What are the main differences between Catholic and protestant church?

Answer 1

Protestants believe good works alone cannot gain you salvation.

AnswerCatholics and Protestants have much more in common than critics assume.

Both churches adhere to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds that set out the basic, but most profound beliefs of the Christian Church - a Triniarian God, Father Son and Holy Spirit; that Jesus is fully human and yet fully God, His virgin birth, life, death on the Cross, resurrection, ascension and coming again. They believe in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in peoples' lives today. They all accept the Bible as the source of God's word, written by individuals but inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Any differences, then, are in peripheral matters.

These include:

• 1. Catholics regard the pope as infallible and are under his authority. Protestants reject the authority of the pope.
• 2. Doctrines surrounding the Virgin Mary are accepted as fact by Catholics. these include her immaculate conception and her perpetual virginal state, and her intercession (by prayer) between God and humanity. Protestants reject these as inventions as they have no basis historically or biblically.
• 3. Doctrines surrounding the mass. Catholics regard the mass as a resacrifice of Christ's body, and the bread and wine actually to be his body and blood. Protestants reject this and return to the 'memorial' of Christ's death as he instituted the Eucharist and regard the bread and wine as symbolic.
• 4. Doctrines surrounding purgatory and limbo. Catholics believe in a place of 'cleansing' after death before entry into heaven. Protestants reject this and regard it as heretical, against Jesus' own teaching, and a rather abhorrent idea which betrays the trust that we are called to have in a loving God.
• 5. Catholics pray to saints as interceders for us. Protestants regard this as wrong as Biblically there is only one advocate between the Father and us - Jesus Christ.
• 6. Catholics believe that priestly ministry has to involve celibacy and only men are allowed into the priesthood. Many protestant Churches allow married men and women into their priesthood, or as church leaders and ministers.

There are many other differences, of course, but these just highlight some of them. Despite the differences, we should remember that there is sufficient major doctrine in common to regard both Catholics and Protestants as true members of Christ's Church on earth, something which cannot be said of pseudoChristian cults like Mormonism and the Watchtower Society, where major rejection of even the most basic doctrines render these organisations as outside the Christian Church worldwide.

Catholic AnswerThere is only one real fundamental difference, all the rest is window dressing: Catholics believe that there is only ONE Church and that it was founded by Our Blessed Lord on the Apostle Peter, who was to rule it on earth. They believe, as the Bible says, that the Church is the Mystical Body of Our Blessed Lord, and His Bride, and that He sent the Holy Spirit to guide it until the end of time, that it will be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic until the end of time.

Protestants, on the other hand, believe that the Church is whatever they want it to be from their personal interpretation of the Bible (the New Testament, of which, was written by the Catholic Church and compiled as such four centuries AFTER Our Blessed Lord established the Catholic Church). Their various "churches" are all less than five hundred years old and were started by various men or women who disagreed with whatever church they belonged to. As they realize that their "churches" can not be the Church that Our Blessed Lord is talking about in the Bible, they redefined "church" to mean an invisible group of believers that no one can see.

Catholics believe that Christianity is something revealed to us by God and that we work out our salvation by believing what He revealed to us, and following His commandments, and working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Protestants believe that they can define Christianity to be whatever they feel comfortable with, and if they don't, they leave and start their own denomination to be in alignment with what they think. From Martin Luther's obsession with sex and sin, Henry VIII's obsession with brides and heirs, to Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses, we have whatever they think Christianity should be.

All of the rest is just the result of those two basic different decisions, whether to follow God, the way He revealed Himself, or to follow someone's idea of what God should have done.

AnswerProtestants believe good works alone cannot gain you salvation. Protestants do not believe in the pope's authority. Catholics give spiritual authority to the pope.

Catholics trace their beliefs back to the apostles. Protestants began as Catholics who protested many aspects of the church in the 16th century. Today there are so many different protestant churches that it is hard to characterize them as a group. Some Protestants believe what might be called the principal doctrines while other Protestants believe fewer of the principal doctrines. The most basic beliefs that Catholics share with many Protestants, and Christians who don't call themselves protestant anymore, are: 1. the Bible as the source of God's revealed teaching. 2. Baptism as the sacrament necessary for salvation. 3. the Last Supper as the event that is the model of a worship service. 4. the Ten Commandments as the basic definition of morality. 5. the divinity of Christ as Son of God made man.

The principal differences are:

1.) Catholics recognize tradition as having equal importance as scripture. Paul points this out in his 2nd letter to Timothy.

2.) Protestants generally do not accept the True Presence in the Eucharist or, if they do, it is only a temporary thing. Our Lord disappears after communion.

3.) Protestants do not accept the leadership of the pope.

4.) Catholics recognize 7 sacraments (all biblical) while most Protestants recognize only one or two.

5.) Most Protestants do not recognize the Deuterocanonical books of the Bible that are accepted by Catholics.

6.) Most Protestants do not recognize the perpetual virginity of Mary.

7.) While most Protestants recognize the Communion of Saints, their view of it is considerably divergent from the Catholic view.

8.) Most Protestants believe man is saved by faith alone. Catholics believe we are justified by faith but saved by good works.

9.) Catholics believe our souls must undergo a final cleansing as punishment for sins forgiven in Purgatory. Protestants do not.

There are many other differences but the above are probably the most distinctive.

Roman Catholics follow the Pope in Rome as head of Jesus' church on earth. Protestants believe that the Pope is not God's chosen leader.

Catholic AnswerThe Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Another AnswerDepending on the domination. One of the major differences would be that Catholics believe in the pope and Protestants don't. Protestants also don't hold as many sacraments as Catholics do and women are allowed to become pastors in Protestantism while Catholics don't allow such a thing. Lutherans are the closest to Catholics while Baptist are the farthest from Catholics.

The main differences between Catholics and protestants are...

Catholics believe in:

• Purgatory
• The Pope

• transubstantiation

• Indulgences

• Apostolic succession

• Protestants believe in:

• Consubstantiation

• Dead in the body = Dead in the soul

• "The invisible church"

• The bible is the only source

• Traditions are bad

• Wine is evil

There is more in common betwen the Catholic Church and most Protestant churches than there is different, especially in the most important things, like our faith in God as Trinity, faith in Christ, the Resurrection, baptism, the importance of the Bible, etc.

There are many different Protestant churches and communities, each is different from the other, and so each is different from the Catholic Church in different ways.

Catholic AnswerAs the above answer points out there are some amazing similarities between the two. However, the difference is huge. The Catholic Church was founded by Our Blessed Savior as His Mystical Body and He appointed Peter as His first Vicar to guide the Church on earth. He send the Holy Spirit to guide it into all truth and guaranteed that it would remain One (as His Body and His Bride) until the end of the world. As such the Catholic Church brings Our Blessed Lord to people, teaches them in His truth, forgives their sins, and feeds them with His Body and Blood leading them to salvation and happiness forever with God in Heaven. The protestant communities have literally nothing in common except that they all reject Christ Body in His Church "protesting" against His truth. They have fragmented into over 30,000 thousands different belief systems as of last count, and continue to fragment. The Catholic Church teaches that man has free will but only has one decision to make in life - whether to follow Our Blessed Lord and be saved, or not. It is a decision that one must keep making throughout one's life and is the decision behind all the other decisions that one makes. Protestants believe that they can tell God how they are going to worship Him, and what they are going to believe. Protestants reject some of the books of the Bible that the Church has preserved for centuries, they reject the sacraments that Our Blessed Lord gave for our salvation, and they believe many different things as each believer is his own final authority.

The, "religious" differences between Catholics and Protestants. Are, the fact that Catholic churches have the word, "Catholic" in them. While, "Protestant" churches, have names like, LOVE CHURCH, or LOVE COMMUNITY CENTER, in them. Another, religious difference between Catholics and Protestants is due to the fact, that Catholics believe that Mary is the Mother of God. Technically, God does not have a mother. Most Christians know that God created Earth, Adam & Eve, and all of that sort of stuff. God was around way before Mary (mother of JESUS) was around. So, therefore God does not have a Mother. Those are the two (2) main religious differences between Catholics & Protestants.

The word catholic generally applies to the Roman Catholic Church which traces its roots back to St Peter, the rock Jesus said he would build his church on and regarded as the first pope). As it has the longest continuous history (apart perhaps from the Ethiopian church) it is hardly surprising that it is very strong on tradition. Until the sixteenth century it was the dominant (if not only!) church in Western Europe.

The sixteenth century though saw groups of people emerging who, for various reasons, found some of practises, indeed traditions, of the Catholic church difficult to come to terms with, not least because, for the first time, people other than priests were beginning to have access to the Bible in their own language. Eventually they could contain their concerns no longer and effectively 'protested' at what they saw as problems. When their protests were not heeded by the church authorities they gradually started to set up their own churches which multiplied as new translations or insights into the Bible raised other questions or threw up new emphases. These churches became the Protestant movement, which is still expanding today; not so much in numbers, at least not everywhere, but in variety of expression.

Hope that helps...

if not here...

henri the VIII wanted to get devorced for 8-th time to marry a new wife, catholic papa did nog give him permissioan, so he devorced catholic church and made up his own anglican christianist church.

protestants dont like rich, gold things for the church.

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Catholic AnswerThe Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Answerthe difference between them are: 1.catholics believe in the Motherhood of Mary, which the protestant dont 2. catholic believe in the presence of Christ in the blessed sacrament, which the protestants dont

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ANSWER: Ultimately the number of differences are too numerous to recited. Re: the above, I would clarify as follow:

1. Many (though not all) non-Catholic christians/Protestants would accept the motherhood of Mary but would have difficulty understanding/accepting that Mary is the Mother of God. Theologically, that is because Jesus is God (protestants believe this) and that Jesus was fully human and fully divine (most protestants believe this) and THEREFORE Mary is the Mother of God b/c Our Lord had no "parts." Mary was therefore not merely the mother of the HUMAN PART of Jesus b/c he was, in fact, 100% human and 100% divine at the same time -- He had NO "parts." A divine mystery and matter of faith.

2. Several Protestant denominations believe that Jesus is "present" in Holy Communion (i.e., the Lutherans) But they differ as to HOW -- transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation. Most, other than the Orthodox, to not believe in Transubstantiation which means that the bread and wine, literally, become the Body Blood Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ even though the APPEARANCE of bread & wine remain. Consubstantiatioists would say that Our Lord CO-EXISTS with the bread & wine. It may sound like not a big difference but it actually is theologically. Catholics reject that Our Lord "co-exists" with objects. The bread and wine IS changed, really, even though we can't see it. ANALOGY: If I expose a piece of bread to radiation, it IS radioactive but it won't look any different nor will it taste any different . . .but oh boy is it different! ;-)

3. Most Protestants consider communion merely symbolic. Their focus is on the 'REMEMBRANCE" part of Scripture (Last Supper) instead of on the "DO THIS" part. Catholics DO IT -- CHANGE IT literally (even though we see no change). We're not merely remembering/commemorating the Last Supper. We are re-presenting the Last Supper and the SAME Last Supper that occurred 2000 years ago in the upper room. We are partaking in the SAME Eucharist that the Apostles did. Difficult to understand. Takes faith but the biblical and historical evidence shows that this is how the early church understood the Eucharist too.

Growing up... my brothers, sisters and I were sent off to a "Presbyterian" church every Sunday by our parents [to get us out of the house]. Around the age of 9 or so, I queried my father: "What does Presbyterian mean?"

To which, he informed me that they were a "Protestant" denomination. My blank expression made him press on: "The root word is 'protest." They protest the teachings of the Catholic church."

So, on the surface, at least... today's Protestant denominations of mainstream professing Christianity are all OFFSHOOTS [children, 'daughters'] of the "mother church" of Rome. These bear names like: Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and a few hundred other obscure and forgettable names.

Each "child," supposedly, separated from their "mother" for different reasons. Some disagreed with the way their mother "baptized." Some disagreed with their mother's "worship of idols." Some disagreed with their mother's pomp and ceremony. The hundreds of protesting children splitting off from their mother testifies to, literally, hundreds of different reasons for doing so.

Yet... when my time came to "join the Presbyterian church"... the final test was to memorize and recite "The Apostles' Creed" -- an UN-biblical "oath" of some kind, in which is found the words: "...I BELIEVE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH"!

Such a glaring contradiction, so obvious to even a child of 10 [and many other mirrored similarities between their beliefs], caused me to doubt that any REAL DIFFERENCE truly exists between all these "Protesting Children" and their "Mother."

With most, if not all of them, stepping out on their own based on one or two points of disagreement... the vast majority of the Protestants still clung to "Sunday worship" -- the authority, decree and command of which lies squarely on the shoulders of their "mother"... and nowhere found commanded in the Bible.

So, while the "differences" between the Protestant and Catholic 'beliefs" vary among the hundreds of protesting denominations and their "mother" based on each one's interpretation of one biblical passage or other -- the deep reality in the midst of all the religious banter and confusion is that, perhaps, they are all still of the same ilk... and that in spite of rudimentary differences of opinion, the children are still deeply entangled in their "mother's" roots.

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Catholic AnswerThere is only one base difference between Catholic and protestant beliefs and it is huge. The Catholic Church was founded by Our Blessed Lord from the Cross, He appointed St. Peter as its first Vicar and sent the Holy Spirit to guide it until the end of the world. God guaranteed that It would be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, and that It would be the Way for people to come to God, and for God to reach people with His Grace. The only real choice that a Catholic has is whether to follow God - or not. If a person decides to follow God, then he follows everything that God has revealed to him through His Church. The person making the decision to follow God must look at every decision he is faced with in life as one to follow God or not.

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Protestants reject God's revelation through His Son, Our Blessed Lord in the Church, they have decided they they are capable on their own of deciding how they want to follow God, how to interpret His Word, and what He is asking of them. They have no true, infallible guide on how to answer God's call, and thus are left adrift as they have rejected His Love that He has offered them in His Church.

Answer 2

There are many differences on specific teachings that vary from church to church, but the largest difference is in the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation. This states that at the moment of consecration, the bread and wine used during mass cease to be bread and wine, and begin being the physical and spiritual substance of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. This is also taught in the Orthodox churches.

Protestant churches believe in some other presence of Jesus, either with the bread and wine (consubstantiation), or under the forms of bread and wine. This differs from Catholic teaching, which professes that Christ does not become bread and wine, but bread and wine become Christ; they retain only their appearance; they change their substance; they cease to be bread and wine.

Note that this core teaching is not understood by many Catholics today.

Answer 3

There ar many significant differences-the Catholics believe in a place called Purgatory-a place where one who dies in sin can have his sin cleansed from him before entering Heaven-that is their belief in a form of sanctification-the belief of Protestant churches is that there is only two places where a soul would go after death-Heaven, if they are saved and believed in and followed Jesus Christ; the only other place where a soul would go is Hell-if they died without Jesus in their lives and hearts. There are other beliefs that Catholics have that differ greatly from Protestants

Roman Catholic AnswerThe main and only significant difference is that the Catholic Church was founded by Our Blessed Lord, who guaranteed it until the end of the world, and sent the Holy Spirit to guide it into all truth. All protestant churches were founded by different men from the sixteenth century onwards in protest of something that their original Church believed in.