Catholic Church

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The Roman Catholic Church, (also known as the Catholic Church), is the ancient Christian Church led by the Bishop of Rome (commonly called the Pope). The current Pope is Benedict XVI. The Roman Catholic Church is the mother of all Christian Churches.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that it is the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ." The Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 8). [1] states that "the sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be 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 Roman Catholic understanding to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope). The phrase "governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him" thus defines the Catholic Church's visible identity.

It has a membership of over one billion people, about half of the estimated 2.1 billion Christians worldwide. The figure for Catholics in the 2003 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, based on the statistical reports of 31 December submitted by Catholic dioceses throughout the world, is 1,085,557,000. Because of obstacles to regular contacts, this figure does not include Catholics in mainland China and a few other places. According to canon law, members are those who have been baptized in, or have been received into, the Catholic Church on making a profession of faith, provided they have not formally renounced membership.

Worldwide, the Church is divided into jurisdictional areas, usually on a territorial basis. The standard territorial unit is called, in the Latin Rite, a diocese, and in the Eastern Rites, an eparchy, and is headed by a bishop or an eparch. For other forms, see below under "The episcopate". At the end of 2004, the total number of all these jurisdictional areas or sees was 2755 (Annuario Pontificio 2005).

The see of Rome is seen as central, and its bishop, the Pope, is considered to be the (sole) successor of Saint Peter, the chief of the Apostles, sometimes called the "prince" (from Latin princeps, meaning "foremost", "leader") of the Apostles.

A description of the Roman Catholic Church must necessarily deal with its teaching and its internal organization. What follows is therefore based principally on its Catechism of the Catholic Church, on its two codes of law, namely the Code of Canon Law (for the Latin Rite) and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, and on its yearbook, the Annuario Pontificio.

Overview

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

The Roman Catholic Church traces its origins to the Apostles Peter and Paul. It rose to prominence with the Constantinian shift in the late Roman Empire (4th century), under Constantine I. Christianity was the Roman state religion from 380. See History of the Roman Catholic Church for details.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that it was instituted by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people, and that this is accomplished through teaching and administering the seven sacraments - Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation (forgiveness of sins), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (becoming a member of the clergy), and Marriage - means by which God grants grace. It bases its teachings on both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. It is a hierarchical organization headed by the Pope, with ordained clergy divided into the orders of bishops, priests, and deacons. The Church also encourages monasticism, and has many religious institutes of monks, friars, nuns, and others who live in celibacy and devote their lives entirely to God. Other religious practices for clergy, religious and laity alike include almsgiving, fasting, prayer, penance, pilgrimage and meditation.

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" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 775, 773).

Terminology

Roman Catholic Church is a term that other Christian Churches often, though by no means exclusively, use for this Church. The Church itself too accepts this description in its relations with other Churches, but normally calls itself the Catholic Church. It has also sometimes, because of the centrality for it of the see of Rome, sometimes applied the adjective "Roman" to itself in its entirety even in internal documents, as when, at the start of chapter 1 of the First Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith,[2] it described itself as the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. (This is only one of many self-descriptions that the Catholic Church has used. Others include Mystical Body of Christ, People of God, Universal Sacrament of Salvation (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 748-810).

Divergent usages attach a certain ambiguity to each of these terms. Some apply the first term, Roman Catholic Church, only to the Western or Latin Church, excluding the Eastern-Rite particular Churches that are in full communion with the Pope, and are part of the same Church, under the Pope, taken as a whole. As for the second term, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Old-Catholic, and other Christians claim to be, or to be part of, the Catholic Church. (For their understandings of the term, see Catholicism, Catholic, and One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church).

Although most other Christian denominations prefer to employ the term Roman Catholic Church, some occasionally use Catholic Church even in formal discourse. Examples are found in the documents drawn up in common between "the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation",[3] and signed by both sides,[4] and in the "Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East", again agreed on and signed by both parties.[5]

In colloquial use, Catholic (from Greek καθολικός, universal, derived in turn from καθόλου, in general: κατα-, according to + ὅλου, neuter genitive of ὅλος, whole) is often used to refer to the Roman Catholic Church even by members of Christian groups that formally dispute the Church's right to that title. St Augustine (354-430) wrote about the same phenomenon in 397, when he considered it evidence of the heresy of other churches:

...the name itself of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.
— Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith[6]

Without intending to make any judgement on which is the correct term, Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church will be treated within this article as alternative names for the entire Church "which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him" (cf. above).

Beliefs

The Crucifix, bearing the image of Jesus suffering on a cross, often serves as a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church is a Christian church, and therefore shares core beliefs with the majority of other trinitarian groups generally considered to be Christian.

The Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, which are accepted by most major Christian denominations, can be considered a fundamental core of the Catholic Church's beliefs. However some Christian denominations have developed a different understanding of many central issues concerning Christ's role in the Church and of the salvation of believers that vary greatly from the Church's historic teachings. The Catholic Church has published a detailed exposition of its beliefs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The nature of God

Catholicism is a monotheistic religion. Together with Judaism and Islam and some interpretations of Hinduism, it believes 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. Faith in God's existence is the most fundamental Catholic belief, and 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 (cf. Romans 1:20), 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 a Trinitarian religion. As opposed to other monotheistic religions, 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 Christian 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. 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" (Matthew 11:27).

Catholics believe that God the Son, 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 Holy Spirit, the third of the three Persons of God, sent upon them by Jesus.

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 (cf. Romans 5:12). Man's fall left him separated from his 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 pay the penalty for all human sin and 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, also called the Beatific Vision.

The role of the Church

Catholics believe that Jesus established only one Church, not many, and that that Church is truly, though of course not physically, the Body of Christ, made up of members both on earth and in heaven. They believe that Jesus chose the Apostle Peter to lead the Church, that Peter went to Rome and became bishop of the Church there, and that Peter's authority was subsequently passed on to successive bishops of Rome. The one true Church therefore subsists in those who follow Jesus and who recognize the religious authority of Peter in his current successor, popularly called the Pope (from the Latin 'Papa' - Father).

Catholics believe that Jesus promised that the Church on earth will always be guided and maintained in truth by the Holy Spirit, meaning that infalliblility resides in the Church on earth and is expressed in various in doctrines and dogmas. Many Christian churches consider the written Scriptures (the Bible) to contain infallible truth, but Catholic Christians believe that infallible truth is also contained in the oral traditions passed down through the Church; and also that, as the written Scriptures arose within a Church that handed on true doctrine orally, they can be properly understood only in the light of the Church's living tradition. This position is a marked contrast from the sola scriptura ('by Scripture alone') position espoused by the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church teaches that the two forms of the "deposit of faith" (from Latin depositum, something entrusted, cf. 1 Timothy 6:20) hold equal status and are equally infallible, meaning that no Catholic belief or practice can contradict the Sacred Scriptures.

Magisterium

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 Peter. Catholic theology places the authoritative interpretation of scripture in the hands of the judgment of the Church rather than the private judgment of the individual. The church does, however, encourage its flock to read Sacred Scripture.

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 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2007). 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 (Romans 3:22) and through baptism (Romans 6:3-4). 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 (cf. Response of the Catholic Church to the Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification, 2-3).[7] The faith of a Christian is not without works, otherwise it would be dead (cf. James 2:26). In this sense, "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (James 2:24), and eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merits. See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1987-2016.

The Christian Path

Following baptism, the Catholic Christian must endeavour to be a true disciple of Jesus. The believer must seek forgiveness of subsequent sins, and try to follow the example and teaching of Jesus. To help Christians, Jesus has provided seven sacraments which give Grace from God to the believer. These are, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation/Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

Catholics believe that God works actively in the world. Christians may grow in grace through prayer, good works, and spiritual disciplines such as fasting and pilgrimage. Prayer takes the form of praise, thanksgiving and supplication. Christians can and should pray for others, even for enemies and persecutors (Matthew 5:44). They 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 Christians. Unless a Christian dies in unrepented mortal sin, which is normally remitted in Penance, that person has God's promise of inheriting eternal life. Before entering heaven, some undergo a purification, known as Purgatory. Catholic teachings include a stress on forgiveness, doing good to others, and on the sanctity of life. This is manifested in practical terms by opposing activities which Catholics see as destroying divinely created life, including euthanasia, eugenics, contraception, abortion, and capital punishment. The Catholic Church maintains 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, whether non-Catholic Christians or non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them. 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" (Second Vatican Council: Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 14).

Social teaching

Main article: Catholic social teaching

The Church holds that the teachings of Jesus call on its members to act in a particular way in their dealings with the rest of humanity. While not endorsing any particular political agenda, the Church holds that this teaching applies in the public (political) realm, not only the private. Among these teachings, as they have been elaborated in recent decades by Catholic thinkers, Bishops' statements and Papal encyclicals, are that every person has a right to life and to a decent minimum standard of living, that humanity's use of God's creation implies a responsibility to protect the environment, and that the range of circumstances under which military force or capital punishment is permissible is extremely limited.

Liturgy

Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The statue in the foreground is of Saint Peter, held by the Catholic Church to be the first Pope.

The Catholic Church sees the eucharistic liturgy, the celebration of the Mystery of Christ, in particular the Paschal Mystery of his death and resurrection, as the high point of its activity and the source of its life and strength.

As explained in greater detail in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its shorter Compendium, the liturgy is something that "the whole Christ", Head and Body, celebrates - Christ, the one High Priest, together with his Body, the Church in heaven and on earth. Involved in the heavenly liturgy are the angels and the saints of the Old Covenant and the New, in particular Mary, the Mother of God, the Apostles, the Martyrs and "a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Revelation 7:9). The Church on earth, "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), celebrates the liturgy in union with these: the baptized offering themselves as a spiritual sacrifice, the ordained ministers celebrating at the service of all the members of the Church in accordance with the order received, and bishops and priests acting in the person of Christ.

The Christian liturgy uses signs and symbols whose significance, based on nature or culture, has been made more precise through Old Testament events and has been fully revealed in the person and life of Christ. Some of these signs and symbols come from the world of creation (light, water, fire, bread, wine, oil), others from life in society (washing, anointing, breaking bread), others from Old Testament sacred history (the Passover rite, sacrifices, laying on of hands, consecrating persons and objects).

In the Christian liturgy these signs are closely linked with words. Though in a sense the signs speak for themselves, they need to be accompanied and vivified by the spoken word. Taken together, word and action indicate what the rite signifies and effects.

Singing and music are associated with the liturgy. So also are sacred images, which proclaim the same message as do the words of Sacred Scripture and which help to awaken and nourish faith.

The most important parts of the liturgy are the sacraments, instituted by Christ (see below).

In addition 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, the Stations of the Cross (also known as the Way of the Cross), and the Rosary.

Sunday, which commemorates the resurrection of Christ and has been celebrated by Christians from the earliest times (1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10; Ignatius of Antioch: Magn.9:1; Justin Martyr: I Apology 67:5), is the outstanding occasion for the liturgy; but no day, not even any hour, is excluded from celebrating the liturgy.

The Liturgy of the Hours consecrates to God the whole course of day and night. Lauds and Vespers (morning and evening prayer) are the principal hours. To these are added one or three intermediate prayer periods (traditionally called Terce, Sext and None), another prayer period to end the day (Compline), and a special prayer period called the Office of Readings (formerly known as Matins) at no fixed time, devoted chiefly to readings from the Scriptures and ecclesiastical writers. The Second Vatican Council suppressed an additional 'hour' called Prime. The prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours consist principally of the Psalter or Book of Psalms. Like the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours has inspired great musical compositions. An earlier name for the Liturgy of the Hours and for the books that contained the texts was the Divine Office (a name still used as the title of one English translation), the Book of Hours, and the Breviary. Bishops, priests, deacons and members of religious institutes are obliged to pray at least some parts of the Liturgy of the Hours daily, an obligation that applied also to subdeacons.

New Testament worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24) is not linked exclusively with any particular place or places, since Christ is seen as the true temple of God, and through him Christians too and the whole Church become, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). Nevertheless the earthly condition of the Church on earth makes it necessary to have certain places in which to celebrate the liturgy. Within these churches, chapels and oratories, Catholics put particular emphasis on the altar, the tabernacle, the place in which chrism and other holy oils are kept ('ambry'), the seat of the bishop ('cathedra') or priest, and the baptismal font.

The richness of the Mystery of Christ cannot be exhausted by any one liturgical tradition and has from the beginning found varied complementary expressions characteristic of different peoples and cultures. As catholic or universal, the Church believes it can and should hold within its unity the true riches of these peoples and cultures.

There are in the liturgy, specifically in the sacraments, elements that cannot be changed, because they are of divine institution. These the Church must guard carefully. Other elements may be changed, and the Church has the power, and sometimes the duty, to adapt them to the different cultures of peoples and times. Also, individual Catholics may privately pray in many different ways because of the great variety of Catholic Spirituality.

Sacraments

The Roman Catholic Church, like other ancient Christian Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, recognizes and administers seven sacraments as gifts from Christ to his Church. These signs perceptible to the senses are seen as 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. Not every individual receives every sacrament, but the Church sees the sacraments as necessary means of salvation, conferring each sacrament' s special graces, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children of God, conformation to Christ, and membership of the Church. The effect of the sacraments comes ex opere operato (by the very fact of being administered): through them, regardless of the minister' s personal holiness, Christ provides the graces of which they are signs. However, a recipient' s own lack of proper dispositions can block their effectiveness in that person. The sacraments presuppose faith; and, in addition, their words and ritual elements nourish, strengthen and give expression to faith.

List of the seven sacraments, with references to the sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) that deal with each:

What follows is an account, again largely based on the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, of how the Catholic Church views each of these sacraments.

Baptism is the first and basic sacrament of Christian initiation. It is administered by immersing the recipient in water or by pouring (not just sprinkling) water on the person's head "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (cf. Matthew 28:19). The ordinary minister of the sacrament is a bishop or priest, or (in the Western Church, but not in the Eastern Churches) a deacon. In case of necessity, anyone intending to do what the Church does, even if that person is not a Christian, can baptize. Baptism frees from original sin and all personal sins and from the punishment due to them, and makes the baptized person share in the Trinitarian life of God through "sanctifying grace" (the grace of justification that incorporates the person in Christ and his Church). It makes the person a sharer too in the priesthood of Christ and is the foundation of communion between all Christians. It imparts the "theological" virtues (faith, hope and charity) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It marks the baptized person with a spiritual seal or character that indicates permanent belonging to Christ.

Confirmation or Chrismation is the second sacrament of Christian initiation. It is conferred by anointing with chrism, an oil into which balm has been mixed, giving it a special perfume, together with a special prayer that refers, in both its Western and Eastern variants, to a gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the recipient as with a seal. Through the sacrament the grace given in baptism is "strengthened and deepened" (Catechism of the Catholic Church §1303). Like baptism, confirmation may be received only once, and the recipient must be in a state of grace (meaning free from any known unconfessed mortal sin) in order to receive its effects. The "originating" minister of the sacrament is a validly consecrated bishop; if a priest (a "presbyter") confers the sacrament - as is done ordinarily in the Eastern Churches and in special cases in the Latin-Rite Church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1312-1313) - the link with the higher order is indicated by the use of oil blessed by a bishop. In the East the sacrament is administered immediately after baptism. In the West administration came to be postponed until the recipient's early adulthood; but in view of the earlier age at which children are now admitted to reception of the Eucharist, it is more and more restored to the traditional order and administered before giving the third sacrament of Christian initiation.

The Eucharist is the sacrament (the third of Christian initiation) by which Catholics partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and participate in his one sacrifice. The first of these two aspects of the sacrament is also called Holy Communion. The bread and wine used in the Eucharistic rite are, in Catholic faith, believed to be transformed in all but appearance into the Body and Blood of Christ, a change that is commonly called transubstantiation. Only a bishop or priest is enabled to be a minister of the Eucharist, acting in the person of Christ himself. Deacons as well as priests are ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and lay people may be authorized in limited circumstances to act as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. The Eucharist is seen as "the source and summit" of Christian living, the high point of God 's sanctifying action on the faithful and of their worship of God, the point of contact between them and the liturgy of heaven. So important is it that participation in the Eucharistic celebration (see Mass (liturgy)) is seen as obligatory on every Sunday and holy day of obligation and is recommended on other days. Also recommended for those who participate in the Mass is reception, with the proper dispositions, of Holy Communion. This is seen as obligatory at least once a year, during Eastertide.

Reconciliation is the first of two sacraments of healing, which is also called the sacrament of penance, of conversion, of confession, and of forgiveness (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1423-1424).[8] It is the sacrament of spiritual healing of a baptized person from the distancing from God involved in sins committed. It involves four elements: the penitent's contrition for sin (without which the rite does not have its effect), confession to a priest (it may be spiritually helpful to confess to another, but only a priest has the power to administer the sacrament), absolution by the priest, and satisfaction. In early Christian centuries, the fourth element was quite onerous and generally preceded absolution, but now it usually involves a simple task (in some traditions called a “penance”) for the penitent to perform, to make some reparation and as a medicinal means of strengthening against further temptation.

Anointing of the Sick is the second sacrament of healing. In it a priest anoints the sick with oil blessed specifically for that purpose. "The anointing of the sick can be administered to any member of the faithful who, having reached the use of reason, begins to be in danger by reason of illness or old age" (Code of Canon Law, canon 1004; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1514). A new illness or a worsening of health enables a person to receive the sacrament a further time. When, in the Western Church, the sacrament was conferred only on those in immediate danger of death, it came to be known as "Extreme Unction", i.e. "Final Anointing", administered as one of the "Last Rites". The other "Last Rites" are Confession (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, at least absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given), and the Eucharist, which when administered to the dying is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for a journey".

Holy Orders is the sacrament by which a man is made a bishop, a priest or a deacon. Only a bishop may administer this sacrament. Ordination as a bishop confers the fulness of the sacrament, making the bishop a member of the body that has succeeded to that of the Apostles, and giving him the mission to teach, sanctify and guide, along with the care of all the Churches. Ordination as a priest configures the priest to Christ the Head of the Church and the one essential High Priest, and conferring on him the power, as the bishops' assistant, to celebrate the sacraments and other liturgical acts, especially the Eucharist. Ordination as a deacon configures the deacon to Christ the Servant of All, placing him at the service of the bishop, especially in the Church's exercising of Christian charity towards the poor and preaching of the word of God. (On "minor orders", see below, under the heading "Priests and deacons".)

Matrimony, or Marriage, like Holy Orders, is a sacrament that consecrates for a particular mission in building up the Church, and that provides grace for accomplishing that mission. This sacrament, seen as a sign of the love uniting Christ and the Church, establishes between the spouses a permanent and exclusive bond, sealed by God. Accordingly, a marriage between baptized persons, validly entered into and consummated, cannot be dissolved. The sacrament confers on them the grace they need for attaining holiness in their married life and for responsible acceptance and upbringing of their children. The sacrament is celebrated publicly in the presence of the priest (or another witness appointed by the Church) and other witnesses, though in the theological tradition of the Latin Church the ministers of the sacrament are the couple themselves. For a valid marriage, a man and a woman must express their conscious and free consent to a definitive self-giving to the other, excluding none of the essential properties and aims of marriage. If one of the two is a non-Catholic Christian, their marriage is licit only if the permission of the competent authority of the Catholic Church is obtained. If one of the two is not a Christian (i.e. has not been baptized) this permission is necessary for validity.

Relations with other Christians

The Catholic Church attributes very high authority to 21 Ecumenical Councils: Nicaea I (325), Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680-681), Nicaea II (787), Constantinople IV (869-870), Lateran I (1123), Lateran II (1139), Lateran III (1179), Lateran IV (1215), Lyons I (1245), Lyons II (1274), Vienne (1311-1312), Constance (1414-1418), Florence (1438-1445), Lateran V (1512-1517), Trent (1545-1563), Vatican I (1869-1870), Vatican II (1962-1965).

Of these, the Orthodox Churches of Byzantine tradition accept only the first seven, the family of "non-Chalcedonian" or "pre-Chalcedonian" Churches only the first three, and the Christians of Nestorian tradition only the first two.

Dialogue has shown that even where the break with one of these ancient Churches occurred as far back as the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451), long before the break with Constantinople (1054), the few doctrinal differences often concern terminology, not substance.

Emblematic is the "Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East" [9] (note the less common but by no means unique use in an inter-Church document of "Catholic Church" rather than "Roman Catholic Church"), signed by "His Holiness John Paul II, Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church, and His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East", on 11 November 1994. The division between the two Churches in question goes back to the disputes over the legitimacy of the expression "Mother of God" (as well as "Mother of Christ") for the Virgin Mary that came to a head at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Common Declaration recalls that the Assyrian Church of the East prays the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour", and the Catholic tradition addresses the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of God" and also as "the Mother of Christ", fuller expressions by which each Church clearly acknowledges both the divinity and the humanity of Mary's son. The co-signers of the Common Declaration could thus state: "We both recognize the legitimacy and rightness of these expressions of the same faith and we both respect the preference of each Church in her liturgical life and piety."

Some, at least, of the most difficult questions in relations with the ancient Eastern Churches concern not so much doctrine as practical matters such as the concrete exercise of the claim to papal primacy and how to ensure that ecclesial union would not mean mere absorption of the smaller Churches by the Latin component of the much larger Catholic Church (the most numerous single religious denomination in the world), and the stifling or abandonment of their own rich theological, liturgical and cultural heritage.

There are much greater differences with the doctrinal views of Protestants, who Catholics feel have broken continuity with the past, while Protestants claim that, if they have done so, it was for the sake of fidelity to what they believe to be the true teaching of the apostles. But even with these groups, dialogue has on both sides clarified some misunderstandings of what the other believes.


Particular Churches within the single Catholic Church

Unlike "families" or "federations" of Churches that see themselves as distinct ecclesial bodies within a similar tradition, the Catholic Church considers itself a single Church that is a communion of a multitude of local and particular churches. It has authoritatively expressed this self-understanding in, for instance, the 28 May 1992 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some aspects of the Church understood as communion, 9.[10]

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 Churches" are distinguished.

Autonomous or sui juris Churches

The higher level of particular Churches is that of what the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 2[11] calls "particular Churches or rites".

The use of the term Rite, which once common in reference to these particular churches, generally refers to a liturgical tradition that developed in a particular language and/or region. Many Eastern Catholic Churches may use the same Rite (typically it is the same rite as used by their Orthodox counterparts), and the Western or Roman church uses many Rites though it is a single particular church.

Since a legal text must be careful to avoid ambiguities, the 1983 Code of Canon Law adopted instead the term "autonomous ritual Church" (in Latin, "Ecclesia ritualis sui iuris") for the reality that the Second Vatican Council called a "particular Church or Rite"; and the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches shortened this to "autonomous Church" (in Latin, "Ecclesia sui iuris").

The autonomy of each such Church, Eastern or Western, shows in its distinctive liturgy, canon law, theological tradition, etc. The Latin or Western particular Church is governed by the Code of Canon Law, while the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches outlines the discipline that the Eastern particular Churches have in common.

The yearly directory of the Holy See, Annuario Pontificio, gives the following list of Rites and Churches, and of countries (or other political areas) in which they possess an episcopal ecclesiastical jurisdiction (patriarchate, major archbishopric, archeparchy, eparchy or exarchate):

Eastern Rites & autonomous Churches:

Roman Catholic Church

The Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, while being, strictly speaking, a constituent metropolia or province of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (cf. Annuario Pontificio), has been treated as if it held the rank of an autonomous metropolitan particular Church, because, when it was set up as an ecclesiastical province (1969), conditions in the Ruthenian homeland admitted no other solution. To it has been entrusted the care also of other United States Byzantine Catholics who have no Hierarch of their own Church. In other countries, such Eastern Catholics may be entrusted to an Eastern Hierarch (as, for instance, in Greece) or, more commonly, to the Latin Ordinaries.

Particular or local Churches

In Catholic teaching, each diocese too is a local or particular Church: "A diocese is a section of the People of God entrusted to a bishop to be guided by him with the assistance of his clergy so that, loyal to its pastor and formed by him into one community in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes one particular church in which the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and active" (Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus, 11[12]).

Theological significance

The particular Churches within the Catholic Church, whether rites or dioceses, are seen as not simply branches or sections of a larger body. Theologically, each is considered to be the embodiment in a particular place of the whole Roman Catholic Church. "It is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists" (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Decree on the Church Lumen Gentium, 23.[13]).

Note on liturgical rites in use within the Latin or Western Church

For many centuries there were as many or more liturgical rites in the Latin-Rite or Western Catholic Church, as in the East. In the aftermath of the Council of Trent, in 1568 and 1570 Pope St Pius V suppressed the Breviaries and Missals that could not be shown to have an antiquity of at least two centuries. Many that remained legitimate even after this decree were abandoned voluntarily, a process that continued into the second half of the twentieth century. A few persist today for the celebration of Mass, but the distinct liturgical rites for celebrating the other sacraments have been almost completely abandoned.

None of these still surviving liturgical rites is a "particular Church or Rite" in the sense considered here. A "particular Church or Rite" does not necessarily use a distinct liturgical rite: many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Byzantine liturgical rite in a variety of languages. And an individual "particular Church or Rite" may use several distinct liturgical rites, which is true of the Latin-Rite Church.

Liturgical rites currently in use within the Catholic Church of Latin Rite

  • The Roman Rite is the most widely used in the Catholic Church. Like other liturgical rites, it developed over the centuries. The form of its Eucharistic liturgy that was codified in the wake of the Council of Trent underwent only minor modifications until Pope Pius XII revised the part dealing with the days from Holy Thursday to the Easter Vigil in 1955 and Pope Paul VI made a general revision of the whole Roman Missal in 1970.
    • Some refer to the form that the Mass of the Roman Rite had in the four centuries from Pope Pius V's 1570 revision to before the 1970 revision as the Tridentine Mass or "Tridentine Rite". The Church authorizes continued use of this earlier form by associations such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, and, with the permission of the diocesan bishop, by local groups and individual priests (see Ecclesia Dei).
  • The Carthusian rite is still in use in a reformed version; but the rites peculiar to some other religious orders (e.g. the Carmelites and the Dominicans) are now generally abandoned, apart from their continued use by a few members of these orders in virtue of the Ecclesia Dei indult. These rites were generally based on the kind of local territorial variants exemplified in the Gallican Rite and the Sarum Use (see below, "Defunct Catholic Western liturgical rites")
  • The Ambrosian Rite is celebrated in most of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy and in parts of some neighbouring dioceses in Italy and Switzerland. With some variant texts, it is similar in form to the Roman Rite.
  • The Rite of Braga is used in the Diocese of Braga in Portugal.
  • The Mozarabic Rite, once prevalent throughout Spain, is now celebrated mostly in limited locations, among them the cathedral of Toledo.
  • The Anglican Use is a use of the Roman Rite based on the Book of Common Prayer with the introduction of some Roman elements, used, in accordance with what the Pastoral Provision, by people of Anglican background in the United States who become Roman Catholic but retain elements of the Cramnerian liturgy.
  • The Zaire Use is a variation of the Roman Rite used to a very limited extent in some African countries.

Defunct Catholic Western liturgical rites

  • The African Rite used in Latin-speaking Roman North Africa prior to the Arab conquest (8th century). Practically no details are known of it except that, like the Ambrosian Rite, it was close in form to the Roman Rite.
  • The ancient Celtic Rite was a composite of non-Roman ritual structures and texts not exempt from Roman influence that was similar to the Mozarabic Rite in many respects and would have been used at least in parts of Ireland and Northern Britain (including Scotland) and perhaps even Wales, Cornwall and Somerset, before being replaced by the Roman usage in the early Middle Ages. Little is known of it, though several texts and liturgies survive. Some Christians (typically groups not in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, including some in communion with Orthodox Christian Churches, e.g. Celtic Orthodoxy), have attempted to breathe life into a reconstruction of the Celtic Rite whose historical accuracy is debated. Historical evidence of this rite is found in the remnants of the Stowe (Lorrha) Missal.
  • The Gallican Rite is a retrospective term applied to the sum of the local variants, on similar lines to that designated elsewhere as the Celtic Rite and the Mozarabic Rite, which faded from use in France by the end of the first millennium. It should not be confused with the so-called Neo-Gallican liturgical books published in various French dioceses after the Council of Trent, which had little or nothing to do with it.
  • Several local rites (more properly, uses) of limited scope.
    • The Sarum Rite (more properly Sarum Use), a defunct variant on the Roman Rite originating in the Salisbury diocese, which had come to be widely practiced in England and Scotland by the time of the Protestant Reformation, alongside limited other variants such as the York Use.
    • The Lyonese Rite of the diocese of Lyons, France, now defunct, was once again a local variant of the Roman Rite, much as was the Sarum Use.
    • The Nidaros Use, long defunct, based mainly on imported English liturgical books, used in pre-Reformation Norway.

The hierarchical constitution of the Church

The Pope

The Basilica of St John Lateran, cathedral of the diocese of Rome and so of the 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.’"[14]

The Pope is referred to as the Vicar of Christ and the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. 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 Roman 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).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 891 says: "’The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful – who confirms his brethren in the faith – he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals... The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium,’ above all in an Ecumenical Council."[15]

These are two ways, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 890 states, in which the pastors of the Church exercise the charism of infallibility with which Christ has endowed them for the purpose of guarding from deviation and decay the authentic faith of the definitive covenant that God has established in Christ with his people. In other words, they are two ways of ensuring that "the gates of Hell will not prevail" (Matthew 16:18) against the Church.

The Pope lives in Vatican City, an independent state within the city of Rome, set up by the 1929 Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and Italy. Ambassadors are accredited not to Vatican City State but to the Holy See, which was a subject of international law even before the state was instituted. The body of officials that assist the Pope in governance of the Church as a whole is known as the Roman curia. The term "Holy See" (i.e. of Rome) is generally used only of Pope and curia, because the Code of Canon Law, which concerns governance of the Latin Church as a whole and not internal affairs of the see (diocese) of Rome itself, necessarily uses the term in this technical sense.

The present rules governing the election of a pope are found in the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.[16] This deals with the powers, from the death of a pope to the announcement of his successor’s election, of the cardinals and the departments of the Roman curia; with the funeral arrangements for the dead pope; and with the place, time and manner of voting of the meeting of the cardinal electors, a meeting known as a conclave. This word is derived from Latin com- (together) and clavis (key) and refers to the locking away of the participants from outside influences, a measure that was introduced first as a means instead of forcing them to reach a decision.

A pope has the option of resigning. (The term "abdicate" is not normally used of popes.) The two best known cases are those of Pope Celestine V in 1294 (who, though the poet Dante Alighieri pictured him condemned to hell for this action, was canonized in 1313) and Pope Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 to help end the Great Western Schism.

The cardinalate

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.

Cardinals are appointed by the pope, generally from the ranks of his assistants in the curia and bishops of important sees, Latin or Eastern, throughout the world. They are in most recent times usually, but not always bishops.

The cardinalate is not an integral part of the theological structure of the Catholic Church, but largely an honorific distinction that has a complex history. As can be seen below, it has its origins in the different sections of the local clergy of Rome. Since the clergy had a role in the election of the Pope after the death of his predecessor, the granting of the title came to be a pragmatic way of designating a restricted body of electors.

In 1059, the right of electing the Pope was assigned 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. Of these sees, the Dean of the College of Cardinals holds that of Ostia while keeping his preceding link with one of the other six sees. Traditionally, there have thus been only six cardinals who hold the rank of Cardinal Bishop, but when Eastern rite patriarchs are made cardinals, they too hold the rank of Cardinal Bishop, without being assigned a suburbicarian see, still less a church in Rome. The other cardinals have the rank either of Cardinal Priest or Cardinal Deacon, the former rank being normally assigned to bishops in charge of dioceses, and the latter to officials of the Curia and to priests raised to the cardinalate.

Only cardinals whose eightieth birthday does not fall before the date of a Pope's death may enter the conclave that elects his successor. The number of cardinals not over eighty years of age has therefore been limited to 120. But additional cardinals can be chosen from among clergy over that age, an honour that has been bestowed on priests who have suffered long imprisonment under dictatorial regimes or have been distinguished theologians. In October 2003, Pope John Paul II went beyond [17] the limit of 120 voting-age cardinals, a limit that he himself had confirmed; but at the time of his death in April 2005, the number of cardinal electors was down to 117, not all of whom were able, for health reasons, to attend the conclave that elected his successor.

The colour associated with the robes of cardinals is a crimson red, while the red of bishops who are not cardinals (and of Apostolic Protonotaries and Honorary Prelates) is really a Roman purple.

The hat and tassels of cardinals' armorial bearings are red; those of bishops and lesser prelates are green. The hat has the same form for all these prelates and should therefore not be identified with the galero, a large hat that once distinguished cardinals.

The episcopate

Bishop Carlos Belo, SDB, (left) the Apostolic Vicar emeritus of Dili in East Timor.

Bishops are the successors of the apostles in the governance of the Church. The Pope himself is a bishop and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop. The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese. Bishops who fulfill this function are known as diocesan ordinaries, because they have what canon law calls ordinary (i.e. not delegated) authority for a diocese. Other bishops may be appointed to assist them (auxiliary and coadjutor bishops) or to carry out a function in a broader field of service to the Church. Even when a bishop retires from his active service, he remains a bishop, since the ontological effect of the sacrament of holy orders is permanent.

On the other hand, titles such as archbishop or patriarch imply no ontological alteration, but are generally associated with special authority. Some of the Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a patriarch. (A few bishops in the Latin Church, such as those of Venice and Lisbon, also have the title of patriarch, but in their case the title is merely honorary.) Four Eastern Churches are headed by a major archbishop, a bishop who has practically all the powers of a patriarch, but without the title. Smaller Eastern Churches (consisting however of at least two dioceses or, to use the Eastern term, two eparchies) are headed by a metropolitan. Within the Latin Church too, dioceses are normally grouped together as ecclesiastical provinces, in which the bishop of a particular see has the title of metropolitan archbishop, with some very limited authority for the other dioceses, which are known as suffragan sees. However, almost all the authority of a metropolitan archbishop to intervene in case of necessity with regard to a suffragan see belongs, in the case of the metropolitan see itself, to the senior suffragan bishop. (In some Eastern Churches, the term "metropolitan bishop" corresponds instead to "diocesan ordinary" in the Latin Church; and an Anglican usage of "suffragan" corresponds to Catholic "auxiliary bishop.") The Latin-Church title of primate is now merely honorary.

Bishops of a country or region form an episcopal conference and meet periodically to discuss common problems. Decisions in certain fields, notably liturgy, fall within the exclusive competence of these conferences. But the decisions are binding on the individual bishops only if agreed to by at least two-thirds of the membership and confirmed by the Holy See.

In terms of Jurisdiction or governance, in the Latin Church a diocesan Bishop is the Ordinary(a term signifying that he has normal or "ordinary", rather than delegated, authority}. In the East the bishop can be known as the diocesan Hierarch. Some of the Church's jurisdictional areas have the rank of archdiocese or archeparchy, and are headed by an archbishop or archeparch, who, if he has a certain limited jurisdiction over the other dioceses of the same ecclesiastical province, is known as the metropolitan. The word "see", derived from Latin sedes, (a bishop's) chair, is applied generically to all of these. Other jurisdictional areas are territorial prelatures, territorial abbacies, apostolic exarchates and ordinariates for Eastern-rite faithful, military ordinariates, personal prelatures (of which only one exists at present), apostolic vicariates, apostolic prefectures, apostolic administrations, personal apostolic administrations (only one exists), and sui iuris (i.e. autonomous) missions.

GAY FAGGET ASSES!!!

The consecrated life

Consecrated Life, referred to also as Religious Life, is a way of Christian living within the Catholic Church that, publicly professed, is recognized by Church Law (canons 573-746 of the Code of Canon Law). Those who profess it are not part of the hierarchy. They commit themselves, for love of God, to observe as binding obligations what the Christian Gospel proposes as counsels (Evangelical Counsels) rather than commands.

Most join what are called Religious Institutes (cf. canons 573-602, 605-709), 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 hermits and consecrated virgins who are not members of religious institutes.

Common usage about the different forms of religious life is more imprecise in English than in the languages of many countries of Catholic rather than Protestant culture (see Catholic order). The term "monks" is commonly applied to members not only of institutes classified as "orders" (grouped in four subsets: canons regular, monks, mendicant friars, and clerics regular), but also of the institutes classified as either clerical or lay religious congregations, and even of societies of apostolic life. And since the houses of monks are indeed rightly called monasteries (abbeys if headed by an abbot), any house of any of these categories is commonly called a monastery. Similarly, all female religious are commonly called nuns; but in their case the general term for their houses is "convent", rather than the term proper to the houses of nuns in the strict sense.

Members of Religious Institutes for men are usually addressed as "Brother", unless they are priests, in which case the form of address is "Father". In Institutes for women most members are addressed as "Sister", and the superior generally as "Mother", "Mother Superior" or "Reverend Mother". The formal title for the superior of a community or a whole institute varies according to the category of the institute: even in English few would address a Jesuit superior as "Abbot" or an abbot as "Guardian" (the term used by Franciscans).

There is a great variety of Religious Institutes, both male and female. Some have only lay members, while among male Institutes some have both priests and lay members, and yet others only priests and men preparing for priesthood. Some date from the earliest centuries of Christianity, others spring up every year. Their apostolates, too, vary considerably, depending on the vision of the founder: some have an apostolate specifically of prayer, often called "contemplative", others have an outgoing apostolate, e.g. teaching, missionary work. The rare "double communities" known in earlier centuries, where monks and nuns prayed and worked alongside each other under the leadership of only one superior, usually an Abbess, have not survived, though a small number have been founded afresh in recent times.

The oldest existing forms of Religious Institutes are those of monks and nuns, such as the Basilians of the East and the Benedictines of the West, who live in monasteries. Around the thirteenth century Mendicant Orders arose, such as of those of the Dominicans and Franciscans. Unlike the monks and nuns of the earlier Orders, the members of the latter Orders had their houses (which they called convents, not monasteries; in English, Dominican convents for men may also be called 'priories', and Fransciscan convents 'friaries') not in the country but in the towns, which were becoming increasingly important. One of the best known of those that appeared still later is the Society of Jesus, which today is the Religious Institute with the largest number of members (known as Jesuits).

According to canon law (cf. canon 579), religious communities normally begin as an association formed, with the consent of the Diocesan Bishop, for the purpose of becoming a Religious Institute. After time has provided proof of the rectitude, seriousness and durability of the new association, the Bishop, having consulted the Holy See, may formally set it up as a Religious Institute under his own jurisdiction. Later, when it has grown in numbers, perhaps extending also into other dioceses, and further proved its worth, then the Holy See may grant it formal approval, bringing it under the Holy See's responsibility, rather than that of the Bishops of the dioceses where it is present. For the good of such Institutes and to provide for the needs of their apostolate, the Holy See may exempt them from the governance of the local Bishops, bringing them entirely under the authority of the Holy See itself or of someone else. In some respects, for example public liturgical practice, they always remain under the local bishop's supervision.

Typically, members of Religious Institutes take vows of evangelical poverty, chastity and obedience (the "Evangelical Counsels") to lead a life in imitation of Christ Jesus. For some the vow of stability in a monastery or to live according to a particular written rule is considered to include these vows. Other Institutes add further vows.

Secular Institutes (cf. canons 710-730) are another form of Consecrated Life. They differ from Religious Institutes in that their members live their lives in the ordinary conditions of the world, either alone, in their families or in fraternal groups. They include, among others, Caritas Christi, The Grail, and the Servite Secular Institute.

Comparable to Religious Institutes are the Societies of Apostolic Life (cf. canons 731-746), dedicated to pursuit of an apostolic purpose, such as educational or missionary work. They do not take religious vows, but live in common, striving for perfection through observing the "constitutions" of the society to which they belong. Among them are, for example, St. Philip Neri's Institute of the Oratory, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Priests of St. Sulpice.

As mentioned earlier, individuals unattached to any such institutes can be granted official recognition as hermits or consecrated virgins. Although widows appear to have been given special attention in the early Church, present canonical legislation does not mention them as a category calling for similar recognition.

Worldwide distribution

For the Roman Catholic Church regionally and by country see Category:Roman Catholic Church by country and Category:Roman Catholic Church by region + :For the Roman Catholic Church regionally see Roman Catholicism by country and Category:Roman Catholic Church by region
Map showing Roman 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.

Criticisms and controversies

See also: Criticism of the Catholic Church

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.

Historical criticism

Historically, the Church's response to heresy has been through the Inquisition. Pope John Paul II apologized for certain historic excesses in May 1995.

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 later than Copernicus, such as Tycho Brahe. Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for the Church's actions in that trial on 31 October 1992.

Contemporary criticism

In recent times, the Catholic Church has sustained criticism from many quarters on the basis of several of its teachings and practices.

Its exclusion of women from the ordained clergy, and so from many of the most important decisions, is seen by some as unjust discrimination (at a time when feminism and other social and political movements advocating equal access have removed barriers to the entry of women into professions that were traditionally male strongholds). The Church is convinced it is not free to change this rule, which it believes can be traced back to Jesus himself, and has declared the matter closed for discussion. But many refuse to accept this clôture of debate.

The Catholic Church's above-mentioned rule of mandatory celibacy for Latin-Rite priests (while allowing individual exceptions) is criticized for differing from Christian traditions issuing from the Protestant Reformation, which apply no limitations, and even from the practice of the ancient Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, which, while requiring celibacy for bishops and priestmonks and excluding marriage by priests after ordination, do allow married men to be ordained to the priesthood. Some also claim that mandatory priestly celibacy appeared only in the Middle Ages. Besides, there are those who see the tradition as unrealistic. While by no means declaring that the tradition may never be altered, the Holy See judges that the witness value and the spiritual benefits of the tradition weigh heavily in favour of its maintenance. For spiritual reasons, exponents of other religions too freely choose a life of celibacy, thus showing, among other things, that such a life is not unrealistic.

It is argued that abolishing the rule of celibacy and opening the priesthood to women would update the Church's image as more relevant to modern society, and would solve the perceived problem of an insufficiency of candidates for priesthood in Western countries. Others respond that non-Catholic groups that have sought "relevancy" have sometimes been seen as instead "dumbing down" religion, and that, in spite of admitting ordination of women and having no rule whatever of celibacy, mainline Protestant Churches too are experiencing difficulty in drawing people in the same countries to ministry. Within the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church itself, seminaries and dioceses that are more insistent on traditional values appear to be more, not less, successful in attracting vocations to the priesthood.

Some criticize the Church's teaching on sexual and reproductive matters[18]. The Church requires members to eschew homosexual practices (CCC 2357), artificial contraception (CCC 2370), and pre-marital sex (CCC 2353). The procurement or assistance in abortion can carry the penalty of excommunication (CCC 2272), as a specific offense.

Some heavily criticize the Church's teaching on 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. They comment that, even if abstinence is a worthy ideal, it is not realistic to expect a high proportion of people to follow the practice, and so contraceptives and safe sex practices should be promoted. The Church argues that there is considerable proof that distributing condoms and failing to condemn promiscuity amounts to condoning the behaviors and actually increases HIV infection.

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.

Much of the recent criticism of the Church, particularly in the United States, has centered around the sex abuse scandal. The failure of some bishops to take action against offending priests is reported to have undermined the Church's moral authority among some segments of the public.

Traditionalist Catholics see the Church's recent efforts at reformed teaching and practice (known as "aggiornamento"), in particular the Second Vatican Council, as not benefitting the advancement of the Church. Some groups claim the Church has betrayed the core values of Catholicism, and reject some of the decisions of the Holy See that they see harmful to the faith.

Others go so far as to characterize the current leaders of the Catholic Church as heretics. Several groups, known as sedevacantists, claim that the current Pope (as well, perhaps, as some of his immediate predecessors) is not legitimate. A handful of them have appointed papal replacements: see list of sedevacantist antipopes.

See also

References

Wikisource has several original texts related to Catholic Church.
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