Catholic Church

"Catholic Church" redirects here. For other uses, see Catholic Church (disambiguation).

The Roman Catholic Church, or Catholic Church, is the largest Christian Church in the world. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of year 2004 was 1,098,366,000, a year in which the United Nations put the total world population at 6,388,500,000. As such it is the world's largest single organised body of religion. It is led by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, currently His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

The Church defines itself as "the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter" — i.e. the Pope — "and the bishops in communion with him." It teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church ("four marks of the Church") founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people.

Terminology

Statue of Saint Peter, leader of the Twelve Apostles, in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The Pope is the Successor of Peter.

The term catholic is derived from the Greek adjective καθολικός, katholikos, from the phrase "kath' holou," which is from kata "about" + genitive of holos "whole", thus literally meaning about whole, sometimes loosely translated as "universal." Churches that use the word in their name do so with an implicit claim to be the one, whole Church founded by Christ.

The Catholic Church has consistently referred to itself by this name, among others, at least since the early second century, when the term Catholic Church appears in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch. When drawing up documents jointly with other Churches, it refers to itself exclusively either as the Catholic Church or - when one of those other Churches opposes its use of this designation - as the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, some apply the term Roman Catholic Church only to the Western or Latin Church, excluding the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches that are in full communion with the Pope, and are part of the same Church, under the Pope.

For reasons of simplicity and clarity, the term Catholic Church is freely used within this article without suggesting acceptance of any claims thought to be implicit in that term, while Roman Catholic Church is used without endorsing the view that the Church in question is merely part of some larger Catholic Church. Both terms are treated within this article simply as alternative names for the entire Church "which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."

For other uses of the terms "Catholic" and "Catholic Church", see Catholic and Catholicism.

Origins and history

Main article: History of the Roman Catholic Church

See also: History of the Papacy

The Church traces its origins to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, in particular Peter, the leader of the Apostles, who is regarded as the first Pope. The term "Catholic Church" was first used in a letter by Ignatius of Antioch and Catholic writers list a number of references which point to at least a 'first among equals' status for the See of Rome from the very earliest times.

The New Testament contains warnings against teachings considered to be only masquerading as Christianity, and shows how reference was made to the leaders of the Church to decide what was true doctrine. The Catholic Church claims to be the continuation of those who remained faithful to the leadership and rejected divergent teachings.

After an initial period of sporadic but intense persecution, Christianity was legalized in the fourth century, when Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan in 313. From 380 on, Christianity was the Roman state religion. Constantine was instrumental in the convocation of the Council of Nicea, which sought to address the Arian heresy and formulated the Nicene Creed which is used to this day by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and various Protestant churches.

During the 11th century (the traditional date assigned is 1054, though it was in fact a process over a number of decades) the Church underwent the Great Schism in which the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy divided over a number of administrative, liturgical and doctrinal issues, most notably the Filioque and papal primacy of jurisdiction. Both the Second Council of Lyons (1274) and the Council of Basel (1439) attempted to reunite the churches, but in both cases the Orthodox rejected the councils. The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy remain in schism to the present day, although efforts to end the schism are ongoing. Each church claims to be the 'one, holy, catholic and apostolic' church of the Nicene Creed. Some Eastern churches have since been reunited with the Catholic Church, acknowledging the primacy of the pope, and form the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Blessed Pope John XXIII shows the consecrated host to the people (whom he faces, since the apse in St. Peter's Basilica is to the west) at the Pontifical High Mass at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, in 1962

The second great rift in the history of Christianity was the Reformation, in which various groups repudiated the primacy of the pope, various other Catholic doctrines and practices as well as abuses (such as simony) common at the time. Reformers within the Catholic Church launched the Counter Reformation, a period of doctrinal clarification, reform of the clergy and the liturgy, and re-evangelization begun by the Council of Trent.

The Council of Trent and its reforms provided the theme for the next 300 years of Catholic history. The period lay an emphasis on catechesis and missionary work, in both of which the Jesuit and Franciscan orders were prominent. The 18th and 19th century Church found itself facing not only the teachings of Protestantism, but also Enlightenment and Modernist teachings about the nature of the human person, the state, and morality. With the coming of the industrial revolution, and the increased concern about the conditions of urban workers, 19th and 20th century popes issued encyclicals (notably Rerum Novarum) explicating Catholic Social Teaching.

The First Vatican Council (1869–1870) affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility which Catholics hold to be in continuity with the history of Petrine supremacy in the Church, but Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches consider a theological innovation.

The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was convened by Pope John XXIII primarily as a pastoral council, to make the historic teachings of the Catholic Church clear to the modern world. It issued documents on a number of topics including the nature of the Church, the mission of the laity, and religious freedom. Vatican II also issued instructions for a revision of the liturgy, which led to the intermediate 1965 Missal and later the Mass of Paul VI or novus ordo mass. The most visible element of these reforms was that the mass could now be celebrated in the vernacular as well as in Latin. (However, it was intended that Latin continue to have priority.)

Vatican II has remained the source of much controversy within the Catholic Church, with some elements claiming that conservatives within the Church prevented the full "spirit of Vatican II" from being implemented, while other elements claim that liberals within the Church used the council as an excuse to make changes in practice and catechesis far more wide ranging than the council's documents authorized.

Beliefs

The Crucifix, bearing the image of Jesus suffering on a cross, often serves as a symbol of the Catholic Church, in contrast with some other Christian denominations, which use only a cross.

The core beliefs of the Catholic Church are shared by the majority of other Trinitarian Christian groups. Its catechesis makes use of the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, which are accepted also by most major Christian denominations. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (964 pages in the Latin edition) gives a rather detailed account of its beliefs.

Catholics place particular importance on the Church as an institution founded by Christ and kept from doctrinal error by the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and as the font of salvation for humanity. The seven sacraments, of which the most important is the Eucharist, are of prime importance in obtaining salvation.

Scripture and Tradition

The principal sources for the teachings of the Catholic Church are the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. The original language of most of the Old Testament is Hebrew or Aramaic, but several books or portions of books were written in Greek. The New Testament was also written in Greek.

Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter, Divino Afflante Spiritu, which encouraged Catholics to translate the Scriptures directly from the original Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek languages because it ". . . having been written by the inspired author himself, has more authority and greater weight than any of even the very best translations, ancient or modern." (Divino Afflante Spiritu, 16).

For limited (less-authentic), English-language theological study, the Vatican recommends committee-consensus translations of the original canonical texts.[4]

There is a variety of sources for knowledge of Sacred Tradition, originally passed from the apostles in the form of oral tradition. Many of the writings of the Early Church Fathers reflect teachings of Sacred Tradition, such as apostolic succession.

Nature of God

Catholicism is monotheistic: it acknowledges that God is one, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing and omnipresent. God exists as distinct from and prior to his creation (that is, everything which is not God, and which depends directly on him for existence) and yet is still present intimately in His creation. In the First Vatican Council the Church has taught that, while by the natural light of human reason God can be known in his works as origin and end of all created things, God has also chosen to reveal himself and his will supernaturally in the ways indicated in the Letter to the Hebrews 1:1–2.

Catholicism is also Trinitarian: it believes that, while God is one in nature, essence, and being, this one God exists in three divine persons, each identical with the one essence, whose only distinctions are in their relations to one another: the Father's relationship to the Son, the Son's relationship to the Father, and the relations of both to the Holy Spirit, constitute the one God as a Trinity.

A Catholic is baptized in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit — not three gods, but one God subsisting in three Persons. While sharing in the one divine essence, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct, not simply three "masks" or manifestations of one Person. The faith of the Church and of the individual Christian is based on a relationship with these three Persons of the one God.

The Catholic Church believes that God has revealed himself to humanity as Father to his only-begotten Son, who is in an eternal relationship with the Father: "No one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."

Catholics believe that God the Son, the Divine Logos, the second of the three Persons of God, became incarnate as Jesus Christ, a human being, born of the Virgin Mary. He remained truly divine and was at the same time truly human. In what he said, and by how he lived, he taught us how to live, and revealed God as Love, the giver of unmerited favours or Graces.

After Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, his followers, foremost among them the Apostles, spread more and more extensively their faith in Jesus Christ with a vigour that they attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, the third of the three Persons of God, sent upon them by Jesus Christ.

Humanity's separation from God

Human beings, in Catholic belief, were originally created to live in union with God. Through the disobedience of the first humans, that relationship was broken and sin and death came into the world. The Fall left humans in a state called original sin, that is, separated from their original state of intimacy with God which carried into death through the idea of the individual human soul being immortal. But when Jesus came into the world, being both God and man, he was able through his sacrifice to reconcile humanity with God. By becoming one in Christ, through the Church, humanity was once again capable of intimacy with God but also offered a much more amazing gift: participation in the Divine Life on earth, which will reach its fullness in heaven in the Beatific Vision.

The Church

Gutenberg bible printed in 1455. By the end of the 1400s, Catholics such as Johann Gutenberg were operating 250 print shops all over Europe.

The Church is, as scripture states, "the body of Christ," and Catholics teach that it is one united body of believers both in heaven and on earth. There is therefore only one true, visible and physical Church, not several. And to this one Church, originally founded on Peter and the Apostles, Jesus gave a mandate to be the authoritative teacher and guardian of the faith. To transmit Christ's divine revelation, the apostles were given the mandate to "preach the Gospel," which they performed both orally and in writing, and which they preserved by leaving bishops as their successors. Thus, the Catechism states "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. This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it." The Church is also a fount of divine grace which is administered through the sacraments (see below). The Church claims infallibility in teaching the faith, based on Jesus's scriptural promises to remain with His Church always, and to maintain it in truth through the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Jesus promised divine protection to the teachings and judgements of the Apostles, and those who succeeded them in their teaching office (i.e. the bishops). Moreover, Jesus set up the Church as the final arbiter between all believers: "And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer." In this, it bases its doctrines both on the written Apostolic record, (The New Testament), and upon the oral traditions passed down from the Apostles to their successors (the bishops) through the continuous witness of the Church.

Section 8 of the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Church, Lumen Gentium states that "the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic" subsists "in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him." (The term successor of Peter refers in Catholic understanding to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.)

The Basilica of St John Lateran, cathedral of the diocese of Rome and so of the Pope.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 85 states that authentic interpretation of the Word of God is entrusted to the living Magisterium of the Church, namely the bishops in communion with the successor of Saint Peter. Catholic theology places the authoritative interpretation of Scripture in the hands of the consistent judgment of the Church down the ages (what has always and everywhere been taught) rather than the private judgment of the individual. The Magisterium does, however, encourage its flock to read Sacred Scripture.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "the Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God." Thus the Church's "structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ's members."

Salvation

The Church teaches that salvation to eternal life is God's will for all people, and that God grants it to sinners as a free gift, a grace, through the sacrifice of Christ. Man cannot, in the strict sense, merit anything from God. It is God who justifies, that is, who frees from sin by a free gift of holiness (sanctifying grace, also known as habitual or deifying grace). Man can accept the gift God gives through faith in Jesus Christ and through baptism. Man can also refuse the gift. Human cooperation is needed, in line with a new capacity to adhere to the divine will that God provides. The faith of a Christian is not without works, otherwise it would be dead. In this sense, "by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone," and eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merits. Faith, and subsequently works, are a result of God's grace - thus, it is only because of grace that the believer can be said to "merit" salvation.

The Catholic Church teaches that through the graces Jesus won for humanity by sacrificing himself on the cross, salvation is possible even for those outside the visible boundaries of the Church. Christians and even non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them through the mercy of Christ may be saved. This may sometimes include awareness of an obligation to become part of the Catholic Church. In such cases, "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it."

File:Bohermeenoldchurch.JPG

A 1950s Low Mass in Bohermeen, Ireland in the presence of a bishop and several priests and with the altar arranged for Eucharistic devotions to follow.

Catholic life

Following baptism, a Catholic endeavours to be a true disciple of Jesus. The believer seeks forgiveness of subsequent sins, and follows the example and teaching of Jesus. Catholics believe that Jesus has provided seven sacraments (see below), which give Grace from God to the believer.

A distinct sacrament in the Catholic Church is confession, which it connects with the "power to loose and to bind." (Mt 18:18).

Unless a Catholic dies in unrepented mortal sin, which is remitted in the Sacrament of Confession, it is believed that person has God's promise of inheriting eternal life. Before entering heaven, some undergo a purification, known as Purgatory.

Catholics believe that God works actively in the world. Catholics grow in grace through participation in the sacramental life of the Church, and through prayer, the work of mercy, and spiritual disciplines such as fasting and pilgrimage.

Prayer for others, even for enemies and persecutors. is a Christian duty. There are four types of prayer: adoration, thanksgiving, contrition, and supplication. Catholics may address their requests for the intercession of others not only to people still in earthly life, but also to those in heaven, in particular the Virgin Mary and the other Saints. As Mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary is also considered to be the spiritual mother of all Catholics.

Catholic social teaching

Main article: Catholic social teaching

Catholic teachings stress forgiveness, doing good to others, especially those most in need, and on the sanctity of life. Though Catholics were pacifists in the earliest days of the Church (witnessed by the fact that Christians were forbidden to join the Roman Army, part of the reason behind their political persecution in the empire, as explained in even high school history textbooks such as Carl Koch's "The Catholic Church"), only some Catholics hold that position today, with various analyses of "just war theory" more widely held. (However, it should be noted that the point of the Catholic just war criteria is to prevent and limit war rather than to justify it — as explained by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae, Secunda Pars, Q. 40., and virtually every theologian who followed him). Also, though capital punishment has not itself been absolutely condemned by the Church, it has come under increasing criticism by theologians and Church leaders — Pope John Paul II, for instance, himself opposed capital punishment in all instances as being immoral because there are other options for punishment and deterrence in the modern world and he, along with most other modern Catholic theologians, held that if capital punishment were ever moral (a position some dispute), it would only be justifiable when there was no other option for the protection of the lives of others. In his encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" (The Gospel of Life) issued March 25, 1995 after four years of consultations with the world's Catholic bishops, John Paul II wrote that execution is only appropriate "in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent." This position is also held by Avery Cardinal Dulles, Msgr. William Smith, Germain Grisez and the other major thinkers among Catholic moral theologians today.

Catholic teachings on human life and sexuality

The Catholic Church affirms the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. The Church believes that each person is made in the "image and likeness of God," and that human life should not be weighed against other values such as economy, convenience, personal preferences, or social engineering. Therefore, the Church opposes activities that they believe destroy or devalue divinely created life, including euthanasia, eugenics and abortion.

Many believe that the Church teaches that sex is sinful and an impairment to a grace filled life. In fact, the Church teaches that Manichaeism, the belief that the spirit is good while the flesh is evil, is a heresy. As God created the human body in his own image and likeness, and because He found everything He created to be "very good," then the human body and sex must likewise be good. Far from teaching that our bodies are evil, the Catechism teaches that "the flesh is the hinge of salvation."

Pope John Paul II's first major teaching was on the Theology of the Body. Over the course of five years he elucidated a vision of sex that was not only positive and affirming but was about redemption, not condemnation. He taught that by understanding God's plan for physical love we could understand "the meaning of the whole of existence, the meaning of life." It is "the body, in fact, and it alone [that] is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it."

Liturgy

Main article: Catholic liturgy

The Catholic Church is fundamentally liturgical in its public life of worship. Liturgy is derived from the Greek for "work of the people." In the liturgical reforms since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has held as a guiding priciple that full active and conscious participation by the faithful in the act of worship is the meaning and purpose of all liturgy.

Sacraments

Main article: Sacraments (Catholic Church)

The seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church are efficacious signs and instruments, perceptible to the senses, of grace. According to the Church's theology, they have been instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, and through them divine life is bestowed on us. They are means by which Christ gives the particular grace indicated by the sign aspect of the sacrament in question, helping the individual to advance in holiness, and contributing to the Church' s growth in charity and in giving witness. The Sacraments are:

• Baptism
• Eucharist
• Confirmation
• Reconciliation, also called Confession and Penance
• Anointing of the Sick, formerly called Extreme Unction
• Holy Orders
• Matrimony

Devotional life of the Church

Main article: Catholic spirituality

In addition to the sacraments, instituted by Christ, there are many sacramentals, sacred signs (rituals or objects) that derive their power from the prayer of the Church. They involve prayer accompanied by the sign of the cross or other signs. Important examples are blessings (by which praise is given to God and his gifts are prayed for), consecrations of persons, and dedications of objects to the worship of God.Popular devotions are not strictly part of the liturgy, but if they are judged to be authentic, the Church encourages them. They include veneration of relics of saints, visits to sacred shrines, pilgrimages, processions (including Eucharistic processions), the Stations of the Cross (also known as the Way of the Cross), Holy Hours, Eucharistic Adoration, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Rosary.

Personal prayer

Likewise, the great variety of Catholic spirituality enables individual Catholics to pray privately in many different ways. The fourth and last part of the Catechism thus summarized the Catholic's response to the mystery of faith: "This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer." (CCC 2558)

Particular Churches within the single Catholic Church

Unlike "families" or "federations" of Churches formed through the grant of mutual recognition by distinct ecclesial bodies, the Catholic Church considers itself a single Church ("one Body") composed of a multitude of local or particular Churches, in each of which the one Catholic Church is embodied. The universal Church, however, is believed to be "a reality ontologically and temporally prior to every individual particular Church."

However, the Catholic Church attaches great importance to the particular Churches within it, whose theological significance the Second Vatican Council highlighted. Two uses of the term particular Church are distinguished.

• Autonomous (sui iuris) particular Churches or Rites. See:Eastern Rite Catholic Churches
• Particular or local Churches (Dioceses and National Conferences of Bishops). See: Particular church

Relations with other Christian Churches

Main article: Catholic Church and ecumenism

While the Catholic Church sees itself as the Church founded by Christ, it recognizes that many of the salvific elements of the Gospel are found in other Churches also. The Second Vatican Council document, Lumen Gentium, 8, says that the sole Church of Christ as " subsists in", rather than simply "is" the Catholic Church, in view of its following statement: "Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and truth are found outside its visible confines. Since these are gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, they are forces impelling towards Catholic unity."

The Catholic Church has, since the Second Vatican Council, reached out to Christian bodies, seeking reconciliation to the greatest degree possible. Significant agreements have been achieved on Baptism, ministry and the Eucharist with Anglican theologians. With Lutheran bodies a similar agreement has been reached on the theology of justification. These landmark documents have brought closer fraternal ties with those Churches. However, recent developments, such as the ordination of women and of men living in homosexual relationships, present new obstacles to reconciliation with, in particular, Anglicans. Consequently, in recent years the Catholic Church's has focused its efforts at reconciliation with the Orthodox Churches of the East, with which the theological differences are not as great. While relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches were strained in the 1990's over property issues in countries that were formerly Soviet-dominated, these differences are now largely resolved. Fraternal relations with the Eastern churches continue to progress.

Hierarchical constitution of the Church

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy

The Church is a hierarchical organization headed by the Pope, with ordained clergy divided into the orders of bishops, priests, and deacons.

Episcopate

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy

Most Rev. Carlos Ximenes Belo, SDB, (left) Titular Bishop of Lorium, formerly Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Dili, East Timor, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The Bishops, who possess the fulness of Christian priesthood, are as a body (the College of Bishops) the successors of the Apostles and are "constituted Pastors in the Church, to be the teachers of doctrine, the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance."

The pope, cardinals, patriarchs, primates, archbishops and metropolitans are all bishops and members of the Catholic episcopate or college of bishops.

The Pope

Main article: Pope

What most obviously distinguishes the Catholic Church from other Christian bodies is the link between its members and the Pope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 882, quoting the Second Vatican Council’s document Lumen Gentium, states: "The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, ‘is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.’"

Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessors, is considered by Catholics as the Vicar of Christ and therefore leader of all Christians.

The Pope is referred to as the Vicar of Christ and the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. He may sometimes also use the less formal title of "Servant of the Servants of God". Applying to him the term "absolute" would, however, give a false impression: he is not free to issue decrees at whim. Instead, his charge forces on him awareness that he, even more than other bishops, is "tied", bound, by an obligation of strictest fidelity to the teaching transmitted down the centuries in increasingly developed form within the Catholic Church.

In certain limited and extraordinary circumstances, this papal primacy, which is referred to also as the Pope's Petrine authority or function, involves papal infallibility, i.e. the definitive character of the teaching on matters of faith and morals that he propounds solemnly as visible head of the Church. In any normal circumstances, exercise of this authority will involve previous consultation of all Catholic bishops (usually taking place in holy synods or an ecumenical council).

College of cardinals

His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Sodano (right) is the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal Secretary of State. Pictured here with Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State.

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy

Cardinals are appointed by the Pope, generally choosing bishops who head departments of the Roman Curia or important episcopal sees, Latin or Eastern, throughout the world. The cardinals make up the College of Cardinals which advises the pope, and those cardinals under the age of 80 elect a new pope during a papal vacancy.

The cardinalate is not an integral part of the theological structure of the Catholic Church, but largely an honorific distinction that has its origins in the 1059 assignation of the right of electing the Pope exclusively to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops of the seven "suburbicarian" sees. Because of their resulting importance, the term "cardinal" (from Latin "cardo", meaning "hinge") was applied to them. In the twelfth century the practice of appointing ecclesiastics from outside Rome as cardinals began. Each cardinal is still assigned a church in Rome as his "titular church" or is linked with one of the suburbicarian dioceses.

Priesthood

American priest Rev. Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus.

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy

Bishops are assisted by priests and deacons. Parishes, whether territorial or person-based, within a diocese are normally in the charge of a priest, known as the parish priest or the pastor.

Priests may perform many functions not directly connected with ordinary pastoral activity, such as study, research, teaching or office work. They may also be rectors of churches or chaplains of communities or special groups. Other titles or functions held by priests include those of Archimandrite, Canon Secular or Regular, Chancellor, Chorbishop, Confessor, Dean of a Cathedral Chapter, Hieromonk, Prebendary, Precentor, etc.

In the Latin Rite or particular Church, only celibate men, as a rule, are ordained as priests, while the Eastern Rites, again as a rule, also ordain married men. Among the Eastern particular Churches, the Ethiopic Catholic Church ordains only celibate clergy, while also having married priests who were ordained in the Orthodox Church, while other Eastern Catholic Churches, which do ordain married men, do not have married priests in certain countries, such as the United States of America. The Western or Latin Rite does sometimes, but very rarely, ordain married men, usually Protestant clergy who have become Catholics. All Rites of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition that, after ordination, marriage is not allowed. Even a married priest whose wife dies may not then marry again.

Diaconate

Main article: Catholic Church hierarchy

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church admits married men of mature age to ordination as Permanent deacons, but not if they intend to advance to priestly ordination (Ordination to the order of Deacon (transitional) is part of the process through which Priests pass on their way to Priestly ordination). Ordination even to the diaconate is an impediment to a later marriage, though special dispensation can be received for remarriage under extenuating circumstances.

Laity

St. Thomas More, lawyer and politician, is an example of piety, sanctity and secular engagement.

All baptized members of the Catholic Church are called faithful, truly equal in dignity and in the work to build the Church. All are called to share in Christ's priestly, prophetic, and royal office. While a certain percentage of the faithful perform roles related to serving the ministerial priesthood (hierarchy) and giving eschatological witness (consecrated life), the great majority of the faithful perform a specific role of exercising the three offices of Christ by "engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will...to illuminate and order all temporal things." These are the laity, whom John Paul II urged in Christifideles laici "to take an active, conscientious and responsible part in the mission of the Church," for they not only belong to the Church, but "are the Church." (Italics in the original)

Equipped with the common priesthood in baptism, these ordinary Catholics — e.g., mothers, farmers, businessmen, writers, politicians — are to take initiative in "discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life." They exercise the priestly office by offering their works as spiritual sacrifices, the prophetic office by their word and testimony of life in the ordinary circumstances of the world, and the kingly office by self-mastery and conforming worldly institutions to the norms of justice.

This theology of the laity, called a "characteristic mark" of Vatican II by Paul VI and John Paul II, was complemented, and in some cases influenced, by the rise of many lay ecclesial movements and structures in the 20th century: examples are Focolare, Neocatechumenal Way, Communion and Liberation, and the personal prelature of Opus Dei.

Consecrated life

Main article: Consecrated life (Catholic Church)

File:Benedikt-von-nursia 1-500x600.jpg

St Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-543), who wrote the leading religious rule for monastic living, "evokes the Christian roots of Europe," says Benedict XVI.

Within the Catholic Church, the Consecrated Life refers to the following: the Religious Life, eremitical life, consecrated virginity, societies of consecrated life and secular institutes. All of these are ways of Christian living by those who have made the prescribed public profession and vow that is recognized in Church Law. Those who have made their profession and vow are not, however, part of the Church hierarchy, unless they are also ordained priests. They commit themselves, for the love of God, to observe as binding certain counsels from the Christian Gospel. Most who feel called to following Christ in a more exacting way join what are called Religious Institutes, often referred to in everyday life as religious orders or religious congregations, in which they follow a common rule under the leadership of a superior. They usually live in community, although some may for a shorter or longer time live the Religious Life as Hermits without ceasing to be a member of the Religious Institute.

Canons 603 and 604 give official recognition also to consecrated hermits and consecrated virgins who are not members of religious institutes (see below).

Catholic Church in society

Worldwide distribution

For the Roman Catholic Church regionally and by country, see [[:Roman Catholicism by country, Category:Roman Catholic Church by country, and Category:Roman Catholic Church by region]].

Map showing Catholic Church membership as a percentage of each country's population.

The number of Catholics in the world continues to increase, particularly in Africa and Asia, although the religion has lost much of its political influence in the "First World" (e.g. Europe, USA). The increase between 1978 and 2000 was 288 million. Protestant evangelicals have succeeded in making inroads into parts of Latin America, but remain a small percentage of the population. In most industrialized countries, church attendance has decreased since the 19th century, though it remains higher than that of other "mainline" Churches.

According to Canon law, members are those who have been baptized in or, on making a profession of faith, have been received into the Catholic Church. They remain members, even if unfaithful to their obligations or even if excommunicated, unless they formally renounce membership by, for instance, joining another religion or denomination. However, in countries where a question on religion is included in the census, the number given in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church (see above) is that of the census returns; thus, for instance, in the case of New Zealand, where 27.5% of the population classified themselves in the 2001 census as being of no religion, the number of canonical Catholics is doubtless higher than the number appearing in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church. Furthermore, since Catholic population is the usual basis for assessing each diocese's contribution to national-level offices and services and the levy on each parish for diocesan initiatives, there is a temptation, not always resisted, for bishops and parish clergy in countries that do not have detailed census reports on religion to under-report the number of Catholics in their area.

Perspectives on the Catholic Church

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Pope John Paul II blessing faithful.

Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has encountered criticisms for numerous reasons. (Some particular controversies are discussed in separate articles. See, for instance, on the charge of anti-Semitism, Relations between Catholicism and Judaism.) Pope John Paul II acknowledged publicly that certain members (including leadership) of the Catholic Church have sometimes been involved in questionable activities, and asked God to forgive the sins of its members, both in action and omission. See also: Criticism of the Catholic Church.

And at the same time, it has been seen by many people of different religions as a great force for good, as an "expert in humanity" and even as a model of management being seen by them as the oldest and biggest existing institution in the world. John Paul II was hailed upon his death as an outstanding world leader esteemed as having helped the world progress towards moral regeneration.

The number of criticisms and persecutions it has received through the centuries and his reading of sacred scripture inspired John Paul II to suggest that the term sign of contradiction is a "distinctive definition of Christ and of his Church."

Role of the Church in civilization

Church doctrine and science

Enlightenment philosophers perceived the Church's doctrines as superstitious and hindering the progress of civilization. In a famous example, many criticized it for 1633 trial of Galileo Galilei, in which the Church condemned the heliocentric system of Nicolaus Copernicus, in favour of a geocentric system, favoured also by famous astronomers even later than Copernicus and Galileo, such as Tycho Brahe. Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for the Church's actions in that trial on 31 October 1992. An abstract of the acts of the process against Galileo is available at the Vatican Secret Archives, which reproduces part of it on its website.

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A map of medieval universities shows the universities established by the Catholic Church in Europe. Attacked in the 18th century as an enemy of progress, the Church is now seen by many modern historians as a major contributor to modern science, economics, and international law.

Recently, the Church is criticized for its opposition to scientific research in fields such as embryonic stem cell research, which the Church teaches would cause the utilitarian destruction of a human being, or simply put, an act of murder. The Church argues that advances in medicine can come without the destruction of human embryos; for example, in the use of adult or umbilical stem cells in place of embryonic stem cells.

Historians of science including non-Catholics such as J.L. Heilbron, Alistair Cameron Crombie, David Lindberg, Edward Grant, Thomas Goldstein, and Ted Davis have been revising the common notion — the product of black legends say some — that the Church has had a negative influence in the development of civilization. They argue that not only did the monks save and cultivate the remnants of ancient civilization during the barbarian invasions, but the Church promoted learning and science through its sponsorship of many universities which, under its leadership, grew rapidly in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries. St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church's "model theologian," not only argued that reason is in harmony with faith, he even recognized that reason can contribute to understanding revelation, and so encouraged intellectual development. The Church's priest-scientists, many of whom were Jesuits, were the leading lights in astronomy, genetics, geomagnetism, meteorology, seismology, and solar physics, becoming the "fathers" of these sciences.

John Cardinal Newman used to say in the nineteenth century that those who attack the Church can only point to the Galileo case, which to many historians does not prove the Church's opposition to science since many of the churchmen at that time were encouraged by the Church to continue their research.

Church and art

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, according to some authors, is an illustration of Christian joy.

While some critics accuse members of the Catholic Church of destroying the art of some of the colonized natives, several historians credit the Catholic Church for the brilliance and magnificence of Western art. They refer to the Church's fight against iconoclasm, a movement against visual representations of the divine, its insistence on building structures befitting worship, Augustine's repeated reference to Wisdom 11:21 (God "ordered all things by measure, number and weight") which led to the geometric constructions of Gothic architecture, the scholastics' coherent intellectual systems called the Summa Theologiae which influenced the intellectually consistent writings of Dante, and lastly, the patronage of the Rennaisance popes for the great works of Catholic artists such as Michaelangelo, Rafael, Bernini, Borromini and Leonardo da Vinci.

Church and economic development

Francisco de Vitoria, a disciple of Thomas Aquinas and Catholic thinker who studied the issue regarding the human rights of colonized natives, is recognized by the United Nations as a father of international law, and now also by historians of economics and democracy as a leading light for the West's democracy and rapid economic development.

Joseph Schumpeter, a great economist of the twentieth century, in his History of Economic Analysis (1954), referred to the scholastics thus: "[I]t is they," he wrote, "who come nearer than does any other group to having been the ‘founders’ of scientific economics." Other economists and historians have also said something similar: Raymond de Roover, Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson, and Alejandro Chafuen. Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said: The Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization." Benedict XVI says that the Catholic religion is the religion according to reason (the Logos, Word) and the Enlightenment itself — with its emphasis on brotherhood, freedom and equality — is an exclusive product of the Christian West who see the fundamental concepts of the Enlightenment as being of Christian origin.

Social justice, care-giving, and the hospital system

Historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse, says that the Church spearheaded the development of a hospital system geared towards the marginalized.

While it is criticized in many places, the Catholic Church also has contributed much to society through its Social Doctrine which has guided leaders to promote social justice and by setting up the hospital system in Medieval Europe, a system which was different from the merely reciprocal hospitality of the Greeks and family-based obligations of the Romans. These hospitals begun to cater to "particular social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse. The Catholic Church as opus proprium, says Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est, has conducted throughout the centuries from its very beginning and continues to conduct many charitable services — hospitals, schools, poverty alleviation programs, among others. The Catholic Church remains the largest humanitarian organization in the world and is a leading voice for the poor.

Controversial Catholic teachings

Throughout the centuries, the Church has had to respond to many criticisms, some of which are now considered outright heresies. Lately, criticisms tend to focus on a few issues, many of which deal with sex and gender themes. To these criticisms and controversies over traditional Church doctrine, the basic response of Benedict XVI, a renowned theologian, can be found in some statements before his election to the papacy: the Church is ecclesia sua, "his [God's] Church", and not the laboratory of theologians.

Ordination reserved to men

The Church is convinced it is not free to change this practice, which is traced back to Jesus' choice of apostles, and to the practice of the apostles and their successors, and has declared the matter closed for discussion, the latest declaration being John Paul II's Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994.

Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. Criticized for reserving the priesthood to men, the Church states that "The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints."

The reservation of the priesthood to men does not mean that the Catholic Church does not value women, since non-priests, men and women alike, can become saints just as easily as priests can. Inter Insigniores, Declaration on the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (15 October 1976)

Mandatory clerical celibacy

The Catholic Church requires celibacy for Latin-Rite priests (with some minor exceptions) and all bishops. Voluntary celibacy has always been common in the Church and was generally the preferred state for priests and bishops. It is claimed that celibacy became mandatory for priests only in the eleventh century; others say, for instance: "(I)t may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great the law of celibacy was generally recognized in the West,"[5] that the eleventh-century regulations on this matter, as on simony, should clearly not be interpreted as meaning that either non-celibacy or simony were previously permitted, [6], and that the rule of total continence by the clergy (refraining from sexual relations with a wife married before ordination - thus, logically, not marrying after ordination) dates back to the origin of the Church.[7] [8]

Pope John Paul II in Pastores Dabo Vobis stated that the "unchanging" essence of ordination "configures the priest to Jesus Christ the Head and Spouse of the Church." Thus, he said, "The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse loved her."

This teaching continues to be debated for a variety of reasons. First, many believe celibacy was not required of the apostles, though others think the apostles did leave their wives (cf. Luke 18:28-30). Second, this requirement excludes a great number of otherwise qualified men from the priesthood, qualifications which according to the defenders of celibacy should be determined not by merely human hermeneutics but by the hermeneutics of the divine will. Third, some say that resisting the natural sexual impulse in this way is unrealistic and harmful for a healthy life, a criticism which is countered by the faith in the power of grace and of man, made in the image of God who is Love. Sexual scandals among priests, the defenders say, are a breach of the Church's teaching, not a result of it, especially since only a small percentage of priests have been involved. Fourth, it is said that mandatory celibacy distances priests from this experience of life, compromising their moral authority in the pastoral sphere, although its defenders argue that the Church's moral authority is rather enhanced by a life of total self-giving in imitation of Christ, a practical application of Vatican II teaching that "man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself." (Gaudium et spes 26) Fifth, it is said that this discipline may provide a place "to hide" for those who might not otherwise marry, such as homosexuals and pedophiles. Recent rulings from the Vatican show that significant steps are now taken to eliminate candidates for the priesthood with sexual deviancies.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in Salt of the Earth also explained that this practice is based on Jesus' preaching on the eunuchs or celibates "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" which links with God's decision in the Old Testament to confer the priesthood to a specific tribe, that of Levi, and who unlike the other tribes did not receive from God any land — an essential need for one's posterity as a wife and children are today — but had "God himself as its inheritance." (Num 1:48-53)

Reforms of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council

Ordination at Fontgombault Benedictine Abbey, 2002; Fontgombault is a traditionalist Catholic community approved by Rome

The Catholic Church undertook one of the most comprehensive reforms in its history during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and the decade which followed. For changes in the liturgy, see Mass of Paul VI. The Church stressed more than before what it saw as positive rather than what it saw as negative in other Christian communities, other religions, and the aspirations of human beings in general. It encouraged the up-to-date renewal of religious life. And it empowered episcopal conferences to enact adaptations in disciplines such as abstinence from meat on Fridays.

Some Catholics, who have become known as traditionalist Catholics rejected these changes as an abandonment of practices and teachings that they saw as part of the Church's irreformable Tradition - though Pope Pius XII declared that to "the Teaching Authority of the Church... has been entrusted by Christ Our Lord the whole deposit of faith - Sacred Scripture and divine Tradition - to be preserved, guarded and interpreted" (Humani Generis, 18, emphases added) - or because they felt that the liturgical changes in particular entailed the loss of a sense of awe and reverence.

For more on these, see Traditionalist Catholic.

Catholic teachings on human sexuality

Some criticize the Church's teaching on sexual and reproductive matters. The Church requires members to eschew masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, homosexual practices, and artificial contraception. The procurement or assistance in abortion can carry the penalty of excommunication, as a specific offence.

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AIDS education in Uganda. Although doubted by some, the Church's teaching on abstinence has been seen as a contribution to Uganda's success against AIDS.

Some criticize the Church's teaching on fidelity, sexual abstinence and its opposition to promoting the use of condoms as a strategy to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS (or teen pregnancy or STD) as counterproductive. On the other hand, some argue that the Church's insistence on abstinence as practiced in Uganda shows that so far it has been one of the most successful strategies against AIDS.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, has stated that Pope Benedict XVI asked his department to study the issue as part of a broad look at several questions of bioethics. However, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal López Trujillo, in an interview reported by Catholic News Agency on May 4, 2006, said that the Church "maintains unmodified the teaching on condoms", and added that the Pope had "not ordered any studies about modifying the prohibition on condom use."

Catholic teaching on Scripture

Some critics of the Catholic Church have misrepresented a teaching document entitled "The Gift of Scripture", which the bishops of England and Wales and the bishops of Scotland issued in 2005. [9] The text of the document is available here for downloading.

For instance, these critics claim the bishops "assert that (the) Biblical creation story is just a myth" (though the word "myth" appears nowhere in the document) and that "they advise that Christians should not expect 'total accuracy' from the Bible", which is a distortion of the statement: "We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters", where the word "other" stands in contrast to "the truth which God wished to be set down in the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation", a quotation from the document Dei Verbum of the Second Vatican Council.

The bishops reiterate the teaching that the Church must offer the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that are "appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries". Thus, the bishops assert, the Bible must be approached with the understanding that it is "God’s word expressed in human language" and that proper acknowledgement should be given both to the word of God and its human dimensions.

The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: "We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters." In particular, they assert that "We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision."

In the document, the bishops condemn fundamentalism for its "intransigent intolerance" and warn of "significant dangers" involved in a fundamentalist approach. "Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others."

The bishops took special aim at the notorious passage in Matthew 27:25, "His blood be on us and on our children", a passage used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism. The bishops are adamant that these and other passages must not be used as a pretext to target and persecute Jewish people. Characterizing this passage as an example of dramatic exaggeration, the bishops say that the historical anti-Semitism based on these passages had "tragic consequences" in encouraging hatred and persecution. "The attitudes and language of first-century quarrels between Jews and Jewish Christians should never again be emulated in relations between Jews and Christians."

Focusing on another example of a passage that should not be taken literally, the bishops cite the early chapters of Genesis, comparing them with early creation legends from other cultures, especially from ancient Eastern cultures. The bishops assert that the primary purpose of these chapters was to provide religious teaching and that they should not be taken to be historical in nature.

The bishops also advise caution in taking literally the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible, in which the writer describes the work of the risen Jesus, the death of the Beast and the wedding feast of Christ the Lamb.

The bishops say: "Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in this book details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved and about when the end will come."

Controversial Church history

The Inquisition

Main article: Inquisition

During periods of the Medieval era, the Church responded to claims of heresy through the Office of the Inquisition. During this time in history, before the separation of Church and State, an accusation of heresy could be construed as treason against lawful civil rule, and therefore punishable by death. Some were condemned by false accusation so that their lands, titles and goods would be forfeited to local rulers. In many cases, the Inquisition saved lives by providing a trial rather than summary execution.

While Pope John Paul II apologized for certain historic excesses in May 1995, many historians, even non-Catholics, have seen that there have been some exaggerations on the negative roles played by the Church in the Inquisition. Edward Peters, in his book Inquisition, says that over the several centuries of operation, the number of executions due to this kind of "treason" was significantly less than the same practices carried out in Protestant England and parts of Germany. He and other scholars say that the Inquisition began as a way of protecting Europe from the covert penetration by the Turks who led some violent attacks against Christian coastal towns. These historians say that it is difficult, if not unhistorical, to judge by present day standards the threats, issues and resources which the leaders of that time were faced with.

Sexual abuse scandals

In 2002, a major scandal erupted in the U.S. Catholic Church when a wealth of allegations of priests sexually abusing children surfaced. Adding to the furor were revelations that the Church was aware of some of the abusive priests, and simply shuffled them from congregation to congregation instead of taking action. The scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law from the Boston archdiocese. It also led to a common perception — 64% of those polled, in one survey — that Catholic priests "frequently abused children," while the data show that only 1.5-1.8% of Catholic priests are accused of child sexual abuse. [10]

See also

• Other articles on the Catholic Church
• Catholic Church by country
• History of the Roman Catholic Church
• Catholicism
• Christianity
• Christian apologetics
• Primacy of the Roman Pontiff
• Catholic church hierarchy
• Lists of Roman Catholics
• Traditionalist Catholic
• Anti-Catholicism
• Criticism of the Catholic Church
• Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
• Catholicism and Freemasonry
• Forgiveness
• Roman Catholic calendar of saints
• List of Roman Catholic converts

References and readings

• Annuario Pontificio, 2006 edition (ISBN 88-209-7806-7)
• Vatican: the Holy See
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
• The Catholic Encyclopedia Resource concerning Catholic history and doctrine as well as related matters of philosophy.
• Statistics on the Global Catholic population
• Catholic Answers One of the largest lay-run apostolates of Catholic apologetics and evangelization
• Mary Foundation Free CDs summarizing basic Roman Cathoic teaching on the Mass, Mary, etc.
• American Catholic Catholic Church Questions - FAQs about Catholicism
• H. W. Crocker III. (November 13, 2001). Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2,000-Year History. Prima Lifestyles
• Thomas Woods, Jr. (May 2, 2005). How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Regnery Publications.
• Warren Carrol. History of Christendom.
• Philip Hughes. A History of the Church: The World in Which the Church Was Founded. Sheed & Ward

External links

• CATHworld Search engine and directory for finding more information and sites about the Catholic Church.
• Mass Times A directory of Mass times, parish locations, directions and phone numbers for traveling Catholics
• Global Catholic Statistics: 1905 and Today by Albert J. Fritsch, SJ, PhD
• Catholic Hierarchy Information on Catholic bishops and dioceses
• Best Catholic Links Highly-regarded screened Catholic link directory
• The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Information on the Cardinals of the Catholic Church
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
• Catholic Exchange Catholic Portal
• Catholic Culture Catholic search engine
• The Holy See — The Vatican's Official Website
• The Legion of Mary