation (see also liturgy). Besides the Roman rite, to which the vast majority belong, there are among Catholics five Eastern rites, used by a number of communities (Eastern Catholics or Uniates; see patriarch). They are: the Byzantine (the rite also of the Orthodox Eastern Church, which is not in communion with Rome), to which belong many groups, including Melchites, Ruthenians, Romanians, and the Italo-Albanians of S Italy; the Antiochene (also the rite of the autonomous Jacobite Church), to which belong the Maronites, the Syrian Catholics, and the Malankarese of Malabar; the Alexandrian, to which belong the Catholic Copts and Ethiopians (see Copts); the Chaldaean (also the rite of the autonomous Nestorian Church), to which belong Chaldaean Catholics and Syro-Malabarese; and the Armenian (also the rite of the autonomous Armenian Church). These rites and communities have their own organizations under the pope and are protected from attempts to "Latinize" them. Best known, perhaps, of the non-Roman Western rites are the Ambrosian, the Dominican, and the Mozarabic.

Apart from the rites and foreign missions, the organization of the church is by diocese, the territory of a bishop. Important sees have archbishops, who often supervise neighboring, suffragan bishops. With certain restrictions, the pope names the bishops. Dioceses are made up of parishes, each of which has a church and a priest (the pastor). The pope controls bishops mainly by general legislation. His government, which is run by the cardinals living at Rome, is concerned with matters of wide significance, such as missions and relations with states (see also cardinal; papal election; Vatican City).

Cutting across territorial lines are the religious orders of men and women; their field is monastic life, nonparish activities, and schools; they frequently run missions, hospitals, and colleges (see monasticism). Their members generally receive subsistence only. The parish clergy support themselves, often with salaries fixed by the bishop. Most of the clergy are priests (see orders, holy); they are trained (usually from four to six years) in seminaries maintained by the bishops, the orders, or the Vatican. Members of the clergy do not marry, unless they are parish priests of Eastern rites.

There is no churchwide census, and there are various criteria for determining membership. However, the Roman Catholics in the world are estimated to be about half the total number of Christians and make the church one of the largest religions in the world, with more than 1 billion adherents. Roughly half of all Catholics live in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2003, there were 63.4 million Roman Catholics in the United States.

Beliefs, Doctrines, and Practices

To belong to the church one must accept as factually true the gospel of Jesus as handed down in tradition and as interpreted by the bishops in union with the pope. Fundamental in this divine tradition is the Bible, its text determined and disseminated by the church. Adherents must also accept the church as possessing the fullness of revelation, and the church, according to the Roman Catholic catechism, is the only Christian body that is "one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic."

The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the keystones of the Catholic faith; it holds that the pope (the vicar of Christ) and the bishops have in varying degrees the spiritual authority Jesus assigned to his apostles. The voice of the pope, either alone or in conjunction with his bishops in council, is regarded as infallible when speaking on matters of faith and morals taught in common with the bishops (see infallibility). Many features of the traditional teaching (dogma) have been analyzed and restated, by the councils and by great theologians (see council, ecumenical; creed; Thomas Aquinas, Saint; Trent, Council of; Vatican Council, First; Vatican Council, Second).

The chief teachings of the Catholic church are: God's objective existence; God's interest in individual human beings, who can enter into relations with God (through prayer); the Trinity; the divinity of Jesus; the immortality of the soul of each human being, each one being accountable at death for his or her actions in life, with the award of heaven or hell; the resurrection of the dead; the historicity of the Gospels; and the divine commission of the church. In addition the Roman Catholic Church stresses that since the members, living and dead, share in each other's merits, the Virgin Mary and other saints and the dead in purgatory are never forgotten (see church; saint).

The church is seen as having from God a system of conveying God's grace direct to humanity (see sacrament). The ordinary Catholic frequents the sacraments of penance (required at least once a year) and the Eucharist (required once every Easter time; see also sin). The Eucharist is the center of public worship, often embellished with solemn ceremony (see Mass).

Private prayer is also regarded as essential; contemplation is the ideal (see mysticism), and all believers are expected to devote some time to prayer that is more than requesting favors. Different methods of prayer are recommended (see rosary; Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Thomas à Kempis). Self-renunciation is a necessary part of prayer (see fasting; Lent).

The church teaches that the main motive for ethical behavior is the love of God. Nothing that God has created is evil in itself, but evil use may be made of it. The doctrine concerning persons not Catholic is that since God affords each human being light sufficient to attain salvation, all will be saved who persevere in what they believe to be good, regardless of ignorance. Only those will be damned who persist in what they know to be wrong; among these are persons who resist the church when they know it to be the one, true church.

History

For the first centuries of the church's history, see Christianity.

The Church in the Middle Ages

From the 9th cent. to 1520 the church was simply Western Europe taken in its religious aspect, and no clear line divided spiritual from temporal life. In the West (unlike the East) the religious organization was free for centuries from grave interference from civil rulers. Charlemagne was an exception, but his influence was benign. In the chaotic 9th and 10th cent. every part of the church organization, including the papacy, became the prey of the powerful.

The restoration of order began in monasteries; from Cluny a movement spread to reform Christian life (see Cluniac order). This pattern of decline of religion followed by reform is characteristic of the history of the Roman Catholic Church; the reform goals have varied, but they have included the revival of spiritual life in society and the monasteries, and the elimination of politics from the bishops' sphere and venality from the papal court. The next reform (11th cent.) was conducted by popes, notably St. Gregory VII and Urban II. Part of this movement was to exclude civil rulers from making church appointments-the first, bold chapter in a 900-year battle between the church and the "Catholic princes" (see church and state; investiture).

The 12th cent. was a time of great intellectual beginnings. St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians revived practical mystical prayer. Gratian founded the systematic study of the canon law, and medieval civil law began its development. This double study was to provide weapons to both sides in the duel between the extreme papal claims of Innocent III and Innocent IV, and the antipapal theories of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Also in the 12th cent., Peter Abelard and other thinkers pioneered in rationalist theology.

From early rationalist theology and from the teachings of Aristotle developed the philosophies and theologies of St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas (see also scholasticism). This was the work of the new 13th-century universities; to them, and to the friars-the Dominicans and Franciscans-who animated them, passed the intellectual leadership held by the monasteries. St. Dominic's order was formed to preach against the Albigenses (a campaign that also produced the Inquisition). The vast popular movement of St. Francis was a spontaneous reform contemporary with the papal reform of the Fourth Lateran Council. The 13th cent. saw also the flowering of Gothic architecture.

The contest between church and state continued, ruining the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, in the contest between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France, bringing the papacy to near ruin. Then came the Avignon residence-the so-called Babylonian captivity of the papacy (1309-78), a time of good church administration, but of excessive French influence over papal policy. Except for isolated voices, such as that of St. Catherine of Siena, the church seemed to lose energy, and a long period devoid of reform began. A long-enduring schism and a series of ambitious councils (see Schism, Great) involved most churchmen in a welter of politics and worldliness.

There were popular religious movements, characterized by revivalism and a tendency to minimize the sacraments (along with church authority); they encouraged private piety, and one group produced the inspirational Imitation ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. The popular tendencies were extreme in John Wyclif, who developed an antisacramental, predestinarian theology emphasizing Bible study-a "protestant" movement 150 years before Protestantism.

The Reformation and Counter Reformation

The 15th-century councils did little for reform, and the popes, shorn of power, were reduced to being Renaissance princes. Such men could not cope with the Protestant revolt of Martin Luther and John Calvin (see also Reformation). The Protestants aimed to restore primitive Christianity (as described in the Bible), and they succeeded in weakening the hold of the church in all of N Europe, in Great Britain, and in parts of Central Europe and Switzerland. Politics and religion were completely intertwined (as in England, Scotland, and France); hence the admixture of religious issues in the Thirty Years War.

Within the church there triumphed the most extensive of all the church's reform movements (see Counter Reformation; Jesus, Society of). From it sprang a general revival of religion and much missionary activity in the new empires of Spain and Portugal and in East Asia. In France, Catholicism found new life, beginning with St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. There, too, began the cult of the Sacred Heart (i.e., God's love for men), which would affect Catholic prayer everywhere. A contrary influence was Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis), an antisacramental middle-class movement.

The Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries

The 17th cent. saw an increase of state control over the church (see Gallicanism) in all the Catholic countries, and in the 18th cent. the Bourbons began a course openly aimed at eliminating the papacy. The suppression of the Jesuits was part of the campaign, which reached a climax in the legislation of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. The revolutionary movement eventually destroyed the Catholic princes, and the church had to live with secular states, some anti-Catholic, some tolerant. The facts of the change were not clear at once, and for much of the 19th cent. the popes (and other Catholics) would look back to an idealized 18th-century golden age before "liberalistic" atheism and materialism. The last of these popes was Pius IX, who was forced to give up the Papal States. In enouncing the dogma of papal infallibility Pius did much to cement church unity.

In Pius's successor, Leo XIII, the church found new leadership; he and his successors worked and preached to urge Catholics to take part in modern life as Catholics, abandoning reactionary dreams and seeking some social reform. In some countries Catholic political parties were formed. Meanwhile oppressive conditions and the development of a mass socialist movement combined to detach much of the working class from the church. Otto von Bismarck (in Germany; see Kulturkampf) and "liberal" governments (in Italy, France, and Portugal) passed hostile measures, especially against religious orders.

The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

In the 20th cent. the tensions between the church and national governments sometimes led to outright suppression of the church, as in the former Soviet Union and Communist Eastern Europe, Mexico, Spain, and China. Mussolini and Hitler also ruined as much of the church as they could. The century has been marked more noticeably, however, by new trends in the practice and outlook of the church. The encyclical of Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891), was followed by the Quadrigesimo Anno (1931) of Pius XII, and the Mater et Magistra (1961) of John XXIII, the Progressio Populorum (1967) of Paul VI, and the Laborem Exercens (1981), Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), and Centessimus Annus (1991) of John Paul II. The purpose of these was fundamental readjustment to the moral and social problems of modern life and a greater stress upon the role of the laity in the church. Linked with this was a movement for church "renewal" both by laity and the clergy. This was particularly strong in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States.

Some of the issues stressed were the need for liturgical reform, the recognition of the various regional contributions to the living existence of the church, and the recognition of the nonpolitical internationalism of the church (although declarations of implacable opposition to atheistic Communism persisted and were particularly strong under Pius XII, who urged the church to oppose all antireligious totalitarianism). Another growing revival involved the tightening of relations between the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and various Protestant churches.

All of these "progressive" currents came together at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which, under John XXIII and Paul VI, initiated broad reforms in the areas of public worship, government, and ecumenism (see ecumenical movement). The long-reigning John Paul II made the church more international and continued his predecessors ecumenical trends, but he affirmed (as the popes preceding him did) the church's traditional stands on marriage, abortion, homosexuality, and other doctrinal matters, opposed relaxing the rule of celibacy, and reemphasized the primacy of the Vatican in church government.

The church in the United States began the 21st cent. confronting a major crisis concerning sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests and how it is and was handled by the U.S. hierarchy. Multiple revelations in 2002 that some bishops had allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to continue to perform their duties in situations where abuse could and sometimes did recur sparked outrage in the United States; such cases were also not reported to civil authorities. Various dioceses faced civil lawsuits and criminal investigations, several bishops resigned after their involvement in sexual relationships was revealed, and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston resigned because of criticism over his handling of sex abuse charges. The issue led to a meeting between American cardinals and the pope in Rome, and, after a meeting of American bishops and discussions with the Vatican, to the establishment of new policies that included barring a priest who has sexually abused a minor from any ministerial role and that committed the hierarchy to alert legal authorities to instances of abuse. Sexual and physical abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests and brothers have occurred in other countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Bibliography

See P. Hughes, A Popular History of the Catholic Church (1947, repr. 1961); L. Hertling, A History of the Catholic Church (tr. 1956); J. McSorley, Outline History of the Church by Centuries (11th ed. 1961); The New Catholic Encyclopedia (19 vol., 1967-95); M. A. Fitzsimons, The Catholic Church Today: Western Europe (1969); J. L. McKenzie, The Roman Catholic Church (1969); J. Seidler and K. Meyer, Conflict and Change in the Catholic Church (1989); C. R. Morris, American Catholic (1997); D. France, Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal (2004); J. Berry, Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church (2011).

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Catholic Church

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This article is about the church in communion with the See of Rome. For other uses, see Catholic Church (disambiguation).
"Roman Christianity" redirects here. For other uses, see Roman Christianity (disambiguation).
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Catholic Church
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Organisation
Pope – Benedict XVI
College of Cardinals – Holy See
Ecumenical Councils
Episcopal polity · Latin Church
Eastern Catholic Churches
Background
History · Christianity
Catholicism · Apostolic Succession
Four Marks of the Church
Ten Commandments
Crucifixion & Resurrection of Jesus
Ascension · Assumption of Mary
Theology
Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)
Theology · Apologetics
Divine Grace · Sacraments
Purgatory · Salvation
Original sin · Saints · Dogma
Virgin Mary · Mariology
Immaculate Conception of Mary
Liturgy and Worship
Roman Catholic Liturgy
Eucharist · Liturgy of the Hours
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is, with over a billion members,[1] the world's largest Christian church. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ,[2] administering its sacraments[3] and exercising charity.[4] The Roman Catholic Church is among the oldest institutions in the world and has played a prominent role in the history of Western civilisation.[5] It teaches that it is the one true church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles and that the Pope is the sole successor to Saint Peter.[6][note 1][7]

Roman Catholic doctrine maintains that the Church is infallible when it definitively teaches a doctrine of faith or morals.[8][9][10][note 2] Catholic worship is centred on the Eucharist,[11] in which the Church teaches that the sacramental bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. The Church holds the Blessed Virgin Mary in special regard. Catholic beliefs concerning Mary include her Immaculate Conception and bodily Assumption at the end of her earthly life.[12][note 3]

Contents

Name

Further information: Roman Catholic (term)

The term "Catholic", derived from the Greek word καθολικός (katholikos), which means "universal" or "general", was first used to describe the Church in the early 2nd century.[13] The term katholikos is equivalent to καθόλου (katholou), a contraction of the phrase καθ' ὅλου (kath' holou) meaning "according to the whole".[14] Thus the full name Catholic Church roughly means "universal" or "whole" church.

The combination "the Catholic Church" (he katholike ekklesia) is found for the first time in the letter of St Ignatius, written about the year 110. The words run: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church."[15] Later, in the "Catechetical Discourses" of St. Cyril of Jerusalem we see the name "Catholic Church" to identify the church from various sects. St Cyril writes, "And if ever thou art sojourning in any city, inquire not simply where the Lord's house is--for the sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens, houses of the Lord--nor merely where the church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of the holy body the mother of us all."[15]

Since the East-West Schism of 1054, the churches that remained in communion with the See of Rome (the diocese of Rome and its bishop, the Pope, the primal patriarch) continued to call itself "Catholic", while the Eastern churches that rejected the Pope's primal authority have generally been known as "Orthodox" or "Eastern Orthodox".[16] Following the Reformation in the 16th century, the Church continued to use the term "Catholic" to distinguish itself from the various Protestant denominations that split off.[16]

The name "Catholic Church" is the most common designation used in official church documents (e.g., the Catechism of the Catholic Church).[17] It is also the term which Paul VI used when signing the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council.[18] However, Church documents produced by both the Holy See[19] and by certain national episcopal conferences[20] occasionally refer to the Church by the name Roman Catholic Church. The Catechism of Pope Pius X published in 1908 also used the term "Roman" to distinguish the Catholic Church from other Christian communities who are not in full communion with Rome.[21]

Organisation and demographics

Catholic Church
Major Sui Iuris Churches
Listed by Rite (Liturgical Tradition)
Latin cross used in the western tradition Patriarchical cross used in eastern tradition
Western Tradition
Byzantine Tradition
 
Antiochian or West Syrian Tradition
Chaldean or East Syrian Tradition
Armenian Tradition
Alexandrian Tradition
Catholicism portal
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Papacy and Roman Curia

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy
Painting a haloed Jesus Christ passing keys to a kneeling man.
The Church holds that Christ instituted the papacy, upon giving the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter. Represented in a painting by Pietro Perugino.

The Church's hierarchy is headed by the Bishop of Rome, the pope, a position which makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church (which is composed of the Latin Rite and the Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the see of Rome). The current office-holder is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in a papal conclave on 19 April 2005.[note 4]

The office of the pope is known as the Papacy. His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is often called the "Holy See" (Sancta Sedes in Latin), or the "Apostolic See" (meaning the see of the Apostle Saint Peter).[22][23] Directly serving the Pope is the Roman Curia, the central governing body that administers the day-to-day business of the Catholic Church. The pope is also head of state of Vatican City State,[24] a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the city of Rome.

Following the death or resignation of a pope,[note 5] members of the College of Cardinals who are under age 80 meet in the Sistine Chapel in Rome to elect a new pope.[26] The position of cardinal is a rank of honour bestowed by popes on certain ecclesiastics, such as leaders within the Roman Curia, bishops serving in major cities and distinguished theologians. Although this election, known as a papal conclave, can theoretically elect any male Catholic as pope, since 1389 only fellow cardinals have been elevated to that position.[27]

For advice and assistance in governing, the Pope may turn to the College of Cardinals, the next highest level in the hierarchy.[28]

Autonomous particular churches

Main articles: Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches

The Catholic Church is made up of 23 autonomous particular churches, each of which accepts the paramountcy of the Bishop of Rome on matters of doctrine.[29] These churches, also known by the Latin term sui iuris churches, are communities of Catholic Christians whose forms of worship reflect different historical and cultural influences rather than differences in doctrine. In general, each sui iuris church is headed by a patriarch or high ranking bishop,[30] and has a degree of self-governance over the particulars of its internal organisation, liturgical rites, liturgical calendar and other aspects of its spirituality.

The largest of these is the Latin Church which reports over 1 billion members. The Pope and Roman Curia is head of the Latin Church, which developed in Western Europe before spreading throughout the world. The Latin Church considered itself to be the oldest and largest branch of Western Christianity, a heritage of certain beliefs and customs shared by many Christian denominations that trace their originals to Protestant Reformation.

Relatively small in terms of adherents compared to the Latin Church, but important to the overall structure of the Church, are the 22 self-governing Eastern Catholic Churches with a membership of 17.3 million as of 2010.[31] The Eastern Catholic Churches follow the traditions and spirituality of Eastern Christianity and are composed of Eastern Christians who have always remained in full communion with the Catholic Church or who have chosen to reenter full communion in the centuries following the East-West Schism and earlier divisions. Some Eastern Catholic Churches are governed by a patriarch who is elected by the synod of the bishops of that church,[32] others are headed by a major archbishop,[33] others are under a metropolitan,[34] and others consist of individual eparchies.[35] The Roman Curia has a specific department, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, to maintain relations with them.

Examples of Eastern Catholic Churches can be found in the side bar "Major Sui Iuris Churches".


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Dioceses, parishes and religious orders

Individual countries, regions, or major cities are served by local particular churches known as dioceses or eparchies, each overseen by a Catholic bishop. Each diocese is united with one of the worldwide "sui iuris" particular churches, such as the Latin Church, or one of the many Eastern Catholic Churches. As of 2008, the Catholic Church (both East and West) comprised 2,795 dioceses.[36] The bishops in a particular country or region are often organised into an episcopal conference,[37] which aids in maintaining a uniform style of worship and co-ordination of social justice programmes within the areas served by member bishops.

Dioceses are further divided into numerous individual communities called parishes, each staffed by one or more priests, deacons, and/or lay ecclesial ministers.[38] Parishes are responsible for the day to day celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of the Catholic laity.

Ordained Catholics, as well as members of the laity, may enter into consecrated life either on an individual basis, as a hermit or consecrated virgin, or by joining an institute of consecrated life (a religious institute or a secular institute) in which to take vows confirming their desire to follow the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.[39] Examples of institutes of consecrated life are the Benedictines, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Missionaries of Charity and the Sisters of Mercy.[39]

Membership statistics

Further information: Catholicism by country

Total church membership (both lay and clerical) in 2007 was 1.147 billion people,[40] increasing from the 1950 figure of 437 million[41] and the 1970 figure of 654 million.[42] On 31 December 2008, membership was 1.166 billion, an increase of 11.54% over the same date in 2000, only slightly greater than the rate of increase of the world population (10.77%). The increase was 33.02% in Africa, but only 1.17% in Europe. It was 15.91% in Asia, 11.39% in Oceania, and 10.93% in the Americas. As a result, Catholics were 17.77% of the total population in Africa, 63.10% in the Americas, 3.05% in Asia, 39.97% in Europe, 26.21% in Oceania, and 17.40% of the world population.

Of the world's Catholics, the proportion living in Africa grew from 12.44% in 2000 to 14.84% in 2008, while those living in Europe fell from 26.81% to 24.31%.[43] Membership in the Catholic Church is attained through baptism or reception into the Church (for individuals previously baptised in non-Catholic Christian churches).[44] For some years until 2009, if someone formally left the Church, that fact was noted in the register of the person's baptism.

At the end of 2007, Vatican records listed 408,024 Catholic priests in the world, 762 more than at the beginning of the year. The main growth areas have been Asia and Africa, with 21.1 per cent and 27.6 per cent growth respectively. In North and South America, numbers have remained approximately the same, while there was a 6.8 per cent decline in Europe and a 5.5 per cent decrease in Oceania from 2000 to 2007.[40]

Worship and liturgy

Main article: Catholic liturgy
Altar in St Mary's Church in Alexandria, Virginia. The altar is at the centre of Catholic worship because it is there that the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" takes place.

Among the 23 autonomous (sui iuris) churches, numerous forms of worship and liturgical traditions exist, called "rites", which reflect historical and cultural diversity rather than differences in belief.[45] In the definition of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, "a rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris",[46] but the term is often limited to liturgical patrimony. The most commonly used liturgy is the Roman Rite, but even in the Latin Catholic Church a few other rites are in use, and the Eastern Catholic Churches have distinct rites.

Celebration of the Eucharist

In all rites the Mass, or Divine Liturgy, is the centre of Catholic worship. The Catholic Church teaches that at each Mass the bread and wine are supernaturally transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ by the words of consecration spoken by the priest.[47] The words of consecration are drawn from the three synoptic Gospels and a Pauline letter.[48] The Church teaches that Christ established a New Covenant with humanity through the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, as described in these biblical verses.

Hoc est enim corpus meum...

“
”
 — Roman Missal, during the words of consecration (Latin). [49]

Because the Church teaches that Christ is present in the Eucharist,[50] there are strict rules about who may confect and who may receive the Eucharist. The sacrament can only be celebrated by an ordained Catholic priest or bishop. Those who are conscious of being in a state of mortal sin are forbidden from receiving the sacrament until they have received absolution through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance).[51] Catholics are normally obliged to abstain from eating for at least an hour before receiving the sacrament.[51]

Catholics are not permitted to receive the Eucharist as celebrated in Protestant churches, which in the view of the Catholic Church lack the sacrament of Holy Orders, and thus also lack a valid Eucharist.[52] Likewise, Protestants are not normally permitted to receive communion in the Catholic Church. This is because unity with the Catholic faith is seen as necessary before one can partake of the Church's sacraments. In relation to the churches of Eastern Christianity not in communion with the Holy See, the Catholic Church is less restrictive, declaring that "a certain communion in sacris, and so in the Eucharist, given suitable circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not merely possible but is encouraged."[53]

Western liturgical rites

Catholic Church
Structure of the
Roman Rite of Mass

""

The Roman Missal and Communion Chalice
A. The Introductory Rites
The Entrance
Greeting of the Altar
The Act of Penitence
The Kyrie Eleison
The Gloria
The Collect
B. The Liturgy of the Word
Silence
The Biblical Readings
The Responsorial Psalm
The Homily
The Profession of Faith
The Prayer of the Faithful
C. The Liturgy of the Eucharist

See also: Eucharist in the Catholic Church

The Preparation of the Gifts
The Prayer over the Offerings
The Eucharistic Prayer
The Communion Rite:
The Lord’s Prayer
The Rite of Peace
The Fraction
Reception of Communion
D. The Concluding Rites
Source: General Instruction of the Roman Missal[54]

Catholicism Portal
Tridentine Mass in a chapel of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston in April 2009. This ancient form of the Roman Rite dates back to 1570; most elements are centuries older

The Roman Rite is the most common rite of worship used by the Catholic Church. Its use is found worldwide, spread by missionary activity originating in Western European nations throughout Christian history.[55]

Two forms of the Roman Rite are authorised at present: that of the post-1969 editions of the Roman Missal (Mass of Paul VI), which is now the ordinary form of the rite and is celebrated mostly in the vernacular, i.e., the language of the people; and that of the 1962 edition (the Tridentine Mass), now an extraordinary form.[50][note 6] An outline of the major liturgical elements of Roman Rite Mass can be found in the side bar.

In the United States, "Anglican Use" parishes have been created. They use a variation of the Roman rite that retains some of the wording of the Anglican liturgical rites.[note 7]Implementation is expected of the authorisation granted in 2009 for the creation wherever appropriate of ordinariates for groups of Anglicans who have been approved for entrance into the Roman Catholic Church and who may in the future use a rite that incorporates elements of Anglican tradition.[56] Other Western liturgical rites (non-Roman) include the Ambrosian Rite and the Mozarabic Rite.

Eastern liturgical rites

An Eastern Catholic Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church holding the Mar Thoma Cross which symbolizes the heritage and identity of the Saint Thomas Christians of India

The liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches are very similar to, and often identical with the rites used by the Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christian Churches that historically developed in areas such as Eastern Europe, Northeastern Africa, and the Middle East, but are no longer in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The Eastern Catholic Churches are either groups of faithful that have restored full communion with the Bishop of Rome, while preserving their unique identity as Eastern Christians, or groups with which full communion has never been broken.

The rites used by the Eastern Catholic Churches include the Byzantine rite, in its Antiochian, Greek and Slavonic varieties, the Alexandrian rite, the Syriac rite, the Armenian rite, the Maronite rite, and the Chaldean rite. In the past some of the rites used by the Eastern Catholic Churches were subject to some degree of liturgical Latinisation. However, in recent years Eastern Catholic Churches have returned to traditional Eastern practices in accord with the Vatican II decree, Orientalium Ecclesiarum. Each church has its own liturgical calendar.

Doctrine

Question book-new.svg
 This section relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (January 2012)
See also: Catholic theology and Catholic social teaching

The fundamental beliefs of the Christian religion are summarised in the Nicene Creed. For Catholics, they are detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.[57][58] Based on the promises of Christ in the Gospels, the Church believes that it is continually guided by the Holy Spirit and so protected infallibly from falling into doctrinal error.[59] The Catholic Church teaches that the Holy Spirit reveals God's truth through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium.[60]

Sacred Scripture consists of the 73 book Catholic Bible. This is made up of the 46 books found in the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament—known as the Septuagint[61]—and the 27 New Testament writings first found in the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 and listed in Athanasius' Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter.[62][note 8] Sacred Tradition consists of those teachings believed by the Church to have been handed down since the time of the Apostles.[63] Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are collectively known as the "deposit of faith" (depositum fidei). These are in turn interpreted by the Magisterium (from magister, Latin for "teacher"), the Church's teaching authority, which is exercised by the Pope and the College of Bishops in union with the Pope, the bishop of Rome.[64]

Trinity

Crucifixion of Christ
by Albrecht Altdorfer, 1526

The Catholic Church holds that there is one eternal God, who exists as a mutual indwelling of three persons: God the Father; God the Son; and the Holy Spirit, which make up the Trinity.

Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son. In an event known as the Incarnation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God became united with human nature through the conception of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ therefore is both fully divine and fully human. It is taught that Christ's mission on earth included giving people his teachings and providing his example for them to follow as recorded in the four Gospels.[65]

The Church teaches that through the passion (suffering) of Christ and his crucifixion as described in the Gospels, all people have an opportunity for forgiveness and freedom from sin, and so can be reconciled to God.[66] The Resurrection of Jesus gained for humans a possible spiritual immortality previously denied to them because of original sin.[67] By reconciling with God and following Christ's words and deeds, an individual can enter the Kingdom of God, which is the "... reign of God over people's hearts and lives".[68]

The Greek term "Christ" and the Hebrew "Messiah" both mean "anointed one", referring to the Christian belief that Jesus' death and resurrection are the fulfillment of the Old Testament's Messianic prophecies.[69]

Apostolicity

According to the Catechism, the Catholic Church professes to be the "sole Church of Christ", which is described in the Nicene Creed as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.[70] The church teaches that its founder is Jesus Christ, who appointed the twelve Apostles to continue his work as the Church's earliest bishops.[71] Catholic belief holds that the Church "is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth",[72] and that all duly consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the apostles.[73] In particular, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), is considered the successor to the apostle Simon Peter, from whom the Pope derives his supremacy over the Church.[74] The Church is further described in the papal encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi as the Mystical Body of Christ.[75]

The Church teaches that the fullness of the "means of salvation" exists only in the Catholic Church, but the Church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of Christian communities separated from itself to "impel towards Catholic unity" and thus bring people to salvation. It teaches that anyone who is saved is saved through the Church but that people can be saved ex voto and by pre-baptismal martyrdom as well as when conditions of invincible ignorance are present,[59] although invincible ignorance in itself is not a means of salvation.

Sacraments

A priest during a baptism in Italy

According to the Council of Trent, Christ instituted seven sacraments and entrusted them to the Church.[76] These are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance), Anointing of the Sick (formerly called Extreme Unction, one of the "Last Rites"), Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Sacraments are visible rituals that Catholics see as signs of God's presence and effective channels of God's grace to all those who receive them with the proper disposition (ex opere operato).[77] The Catechism of the Catholic Church categorises the sacraments into three groups, the "sacraments of Christian initiation", "sacraments of healing" and "sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful". These groups broadly reflect the stages of people's natural and spiritual lives which each sacrament is intended to serve.[78]

Sacraments of Christian initiation

Baptism

As viewed by the Catholic Church, Baptism is the first of three sacraments of initiation as a Christian.[79] It washes away all sins, both original sin and personal actual sins.[80] It makes a person a member of the Church.[81] As a gratuitous gift of God that requires no merit on the part of the person who is baptised, it is conferred even on children,[82] who, though they have no personal sins, need it on account of original sin.[83] If a new-born child is in a danger of death, anyone - be it a doctor, a nurse, or a parent - may baptise the child[citation needed]. Baptism marks a person permanently and cannot be repeated.[84] The Catholic Church recognises as valid baptisms conferred even by people who are not Catholics or Christians, provided that they intend to baptise ("to do what the Church does when she baptises") and that they use the Trinitarian baptismal formula.[85]

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

For Catholics, the Eucharist is the sacrament which completes Christian initiation,[86] is the perpetuation of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross,[87] and a banquet in which Christ himself is consumed.[88] The Eucharistic sacrifice always includes prayers, readings from the Bible, consecration of wheat bread and grape wine, and communion by at least some of the participants (in particular the priest) in the consecrated elements,[89] which by the consecration become, in a way surpassing understanding, the body and blood of Jesus Christ,[90] a change known as transubstantiation.[91]

Confirmation

The Catholic Church sees the sacrament of confirmation as required to complete the grace given in baptism.[92] When adults are baptised, confirmation is normally given immediately afterwards,[93] a practice followed even for infants in the Eastern Catholic Church.[94] In the West confirmation of children is delayed until they are old enough to understand or even until they are in their teens.[95] In the West, the sacrament is called confirmation, because it confirms and strengthens the grace of baptism; in the East, it is called chrismation, because the essential rite is the anointing of the person with chrism,[96] a mixture of olive oil and some perfumed substance, usually balsam, blessed by a bishop.[97] Those who receive confirmation must be in a state of grace, which for those who have reached the age of reason means that they should first be cleansed spiritually by the sacrament of Penance; they should also have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to show in their lives that they are Christians.[98]

Sacraments of healing

Penance
A Catholic believer prays in a church in Mexico.

The sacrament of penance (also called reconciliation, forgiveness, confession and conversion[99]) exists for the conversion of those who, after baptism, separate themselves from Christ by sin.[100] Essential to this sacrament are acts both by the sinner (examination of conscience, contrition with a determination not to sin again, confession to a priest, and performance of some act to repair the damage caused by sin) and by the priest (determination of the act of reparation to be performed and absolution).[101] Serious sins (mortal sins) must be confessed within at most a year and always before receiving Holy Communion, while confession of venial sins also is recommended.[102] The priest is bound under the severest penalties to maintain the "seal of confession", absolute secrecy about any sins revealed to him in confession.[103]

Anointing of the Sick

While chrism is used only for the three sacraments that cannot be repeated (baptism, confirmation, ordination), a different oil is used by a priest or bishop to bless a Catholic who, because of illness or old age, has begun to be in danger of death.[104] This sacrament, known as Anointing of the Sick, is believed to give comfort, peace, courage and, if the sick person is unable to make a confession, even forgiveness of sins.[105] Although it is not reserved for those in proximate danger of death, it is often administered as one of the Last Rites.

Sacraments of service

Ordination

Holy Orders is a sacrament in three degrees or orders, episcopate (bishops), presbyterate (priests) and diaconate (deacons), which consecrates and deputes some Christians to serve the whole body by these specific titles.[106] The Church has defined rules on who may be ordained into the clergy. In the Latin Rite, the priesthood and diaconate are generally restricted to celibate men.[107][108] Men who are already married may be ordained in the Eastern Catholic Churches in most countries,[109] and may become deacons even in the Western Church[107][108] (see Clerical marriage). But after becoming a Roman Catholic priest, a man may not get married (see Clerical celibacy).

All clergy, whether deacons, priests, or bishops, may preach, teach, baptise, witness marriages and conduct funeral liturgies.[110] Only bishops and priests can administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance) and Anointing of the Sick.[111][112] Only bishops can administer the sacrament of Holy Orders, which ordains someone into the clergy.[113]

Matrimony

Marriage, understood as an indissoluble union between a man and a woman,[114] if entered into validly by any baptised man and woman, is considered a sacrament by the Catholic Church.[115] The church does not recognise divorce as ending a valid marriage and allows state-recognized divorce only as a means of protecting children or property, without allowing remarriage following such a divorce. Apart from the requirements such as freedom of consent that it sees as applicable to all, the church has established certain specific requirements for the validity of marriages by Catholics.[116] Failure to observe the Church's regulations, as well as defects applicable to all marriages, may be grounds for a church declaration of the invalidity of a marriage, a declaration usually referred to as an annulment.[117]

Judgement after death

The Church teaches that, immediately after death, the soul of each person will receive a particular judgment from God.[118] This teaching also attests to another day when Christ will sit in a universal judgment of all mankind. This final judgment, according to Church teaching, will bring an end to human history and mark the beginning of a new and better heaven and earth ruled by God in righteousness.[118] The basis on which each person's soul is judged is detailed in the Gospel of Matthew, which lists works of mercy to be performed even to people considered "the least of Christ's brothers".[119] Emphasis is upon Christ's words that "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven".[120]

According to the Catechism, "The Last Judgement will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life."[120] Depending on the judgement rendered, a soul may enter one of three states of afterlife:

  • Heaven is a time of glorious union with God and a life of unspeakable joy that lasts forever.[118]
  • Purgatory is a temporary condition for the purification of souls who, although saved, are not free enough from sin to enter directly into heaven.[118] Souls in purgatory may be aided in reaching heaven by the prayers of the faithful on earth and by the intercession of saints.[121]
  • Final Damnation: Finally, those who persist in living in a state of mortal sin and do not repent before death subject themselves to hell, an everlasting separation from God.[118] The Church teaches that no one is condemned to hell without having freely decided to reject God.[118] No one is predestined to hell and no one can determine whether anyone else has been condemned.[118] Catholicism teaches that through God's mercy a person can repent at any point before death and be saved.[122] Some Catholic theologians have speculated that the souls of unbaptised infants who die in original sin are assigned to limbo although this is not an official doctrine of the Church.[123]

Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary is highly regarded in the Catholic Church, proclaiming her as Mother of God, sinless, free from original sin and as an intercessor.
Main articles: Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic) and Roman Catholic Mariology
See also: Mary (mother of Jesus)

Devotions to Mary are part of Catholic piety but are distinct from the worship of God.[124] The Church holds Mary, as Perpetual Virgin and Mother of God, in special regard. Catholic beliefs concerning Mary include her Immaculate Conception without the stain of original sin and bodily assumption into heaven at the end of her life, both of which have been infallibly defined as dogma, by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and Pope Pius XII in 1950 respectively.[125]

Mariology deals not only with her life but also her veneration in daily life, prayer and Marian art, music and architecture. Several liturgical Marian feasts are celebrated throughout the Church Year and she is honoured with many titles such as Queen of Heaven. Pope Paul VI called her Mother of the Church because, by giving birth to Christ, she is considered to be the spiritual mother to each member of the Body of Christ.[125] Because of her influential role in the life of Jesus, prayers and devotions such as the Rosary, the Hail Mary, the Salve Regina and the Memorare are common Catholic practices.[126]

The Church has affirmed certain Marian apparitions, as at Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe[127] and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.[128] Pilgrimages to these sites are popular Catholic devotions.[129]

History

Main article: History of the Catholic Church
See also: Early history of Christianity and Historiography of early Christianity
This detail of a fresco (1481–82) by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine chapel shows Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter.

Apostolic period

Catholic tradition and doctrine holds that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD in Judea within the Roman Empire. The New Testament records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the twelve Apostles and his instructions to them to continue his work.[130][131]

The Catholic Church teaches that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, in an event known as Pentecost, signalled the beginning of the public ministry of the Catholic Church.[73] Catholic doctrine teaches that the contemporary Catholic Church is the continuation of this early Christian community. It interprets the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew as Christ's designation of Saint Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Bishops of Rome to be the temporal head of his Church, a doctrine known as apostolic succession.[132][133][134][135]

Spread throughout the Roman Empire

Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's well-defined network of roads and waterways allowed for easier travel, while the Pax Romana made it safe to travel from one region to another. The government had encouraged inhabitants, especially those in urban areas, to learn Greek, and the common language allowed ideas to be more easily expressed and understood.[136] Unlike most religions in the Roman Empire, however, Christianity required its adherents to renounce all other gods, a practice adopted from Judaism (see Idolatry). The Christians' refusal to join pagan celebrations meant they were unable to participate in much of public life, which caused non-Christians–including government authorities–to fear that the Christians were angering the gods and thereby threatening the peace and prosperity of the Empire. The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalised in the 4th century.[137]

In 313, the struggles of the Early Church were lessened by the legalisation of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine I. In 380, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire by the decree of the Emperor, which would persist until the fall of the Western Empire and, later, with the Eastern Roman Empire until the Fall of Constantinople. During this time (the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils) there were considered five primary sees according to Eusebius: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, known as the Pentarchy.

Middle Ages

After the destruction of the western Roman Empire, the church in the West was a major factor in the preservation of classical civilisation,[citation needed] establishing monasteries and sending missionaries to convert the peoples of northern Europe as far as Ireland in the north. In the East, the Byzantine Empire preserved Orthodoxy well after the massive invasions of Islam in the mid-7th century. The invasions of Islam devastated three of the five Patriarchal sees, capturing Jerusalem first, then Alexandria, and then finally, in the mid-8th century, Antioch. The whole period of the next five centuries was dominated by the struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The battles of Poitiers and Toulouse preserved the Catholic west even though Rome itself was ravaged in 850 and Constantinople was besieged.

Doctrine disputes and schisms

See also: Criticism of Catholic actions in history

In the 11th century, already strained relations between the primarily Greek church in the East and the Latin church in the West developed into the East-West Schism partially due to conflicts over Papal authority. The fourth crusade and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach. In the 16th century, in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church engaged in a process of substantial reform and renewal, known as the Counter-Reformation.[138] In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world despite experiencing a reduction in its hold on European populations due to the growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment.

In 1854 Pope Pius IX with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.[139] In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements.[140][141] Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church.[142]

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent four centuries before. Intitiated by Pope John XXIII, this ecumenical council modernised the practices of the Catholic Church, allowing the Mass to be said in the vernacular (local language), and ecouraging "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations."[143] It intended to engage the Church more closely with the present world (aggiornamento), which was described by its advocates as an "opening of the windows".[144] In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the Church's approach to ecumenism,[145] and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document Nostra Aetate.[146]

The Council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms; proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng claimed Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.[147] Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticised the council, arguing that the council's liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments," among other issues.[148]

New evangelisation

Pope John Paul II recognised the need to evangelise an increasingly secular world and used new means to reach the faithful. He instituted World Youth Day, a "worldwide encounter with the Pope", for young people from all over the world which is celebrated every two to three years.[149] He travelled more than any other pope, visiting 129 countries and preaching the Gospel in nearly every part of the world.[150] He also used television and radio as means of spreading the Gospel.

Contemporary issues

Main article: History of the Catholic Church since 1962
See also: Criticism of the Catholic Church
Pope John Paul II with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Social justice issues

Main article: Catholic social teaching

In 1978, Pope John Paul II, formerly archbishop of Kraków in then-Communist Poland, became the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. His 27-year pontificate was one of the longest in history.[151] Mikhail Gorbachev, the last premier of the Soviet Union, credited the Polish pope with hastening the fall of Communism in Europe.[152]

The Catholic nun Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor.[153] Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".[154]

Sexuality and gender issues

See also: Catholic teachings on sexual morality and Catholic ordination of women

Soon after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Church teachings about sexuality became an issue of increasing controversy due to changing cultural attitudes in the Western world (see the Sexual Revolution). In his encyclical Humanae Vitae[155] (1968), Pope Paul VI rejected all artificial contraception (though he permitted the regulation of births by means of natural family planning), contradicting those voices in the Church that saw at the time the birth control pill as an ethically justifiable method of contraception. This teaching was continued especially by John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, where he decried contraception and abortion as well as euthanasia as symptoms of a "culture of death" and called for a "culture of life".[156]

Efforts in support of the ordination of women led to several rulings by the Roman Curia or Popes against the proposal, as in Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (1976), Mulieris Dignitatem (1988) and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994). According to the latest ruling, found in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II concluded, "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."[157] In defiance of these rulings, opposition groups such as Roman Catholic Womenpriests have performed alleged ordination ceremonies (with, reputedly, an ordaining male Catholic bishop in the first few instances) which, according to canon law, are both illicit and invalid and considered mere simulations[158] of the sacrament of Ordination.[159][note 9] The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responded by issuing a statement clarifying that any Catholic bishops involved in ordination ceremonies for women, as well as the women themselves if they were Catholic, would automatically receive the penalty of excommunication (latae sententiae, literally "sentence passed", i.e. automatically), citing canon 1378 of canon law and other church laws.[160]

Sex abuse cases

In the 1990s and 2000s, the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy became the subject of media coverage and public debate in the United States, Ireland, Australia and other countries. The Church was criticized for its handling of abuse complaints when it became known that some bishops had shielded accused priests, transferring them to other pastoral assignments where some continued to commit sexual offenses. In response to the scandal, the Church has established formal procedures to prevent abuse, encourage reporting of any abuse that occurs and to handle such reports promptly, although groups representing victims have disputed their effectiveness.[161] In September 2011, a submission was lodged with the International Criminal Court alleging that the Pope, Cardinal Angelo Sodano dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone Vatican Secretary of State and Cardinal William Levada head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, had committed a crime against humanity by failing to prevent or punish perpetrators of rape and sexual violence in a "systematic and widespread" concealment which included failure to co-operate with relevant law enforcement agencies.[162] In a statement to the Associated Press, the Vatican described this as a "ludicrous publicity stunt and a misuse of international judicial processes." Lawyers and law professors emphasized that the case likely falls outside the court's jurisdiction. Additionally, forcing the Vatican to submit to the ICC could prove impossible to the court. David Chandler, professor of international relations at the University of Westminster in London, saw in the action "more of an ethical statement before the international community than a real attempt at a court case".[163]

See also

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References and notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 77: "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority." Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time."[6]
  2. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 890: "The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms:"
  3. ^ According to the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, paragraph 44: "...we [Pope Pius XII] pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."[12]
  4. ^ The Annuario Pontificio, the list of popes, does not assign numbers to the positions in its listing.
  5. ^ The last resignation occurred in 1415, as part of the Council of Constance's resolution of the Avignon Papacy.[25]
  6. ^ The Tridentine Mass so called because standardised by Pope Pius V after the Council of Trent in the 16th century, was the ordinary form of the Roman-Rite Mass until superseded in 1969 by the Roman Missal of Paul VI; its continued use, in the version found in the 1962 edition of the Missal, is authorized by the 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.
  7. ^ In 1980, Pope John Paul II issued a pastoral provision that allows establishment of personal parishes in which members of the Episcopal Church (the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion) who join the Catholic Church retain many aspects of Anglican liturgical rites as a variation of the Roman rite. Such "Anglican Use" parishes, numbering fewer than ten, exist only in the United States.
  8. ^ The 73-book Catholic Bible contains the Deuterocanonicals, books not in the modern Hebrew Bible and not upheld as canonical by Protestants.[61] The process of determining which books were to be considered part of the canon took many centuries and was not finally resolved in the Catholic Church until the Council of Trent.
  9. ^ According to Roman Catholic Womanpriests "The principal consecrating Roman Catholic male bishop who ordained our first women bishops is a bishop with apostolic succession within the Roman Catholic Church in full communion with the pope."[159]

Citations

  1. ^ "Factfile: Roman Catholics around the world". BBC. 1 April 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4243727.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-19. "The Roman Catholic Church - the largest branch of Christianity - says there are a total of 1.086 billion baptised members around the globe. This was expected to exceed 1.1 billion in 2005, with rapid growth in Africa and Asia. However, there are no reliable figures for the number of practising Catholics worldwide." 
  2. ^ "Compendium of the CCC, 11". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#God%20Comes%20to%20Meet%20Man. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  3. ^ "Compendium of the CCC, 226". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#The%20Sacramental%20Economy. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  4. ^ "Compendium of the CCC, 388". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#Mans%20Vocation:%20Life%20in%20the%20Spirit. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  5. ^ O'Collins, p. v (preface). Woods, T., How the Catholic Church Build Western Civilization.
  6. ^ a b "The Apostolic Tradition". Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PK.HTM. Retrieved 2011-07-22. 
  7. ^ "The Sacred Council teaches that bishops by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the apostles" (et spes, 21); "The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles..." (Gaudium et spes, 22); "The individual bishops,... each of them, as a member of the episcopal college and legitimate successor of the apostles..." (Gaudium et spes, 23); "Bishops, as successors of the apostles..." (Gaudium et spes, 24); "The parallel between Peter and the rest of the Apostles on the one hand, and between the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops on the other hand, does not imply the transmission of the Apostles' extraordinary power to their successors" (Gaudium et spes, Appendix).
  8. ^ "The teaching office". Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2A.HTM. Retrieved 2011-04-28. "889 In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility." 
  9. ^ "The teaching office". Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-24. 
  10. ^ Second Vatican Council. "Chapter III, paragraph 25". Lumen Gentium. Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html. Retrieved 2010-07-24. "by the light of the Holy Spirit...... vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock." 
  11. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The Eucharist - Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life"
  12. ^ a b Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII: "Munificentissimus Deus: Defining the Dogma of the Assumption". November 1, 1950. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  13. ^ MacCulloch, Christianity, p. 127.
  14. ^ "Definition at www.Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catholic. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  15. ^ a b http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm
  16. ^ a b McBrien, Richard (2008). The Church. Harper Collins. p. xvii. Online version available Browseinside.harpercollins.com. Quote: "[T]he use of the adjective 'Catholic' as a modifier of 'Church' became divisive only after the East-West Schism ...and the Protestant Reformation ...In the former case, the West claimed for itself the title Catholic Church, while the East appropriated the name Orthodox Church. In the latter case, those in communion with the Bishop of Rome retained the adjective "Catholic", while the churches that broke with the Papacy were called Protestant."
  17. ^ Libreria Editrice Vaticana (2003). Catechism of the Catholic Church Retrieved on: 1 May 2009.
  18. ^ The Vatican. Documents of the II Vatican Council. Retrieved on: 4 May 2009. Note: The Pope's signature appears in the Latin version.
  19. ^ Examples: the encyclicals Divini Illius Magistri of Pope Pius XI and Humani generis of Pope Pius XII; joint declarations signed by Pope Benedict XVI with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on 23 November 2006 and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople on 30 November 2006.
  20. ^ Example: The Baltimore Catechism, an official catechism authorised by the Catholic bishops of the United States, states: "That is why we are called Roman Catholics; to show that we are united to the real successor of St Peter" (Question 118), and refers to the Church as the "Roman Catholic Church" under Questions 114 and 131 (Baltimore Catechism).
  21. ^ "The Catechism of St Pius X, The Ninth Article of the Creed, Question 20". Cin.org. http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/pius/pcreed09.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  22. ^ Jaroslav Pelikan, Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) (University of Chicago Press 1985 ISBN 9780226653778), p. 114
  23. ^ Robert Feduccia (editor), Primary Source Readings in Catholic Church History (Saint Mary's Press 2005 ISBN 9780884898689), p. 85. Accessed at Google Books
  24. ^ "Vatican City State - State and Government". Vaticanstate.va. http://www.vaticanstate.va/EN/State_and_Government/. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
  25. ^ Duffy (1997), p. 415
  26. ^ Duffy (1997), p. 416
  27. ^ Duffy (1997), pp. 417–8
  28. ^ McDonough (1995), p. 227
  29. ^ "Orientalium Ecclesiarum". Vatican Council II. 2. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html. Retrieved 2011-04-30. 
  30. ^ CCEO, Canon 56. English Translation
  31. ^ Ronald G. Roberson. "Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics 2010". CNEWA. http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=125&pagetypeID=1&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1. Retrieved 2011-04-30. 
  32. ^ CCEO, Canons 55-150. English Translation
  33. ^ CCEO, Canons 151-154
  34. ^ CCEO, Canons 155-173
  35. ^ CCEO, Canons 174-176
  36. ^ Vatican, Annuario Pontificio 2009, p. 1172.
  37. ^ Annuario Pontifico per l'anno 2010 (Città di Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010)
  38. ^ Barry, p. 52
  39. ^ a b Canon Law 573-746 Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  40. ^ a b "Vatican: Priest numbers show steady, moderate increase". Catholic News Service. 2 March 2009. http://www.americancatholic.org/news/newsreport.aspx?id=759. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  41. ^ Froehle, pp. 4–5
  42. ^ Bazar, Emily (16 April 2008). "Immigrants Make Pilgrimage to Pope". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-04-15-popeimmigrants_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
  43. ^ "Number of Catholics on the Rise". Zenit News Agency. 27 April 2010. http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-29058. Retrieved 2010-05-02. . For greater details on numbers of Catholics and priests and their distribution by continent and for changes between 2000 and 2008, see "Annuario Statistico della Chiesa dell'anno 2008". Holy See Press Office. 27 April 2010. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/25451.php?index=25451&lang=it. Retrieved 2010-05-02.  (in Italian)
  44. ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 11.. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  45. ^ CCC, 1200–1209
  46. ^ CCEO, canon 28 §1 in an unofficial English translation. The official text is "Ritus est patrimonium liturgicum, theologicum, spirituale et disciplinare cultura ac rerum adiunctis historiae populorum distinctum, quod modo fidei vivendae uniuscuiusque Ecclesiae sui iuris proprio exprimitur." (A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage, differentiated by peoples' culture and historical circumstances, that finds expression in each sui iuris Church's own way of living the faith).
  47. ^ CCC, 1324–1331
  48. ^ See Luke 22:19, Matthew 26:27–28, Mark 14:22–24, 1Corinthians 11:24–25
  49. ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Canon of the Mass." Wikisource, The Free Library. 17 Oct 2010, 04:54 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 Aug 2011 <http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Canon_of_the_Mass&oldid=2142007>. Note: the Latin: "Hoc est enim corpus meum..." translates to English: "For this is my body..."
  50. ^ a b Kreeft, p. 326
  51. ^ a b Kreeft, p. 331
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  53. ^ "CCC, 1399". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P42.HTM. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  54. ^ The General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Copyright © 2011, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved.
  55. ^ Stuard-will, Kelly (2007). Karitas Publishing. ed. A Faraway Ancient Country.. United States: Gardners Books. pp. 216. ISBN 978-0-615-15801-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=q469xc7mbksC&lpg=PA1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  56. ^ Apostolic Constitution of Pope Benedict XVI: "Anglicanorum Coetibus: Providing for Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans Entering into Full Communion with the Catholic Church". November 4, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  57. ^ Marthaler, preface
  58. ^ John Paul II, Pope (1997). "Laetamur Magnopere". Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_15081997_laetamur_en.html. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  59. ^ a b Paul VI, Pope (1964). "Lumen Gentium chapter 2". Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  60. ^ "CCC, 80-81, 84-86". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PL.HTM. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  61. ^ a b Schreck, p. 21
  62. ^ Schreck, p. 23
  63. ^ Schreck, pp. 15–19
  64. ^ Schreck, p. 30
  65. ^ McGrath, pp. 4–6.
  66. ^ CCC, 608
  67. ^ Schreck, p. 113.
  68. ^ Barry, p. 26
  69. ^ Kreeft, pp. 71–72
  70. ^ CCC, 811.
  71. ^ Kreeft, p. 98, quote "The fundamental reason for being a Catholic is the historical fact that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, was God's invention, not man's ... As the Father gave authority to Christ (Jn 5:22; Mt 28:18–20), Christ passed it on to his apostles (Lk 10:16), and they passed it on to the successors they appointed as bishops."
  72. ^ Schreck, p. 131
  73. ^ a b Barry, p. 46
  74. ^ CCC, 880. Accessed Aug 20, 2011
  75. ^ Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, Vatican City, 1943. Accessed Aug 20, 2011
  76. ^ CCC, 1113-1114, 1117
  77. ^ Kreeft, pp. 298–299
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  98. ^ CCC, 1310 and 1319
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  106. ^ Canons 1008-1009 of the Code of Canon Law as modified by the 2009 motu proprio Omnium in mentem
  107. ^ a b Canon 1031 Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  108. ^ a b Canon 1037, Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  109. ^ Niebuhr, Gustav (16 February 1997). "Bishop's Quiet Action Allows Priest Both Flock And Family". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EEDD133FF935A25751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-04-04. 
  110. ^ Committee on the Diaconate. "Frequently Asked Questions About Deacons". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. http://www.usccb.org/deacon/faqs.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  111. ^ Canon 42 Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  112. ^ Canon 375, Catholic Church Canon Law. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  113. ^ Barry, p. 114.
  114. ^ "CCC, 1626". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P53.HTM. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  115. ^ "CCC, 1625". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P53.HTM. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
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  117. ^ "CCC, 1629". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P53.HTM. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  118. ^ a b c d e f g CCC, 1021–22, 1051
  119. ^ Matthew 25:35–36
  120. ^ a b Schreck, p. 397
  121. ^ "Saints' Prayers for Souls in Purgatory". Ewtn.com. http://www.ewtn.com/Library/Liturgy/zlitur215.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  122. ^ Luke 23:39–43
  123. ^ "Library : The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized". Catholic Culture. 19 January 2007. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7529&CFID=32422018&CFTOKEN=46037657. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  124. ^ Schreck, p. 199–200
  125. ^ a b Barry, p. 106
  126. ^ Barry, p. 122–123
  127. ^ Schreck, p. 368
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  130. ^ Kreeft, p. 980.
  131. ^ Bokenkotter, p. 30.
  132. ^ The Catholic Church recognizes as legitimate the episcopal consecrations of a number of other churches. However, it still insists that those churches are obligated to defer to the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff.
  133. ^ 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"
  134. ^ 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."
  135. ^ Temporini, Hildegard; Wolfgang Haase (1982). Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt Principat.: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Walter de Gruyter. p. 480. doi:2008-06-26. ISBN 3110087006. http://books.google.com/?id=kNPV4P5h1qgC&pg=PA480&dq=The+church+was+founded+by+jesus. 
  136. ^ Bokenkotter, p. 24.
  137. ^ MacCulloch, Christianity, pp. 155–159, 164.
  138. ^ Norman 81
  139. ^ "John Paul II, General Audience, March 24, 1993". Vatican.va. 1993-03-24. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19930324en.html. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 
  140. ^ Leith, Creeds of the Churches (1963), p. 143
  141. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 232
  142. ^ Fahlbusch, The Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001), p. 729
  143. ^ "CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM". Vatican.va. 1963-12-04. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html. Retrieved 2012-01-12. 
  144. ^ Duffy, pp. 270–276
  145. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 272, p. 274
  146. ^ Pope Paul VI. Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. October 28, 1965. Retrieved 2011-06-16. According to Section 4: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures."
  147. ^ Bauckham, p. 373
  148. ^ O’Neel, Brian. "Holier Than Thou: How Rejection of Vatican II Led Lefebvre into Schism", This Rock, Volume 14, Number 4. San Diego: Catholic Answers, April 2003.
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  150. ^ Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. (2006). Chronicle of the Popes: Trying to Come Full Circle. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-500-28608-6.
  151. ^ "2 April - This Day in History". History.co.uk. http://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/April-02.html;jsessionid=08931E713115A304B13BB1A6FA315A63.public1. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  152. ^ Peter and Margaret Hebblethwaite, and Peter Stanford (2 April 2005). "Obituary: Pope John Paul II | World news | guardian.co.uk". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/02/guardianobituaries.catholicism. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  153. ^ "Press Release - The Nobel Peace Prize 1979". Nobelprize.org. 27 October 1979. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  154. ^ "Press Release - Nobel Peace Prize 1996". Nobelprize.org. 11 October 1996. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1996/press.html. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  155. ^ Paul VI, Pope (1968). "Humanae Vitae". Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html. Retrieved 2008-02-02. 
  156. ^ Bokenkotter, p. 27, p. 154, pp. 493–494
  157. ^ Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of John Paul II to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone Copyright ©1994 Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 2011-06-05
  158. ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 1379
  159. ^ a b "Ordinations: Response Regarding Excommunication Decree". © 2011 Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA, Inc. Retrieved 2011-06-05
  160. ^ "Vatican decrees excommunication for participation in 'ordination' of women", Catholic News Agency. May 29, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  161. ^ David Willey (15 July 2010). "Vatican 'speeds up' abuse cases". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10645748. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  162. ^ Karen McVeigh. 'Pope Accused of Crimes Against Humanity by Victims of Sex Case' The Guardian. Tues 13 Sept 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/13/pope-crimes-humanity-victims-abuse (accessed 14 Sept 2011)
  163. ^ "Why the ICC likely won't charge pope over Catholic Church sex abuses". The Christian Science Monitor. September 15, 2011. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0915/Why-the-ICC-likely-won-t-charge-pope-over-Catholic-Church-sex-abuses. Retrieved February 8, 2012. 

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