 Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
| Ecclesia Catholica | |
 St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the largest Catholic church building in the world | |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Scripture | Catholic Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal[1] |
| Governance | Holy See and Roman Curia |
| Pope | Francis |
| Particular churches sui iuris | Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches |
| Dioceses | |
| Parishes | 221,700 approx. |
| Region | Worldwide |
| Language | Ecclesiastical Latin and native languages |
| Liturgy | Western and Eastern |
| Headquarters | Vatican City |
| Founder |
|
| Origin | 1st century Judaea, Roman Empire[2][3] |
| Separations | |
| Members | 1.28 billion according to World Christian Database (2024)[4] 1.39 billion according to Annuario Pontificio (2022)[5][6] |
| Clergy | |
| Hospitals | 5,500[7] |
| Primary schools | 95,200[8] |
| Secondary schools | 43,800 |
| Official website | vatican.va |
|
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024.[4][5][9] It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.[10][11][12][13] The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world.[14] The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church.[15] The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, which is a small, independent city-state and enclave within the city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission,[16][17][note 1] that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ.[20] It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium of the church.[21] The Roman Rite and others of the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and institutes such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.[22][23]
Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass.[24] The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Perpetual Virgin, Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven; she is honoured in dogmas and devotions.[25] Catholic social teaching emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates tens of thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.[26] Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations.
The Catholic Church has profoundly influenced Western philosophy, culture, art, literature, music, law,[27] and science.[13] Catholics live all over the world through missions, immigration, diaspora, and conversions. Since the 20th century, the majority have resided in the Global South, partially due to secularization in Europe and North America. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope. Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology. The Eastern Catholic Churches, who have a combined membership of approximately 18 million, represent a body of Eastern Christians who returned or remained in communion with the pope during or following these schisms for a variety of historical circumstances. In the 16th century, the Reformation led to the formation of separate, Protestant groups. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its teachings on sexuality, its doctrine against ordaining women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases involving clergy.
- ^ Marshall, Thomas William (1844). Notes of the Episcopal Polity of the Holy Catholic Church. London: Levey, Rossen and Franklin. ASIN 1163912190.
- ^ Stanford, Peter. "Roman Catholic Church". BBC Religions. BBC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ Bokenkotter 2004, p. 18.
- ^ a b "Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050" (PDF). Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
Christian total 2,631,941,000, Catholic total 1,278,009,000 (48.6%)
- ^ a b c "The Pontifical Yearbook 2024 and the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2022". L'Osservatore Romano (in Italian). 4 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ "New Church statistics reveal more Catholics, fewer vocations". Vatican News. 4 April 2024. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ Calderisi, Robert. Earthly Mission – The Catholic Church and World Development; TJ International Ltd; 2013; p. 40
- ^ "Laudato Si". Vermont Catholic. 8 (4) (Winter ed.): 73. 2016–2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- ^ Marty, Martin E. (2021). "Roman Catholicism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ Mark A. Noll. The New Shape of World Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 191.
- ^ Haynes, Jeffrey (2016). Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-28746-9. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Varghese, Alexander P. (2008). India : History, Religion, Vision And Contribution To The World. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-269-0904-9. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ a b O'Collins, p. v (preface).
- ^ "Statistics by Country, by Catholic Population [Catholic-Hierarchy]". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. 20 November 2005. Archived from the original on 4 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
- ^ "Lumen gentium". vatican.va. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ "Vatican congregation reaffirms truth, oneness of Catholic Church". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ Bokenkotter 2004, p. 7.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
note1cite1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
note1cite2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Holy Bible: Matthew 16:19
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraph 890.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraph 835.
The rich variety of ... theological and spiritual heritages proper to the local churches 'unified in a common effort shows all the more resplendently the catholicity of the undivided Church'.(cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, 23)
- ^ Colin Gunton. "Christianity among the Religions in the Encyclopedia of Religion", Religious Studies, Vol. 24, no. 1, p. 14. In a review of an article from the Encyclopedia of Religion, Gunton writes: "[T]he article [on Catholicism in the encyclopedia] rightly suggests caution, suggesting at the outset that Roman Catholicism is marked by several different doctrinal, theological and liturgical emphases."
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraphs 1322–27.
[T]he Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith
- ^ "The Four Marian Dogmas". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ Agnew, John (12 February 2010). "Deus Vult: The Geopolitics of Catholic Church". Geopolitics. 15 (1): 39–61. doi:10.1080/14650040903420388. ISSN 1465-0045. S2CID 144793259.
- ^ Raymond Wacks, Law: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2015) p. 13.
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