What are the basics of Catholicism?

Answer 1

It is important to note that there are many varieties of Roman Catholics among the laity. Cultural Catholics are people who observe the religion's rituals as an ethnic tradition with little concern for the Church's doctrines. Liberal Catholics interpret the religion with a grain of salt - often condoning things like homosexuality and premarital sex. Folk Catholics practice a variety of superstitions that they've amalgamated together, such as the use of religious items to ward off bad luck.

My answer is concerned only with Catholicism as it is defined by the Church hierarchy. It is worth noting that many beliefs and practices start among folk Catholics and are eventually incorporated into Roman Catholic dogma after a concerted effort is made to interpret Biblical passages and the writings of early apostolic fathers in novel ways to support them.

The basic doctrine of the Catholic Church is that the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the bishop of Rome (the Pope) is the only legitimate Christian denomination on earth. All other denominations are schismatics (like the Eastern Orthodox) or heretics (like the evangelicals and Pentecostals). You must be Roman Catholic to be saved. The only way a non-Catholic can get to Heaven is if God decides that the person was too ignorant of Catholic doctrine to understand that Catholicism was the one true religion.

The grace and forgiveness that God offers to humanity through the sacrificial death of Jesus is mediated through physical rituals called Sacraments. Baptism makes an infant "born again" by washing away the guilt that each human being inherits from Adam and Eve called "original sin." Sacraments can only be offered by an ordained priest, although baptism might be performed by a parent or nurse if an infant is expected to die before a priest arrives.

After baptism, priests continue to give grace to their flocks through the Sacraments of the Eucharist, confession, marriage, and other rites. These rites culminate in the last rites given to a Catholic near death. The Eucharist (the Mass) is understood as a literal sacrifice, with Christ being literally transformed into the bread and wine and sacrificed for the sins of the world as the bread is broken. A Catholic minister is called a "priest" because he is believed to offer sacrifice like an Old Testament priest, although a Catholic priest offers Christ in the form of bread, while the Old Testament priest slaughtered animals. Modern Catholic theology admits that Christ died once-for-all on the Cross, and interprets the Mass as a kind of mystical ritual that unites the bread with Christ's one-time sacrifice on the Cross. Despite these modern refinements, however, Catholics literally worship the bread as Jesus during the Mass.

Catholics believe that their Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus, and that their bishops have the power of the apostles. They interpret church schisms in history, such as the Orthodox-Catholic schism in 1054 A.D. or the Protestant Reformation, as instances where heretical groups that refused to accept the Pope's right to rule the Church left the Catholic Church to found new religious organizations that lack the legitimate right to exist separate from Catholicism.

The Pope is believed to be the unique successor of St. Peter, with the unique authority to hold "the keys of the kingdom." This allows the Pope to make doctrinal decisions that are regarded as "infallible," although this ability was not defined as Catholic dogma until Vatican I. The Pope has only used this infallibility twice, to define doctrines related to the Virgin Mary. Although the Pope has only issued two "infallible" statements, Catholic laity are expected to abide by the Church's rulings on Birth Control, sexual morality, and other issues. Not complying with Church directives can place a Catholic in a state of "mortal sin," which may mean their damnation if they do not repent and confess.

The Roman Catholic Church has many unique beliefs related to the Virgin Mary. They believe that she was born without original sin and that like Jesus, she was sinless in her life. When she died, her body was taken up into Heaven. She never had sex with Joseph after Jesus was born, because physical sex would have defiled the vessel through which God was born, and the brothers and sisters of Jesus are understood to be cousins of Jesus or half-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph's. Some Catholics condemn portrayals of the Virgin Mary that rely solely on the Bible rather than Catholic tradition and imply that Joseph and Mary lived a normal married life following the birth of Christ. For example, the film "The Nativity Story" received many cool or hostile responses from Catholics, while other Catholics sought to ignore the film's obvious implication that Mary and Joseph fell in love and were intimate after Christ's birth. (Protestants, by contrast, warmly received the film and thought it was a reverent portrayal of Christ's birth.) Mary is highly regarded as an intercessor between God and humanity, and many prayers are offered to her. The Catholic Church formally teaches that Mary is not divine, but many folk Catholics admit to worshiping her. There are initiatives in the Vatican to define Mary's role as "Co-Redemptrix" and "Co-Mediatrix," which some contend would defy Mary and doom ecumenical relations with other Christian denominations as a result.

The Roman Catholic Church has many other beliefs related to the afterlife (the Church teaches that there is an intermediary state between Heaven and Hell where many Christians may spend time atoning for sins), sexuality (the Church demands that all sex acts between married couples end in genital sex, without the use of Birth Control, although Natural Family Planning is allowed - sex for pleasure or emotional bonding, without the intention to procreate, is regarded as serious sin, even if engaged in by married couples), and other topics that are not shared by most other Christians. The Roman Catholic Church is the only denomination that requires most of its clergy to be celibate.

Most lay Catholics in Western countries disregard at least some of these beliefs. Few are willing to accept that non-Catholics are likely damned, that birth control is a sin, or that the Pope is infallible. Many Catholics vocally object to the open and critical discussion of Church dogma, and are quick to accuse critics of "anti-Catholic bias" or "nativist bigotry," even when the critics of the Church are former Catholics themselves.

Nonetheless, these are the official beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. You can confirm this by checking with any catechism or book about Catholic dogma that has the imprimatur of a Catholic bishop. The Baltimore Catechism or the book "Why Do Catholics Do That?" by Kevin Johnson present these exclusive beliefs in a triumphalistic manner, with no attempts to evade or soften their implications. Many Catholics hoped that the Church would modernize after Vatican II allowed them to offer the Mass in their native languages rather than Latin. The reigns of Pope John Paul II and the current Pope Benedict have squashed these hopes, however, and made it very clear that traditional Catholic dogmas remain authoritative for the foreseeable future. Benedict did, however, allow that unbaptized babies may be saved - probably.