ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH / World Book Encyclopedia
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has about 1 billion members--nearly a fifth of the world's population.
Roman Catholics are most heavily concentrated in Europe, North America, and
South America. But the percentage of the Catholic population in both Africa
and Asia is growing.
The Roman Catholic Church traces its beginnings to about A.D. 30, when Jesus
Christ instructed the apostles, His followers, to spread His teaching about
the Kingdom of God. Roman Catholics believe that Christ rose from the dead
after being crucified and sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles.
Roman Catholics believe that Jesus Christ founded the church to carry to all
people the salvation He brought to the world. They also believe that, with
God's assistance, the church has faithfully preserved the teachings of
Christ. According to Catholic teaching, the Holy Spirit continues to guide
the church.
The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, serves as the head of the Roman
Catholic Church. He governs the church from Vatican City, a tiny
independent country within the city of Rome. Throughout the world, other
bishops lead local churches.
The Roman Catholic Church has been an important force in world history.
During much of the Middle Ages, for example, the church had great political
power in Western Europe. Its universities and monasteries were centers of
learning, and they preserved much of the heritage of the Greek and Roman
cultures. During the 1500's and 1600's, Catholic missionaries traveled to
Africa, Asia, and the Americas, preaching the gospel and spreading European
culture.
Throughout its history, the Catholic faith has inspired many great works of
art. These works include the Gothic cathedrals built in France in the
Middle Ages and the frescoes painted in the Vatican in the early 1500's by
the Italian artist Michelangelo.
This article describes the beliefs and worship of Roman Catholics. It also
discusses the organization and history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Roman Catholic beliefs
For Catholics, religious faith means, above all, a wholehearted acceptance
of God's revelation, which is the knowledge of Himself and His will that God
has revealed to humanity through Christ. A Catholic's faith in God is
expressed in certain teachings. These teachings, based on the Bible, are
found in declarations of church councils and popes and in short statements
of faith called creeds. The oldest and most authoritative of these creeds
are the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. Catholics recite the Nicene
Creed at their central act of worship, called the Eucharist or Mass. .
The creeds summarize Catholic beliefs concerning (1) the Trinity and
creation; (2) sin, the Incarnation, and salvation; (3) the nature of the
church; and (4) life afterdeath. These core doctrines, in turn, form the
basis of Catholic morality--that is, guidelines for how Catholics should
live their lives.
The Trinity and creation. Catholics believe there is only one God. But
this one God exists as a union of three Persons--the Father; the Son, who is
Christ; and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons form the Trinity. Each
Person is distinct and is truly God. Yet there is only one God, who has no
beginning or end, is beyond time and space, and is perfect and unchanging.
Catholics believe that the universe owes its beginning to God, who created
everything freely, from love. They believe that the world and humanity
could not survive without God's continuing care.
Sin, the Incarnation, and salvation. The Catholic Church teaches that
humanity was created not only by God but also for God. Its destiny is to
share God's life forever, in union with God and one another. God intended
humanity to achieve this destiny by lovingly obeying His will. But original
sin interfered with God's plan for humanity. The Bible describes Adam, the
first man, as sinning by an act of disobedience to God. Adam's sin affects
every person born in the world.
Catholics believe that God sent His Son, the second Person of the Trinity,
to save humanity from all sin--the original sin people inherit as well as
the sins they themselves commit during their lifetime by deliberately
turning from God. Without ceasing to be God, the Son of God became man. He
was born to the Virgin Mary. Catholics especially commemorate this
Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ at Christmas.
Catholics believe that Christ saved humanity through His life and death and
by rising from the dead and entering heaven. While on earth, Jesus taught
that salvation would be given to all who truly turn to God and live justly
in God's sight.
The nature of the church. Salvation was not complete when Christ left the
earth. Salvation must be brought to each new generation. Jesus therefore
commissioned His apostles to gather all human beings into a church.
Catholics describe this church as the people of God, united with God and one
another through Christ. They believe that the Holy Spirit guides and
strengthens the church on the way to salvation. They also consider the
church to be a missionary people with the function of drawing everyone into
a communion of love.
Life after death. According to Catholic doctrine, life does not end with
the death of the body. Instead, the soul leaves the body and enters heaven,
purgatory, or hell. On the final Judgment Day, when this world has ended,
all souls will be reunited with their bodies.
Heaven is the eternal communion of those who have reached their destiny.
They see God as He is and love Him and one another with complete joy.
Purgatory is a temporary state for souls who die in God's love but must be
purified of all unholiness. The Roman Catholic Church defines hell as the
absence of God, which results in complete despair. It is the punishment
people bring on themselves who have abandoned God and refused communion with
Him.
Catholic morality --how Catholics should behave--can be largely summarized
as follows: The church teaches Catholics to love God with their whole heart
and to love their fellow human beings as they love themselves. The church
asks Catholics to do this in imitation of Jesus, who offered Himself for the
world's salvation. The Roman Catholic Church believes that all people must
follow their conscience. But a Catholic's conscience is formed not only by
personal opinion of what is right and wrong. It is especially formed by the
Bible, church teaching, and the faith and worship of the Christian
community.
Worship
The acts of worship that Catholics perform together are called the liturgy.
The central act of liturgy is the Eucharist or Mass. The Eucharist and
certain other important liturgical acts make up the seven sacraments of the
Roman Catholic Church. The sacraments are (1) baptism, (2) confirmation,
(3) Eucharist, (4) penance, (5) holy orders, (6) marriage, and (7) anointing
of the sick.
Baptism is the liturgical celebration in which a child or adult is cleansed
of sin and begins a new life with God. Water poured in the name of the
Trinity over the head of the person being baptized is a sign of the person's
cleansing from sin. Because water is necessary to life, the baptismal water
also is a sign of new spiritual life. Thus, baptism marks the beginning of
a Catholic's oneness with Christ and entry into the church.
Confirmation enables baptized people to grow to spiritual adulthood. A
bishop, and sometimes also a priest, puts holy oil, called chrism, on the
forehead of the people being confirmed. The chrism signifies that these
people have been strengthened by the Holy Spirit so that they may live up to
their faith.
The Eucharist or Mass is the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Catholics
believe the Mass makes present Christ's sacrifice of Himself. The Mass has
two main parts. The first part, the liturgy of the word, consists of
prayers, hymns, readings from the Bible, a sermon, and the recitation of the
Nicene Creed. The second part is the liturgy of the Eucharist. During this
part, according to Catholic teaching, the priest, acting in Jesus's name
and by the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms bread and wine into Christ's
body and blood. The congregation is then invited to receive Christ Himself
in Holy Communion.
Catholics believe that during the Mass, Christ is truly present, sins are
forgiven, and God's Spirit is given. The members of the congregation are
closely united with one another, the whole church, and their fellow human
beings. Catholics must participate in the Mass on Saturday evenings or
Sundays and on holy days of obligation, such as Christmas. They must
receive Holy Communion at least once a year, at Easter time.
Penance, also called confession, is the sacrament in which Catholics confess
their sins to a priest, express their sincere sorrow for having sinned, and
promise to avoid sin in the future. The priest forgives the sinner in God's
name. The effect of penance is to bring the Roman Catholic back to God and
the Christian community. Catholics must confess their sins at least once a
year if the sins are serious. However, the church urges believers to
receive penance as well as the Eucharist more often.
Holy orders is the sacrament in which men are made deacons, priest, or
bishops. These men become ministers of God's word and sacraments, and
spiritual leaders of the community.
Marriage is the sacrament in which a man and woman promise themselves to
each other for life. This sacrament helps them be faithful to the duties of
marriage and family life. In general, Catholics may marry only once, unless
their partner dies.
Anointing of the sick is the sacrament given to people who are dangerously
ill or very old. The priest anoints these people with oil, a sign of
healing. The priest prays that they will receive the grace of the Holy
Spirit, so they may be freed from sin, comforted and strengthened in soul
and body, and restored to health.
Church organization
Roman Catholics are members of a local parish, led by a priest called a
pastor. The parishes in an area form a diocese, a territorial district
headed by a bishop. The pope appoints bishops, and they are responsible to
him. Bishops in turn appoint and oversee pastors.
The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the highest member
of its clergy (ordained ministers). There are three orders (ranks) within
the clergy--deacons, priests, and bishops. The organization of the clergy
by rank is the church's hierarchy. Each order--from deacons up through the
pope, who is the bishop of Rome--has more responsibilities and wider powers
of ministry and government than the one below it.
Catholics believe the pope is Christ's representative on earth and a
successor of Saint Peter, who is regarded as the first pope. They believe
that the pope is infallible (free from error) when he formally defines
matters of faith and morals. The pope is aided in governing the church by
cardinals and the Roman Curia.
Cardinals are bishops chosen by the pope to be his main advisers. As a
group, they form the College of Cardinals. They hold the highest rank below
the pope, and they have the responsibility of electing a new pope after a
reigning pope dies or resigns.
The Roman Curia is the pope's administrative arm. It consists of the
Secretariat of State and a number of other departments called congregations,
tribunals, councils, and offices. Cardinals and archbishops
(highest-ranking bishops) head the various departments of the Curia.
The Secretariat of State assists the pope most directly in governing the
church and in communicating with the rest of the Curia. The congregations
do most of the Curia's administrative work. Tribunals have judicial powers.
For example, the tribunal called the Roman Rota serves as a court to settle
disputes about the validity of marriages. The councils deal with matters of
Christian unity and handle relations with non-Christians. The offices are
responsible for such functions as drafting papal documents and gathering
church statistics.
Bishop and diocese. Bishops are considered successors to Christ's apostles.
A bishop appoints the pastors of the parishes in his diocese, and the
pastors are responsible to him. He also supervises the many
church-supported agencies that serve local needs in the diocese, including
schools, hospitals, and newspapers.
The bishops of the church, together with the pope as their head, form the
college of bishops and share authority over the church. They are
responsible for teaching and guiding the church as a whole. For example,
when the bishops met at Vatican Council II (1962-1965), they issued
statements that had great impact on Catholic life and practice.
Pastor and parish. A territorial parish includes all Catholic residents in
a given area. A national parish primarily serves an ethnic group whose
members may live in several territorial parishes. The pastor of a parish is
its spiritual leader. Pastors of large parishes are assisted by other
priests, by deacons, and, increasingly, by the laity or lay people--people
who are not ordained.
The role of lay people is to live according to the principles of their
faith. They are united with the clergy in worship and prayer, and they are
called to exemplify the vision and values of the gospel at all times. Lay
peopleparticipate in such church governing bodies as parish councils and
parish school boards. At Mass, they act as readers, reading aloud passages
from the Bible, and they help distribute Holy Communion.
Religious institutes are societies of Catholic men or women who live
according to a set of regulations called a rule. Members of the institute
are called religious. They take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Some of the men are also ordained. Well-known Catholic institutes for men
include the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans. Institutes for
women include the Sisters of Charity, the Ursulines, and the Benedictines.
These institutes are governed directly by their own appointed or elected
leaders.
The early church
The first 300 years. Catholics trace the beginnings of their church to
Palestine, where Jesus preached, healed others, and was crucified. There,
according to the Bible, after Christ rose from the dead, He told the
apostles to preach the gospel to all peoples. In Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit
came upon the apostles on what Catholics call the feast of Pentecost.
The first Christians were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah, the
savior expected by the Jews. The early church gradually separated itself
from Judaism, the religion of the Jews, and achieved its own identity. But
the church accepted the Jewish Scriptures as the record of God's dealings
with His chosen people and as a guide leading to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Saint Paul became the most important person to carry the gospel to the
gentiles (non-Jews). He regarded himself as a divinely appointed apostle to
the gentiles. Paul founded many churches and exercised authority over them
through visits and letters. He also represented their interests with the
mother church in Jerusalem. After Paul's death, about A.D. 67, the number
of gentile churches continued to expand rapidly. By the 100's, the center
of Christianity had passed from Jerusalem to Christian communities in the
cities of Antioch in Syria, Alexandria in Egypt, and especially Rome.
In its early years, the church grew steadily in spite of persecution by the
Romans, whose empire covered most of Europe, the Middle East, and northern
Africa. The Romans believed loyalty to the emperor involved honoring the
gods of the state and often the emperor. They regarded Christians who
refused to give such honor as traitors and atheists. The Christian ideal
became the martyr--a person who suffered persecution and even death rather
than abandon Christianity. Although the church suffered widespread
persecution, many of these attacks were local and brief. The church thus
had time to grow and develop a distinct structure.
While the church faced persecution from outside, many movements threatened
to divide it from within. Some of these movements taught what the church
declared to be heresies--that is, teachings opposed to basic Christian
beliefs. The most serious heresy during the church's first 200 years was
Gnosticism. It was a religious philosophy that had many followers
throughout the Roman Empire. It held that Christ was a spiritual being who
only appeared to be human; and thus He did not actually suffer and die. The
struggle against Gnosticism was a difficult and important battle in church
history.
The earliest Christians relied on the apostles, led by Saint Peter, as their
authority in settling questions of doctrine and government. After the death
of the apostles, the church faced the problem of where to turn for authority
in such matters. In the 100's, two developments helped solve the problem.
First, the church gradually recognized the books of the New Testament as
sources of authority in doctrine. Second, the basic orders of Christian
ministry--bishops, presbyters (later called priests), and deacons--became
more clearly defined.
The recognition of Christianity. Constantine the Great was the first Roman
emperor to become a Christian. In 313, Constantine and Licinius, the
emperor of Rome's eastern provinces, granted freedom of worship and equal
rights to all religious groups in the empire. By the late 300's,
Christianity had become the favored religion of the empire.
The recognition of Christianity had some unfortunate effects on the church.
For the first time, the church attracted many people who lacked the
dedication of the early Christians. Emperors intruded into the internal
affairs of the church. In the mid-300's, for example, the Roman Emperor
Constantius II tried to force the Eastern heresy known as Arianism on the
West. Arianism is named for Arius, a priest in Egypt who claimed that
Christ was not truly God.
But on the whole, the empire's recognition of Christianity benefited the
church. The church was able to influence civil laws. It also expanded its
work among the poor and began missionary work outside the empire.
Bishops from throughout the Christian world met several times to resolve
major theological disputes in the early church. These meetings are called
general or ecumenical councils. The first council, Nicaea I, met in 325 and
condemned the teachings of Arius. The creed of the council, which Catholics
pray at Mass, affirms that Jesus Christ is truly God, "one in being with the
Father." In 451, the Council of Chalcedon denounced Monophysitism, which
denied Christ's human nature. The council completed the teaching of Nicaea
by declaring that Christ is truly man.
Some of the most distinguished literature in church history was produced
between 325 and 451. The most notable writers of this period included the
historian Eusebius; the bishops and theologians Saint Ambrose, Saint
Athanasius, and Saint Augustine; the preacher Saint John Chrysostom; the
poet Prudentius; and the Biblical scholar Saint Jerome. Their writings had
a great influence on church thought in later centuries.
Monasticism began to develop in the 300's. This way of life, in which a
person withdraws from worldly affairs and is completely devoted to prayer
and the service of God, was to play an important part in church history. As
persecution ceased and Christianity prospered, the monk replaced the martyr
as the Christian ideal. The two basic models for monastic life were the
Egyptians Saint Anthony and Saint Pachomius. Anthony lived the solitary
life of a hermit. Pachomius organized monastic communities governed by a
rule.
Pope Saint Leo I, who reigned from 440 to 461, was perhaps the greatest
early pope. Leo persuaded the Huns and the Vandals, two barbarian tribes,
to halt their attacks on Italy. By the time Leo began his reign, the huge
Roman Empire had been split into Eastern and Western empires. Leo
emphasized that popes were successors to Saint Peter and so had primacy
(supreme authority) as head of the universal church.
Conflict with the East. Before the 400's, a single Christian church
existed. But it consisted of several nationalities. Each nationality
expressed the Christian faith in its own language and liturgy and, at times,
its own theology. Gradually, cultural, geographic, political, and religious
differences led to the development of several separate churches in the East
Roman Empire. Beginning in the 400's, the Eastern churches began to drift
away from the authority of Rome and the church in the West.
Several events helped widen the gulf between Western and Eastern
Christianity. One event was the condemnation by the Council of Ephesus in
431 of the teachings of Nestorius, the patriarch (bishop) of Constantinople.
Nestorius asserted that Mary was the mother of Christ but not the mother of
God. In reaction to the council's condemnation, the East Syrian Church
separated itself from the Western Church. The gulf widened after the
Council of Chalcedon condemned Monophysitism. After this condemnation, the
Armenian Church, the Coptic Church of Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, and the
Syrian Jacobite Church all broke away from those churches that accepted the
teaching of the Council of Chalcedon.
Growth of the church in Europe
The Early Middle Ages. In A.D. 476, barbarian forces led by the Germanic
general Odoacer deposed the last emperor of the West Roman Empire. Many
historians use this date to mark the end of the Roman Empire in the West and
the start of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the influence and
power of the church reached their peak.
The collapse of the West Roman Empire meant that no one power had political
control in the West. Instead, all of Western Europe except Ireland came to
be ruled by barbarian kings, who were either Arians or non-Christians.
Beginning with the reign of Pope Gregory the Great in 590, the church set
out to create a Christian world in the West. Its chief instruments were the
papacy and monasticism.
The papacy gradually replaced the empire as the center of authority in
Western Europe. Ireland had been converted to Christianity in the 400's,
mainly through the efforts of Saint Patrick. In 496, the king of the
Franks, Clovis I, was converted. His conversion brought Gaul into the
church and checked the spread of the Arian heresy there. Gaul was a huge
region now occupied by Belgium, France, and part of western Germany. From
the 500's to the 700's, the papacy directed the conversion of other peoples
of the West. These peoples included the Visigoths in Spain, the
Anglo-Saxons in England, and the Croats in central Europe.
Meanwhile, the growth of monasticism played a large part in the increasing
influence of the church. Monasticism created centers of Christian society,
renewed the spiritual life of religious communities, and helped transform a
dying Western culture into a Christian civilization. In the early 500's,
Saint Benedict of Nursia founded Benedictine monasticism. The Benedictine
rule was both moderate and humane in setting forth how its followers should
live. These qualities influenced the rule of many later orders.
In the early 700's, Muslims, who followed the religion of Islam, conquered
Spain. Also in the 700's, Viking raiders from northern Europe began to
attack England and other Christian countries. The conquest of Spain and the
Viking attacks greatly disrupted Western European economic, political, and
social life. In the midst of these disruptions, the church stood out as the
major force for unifying and civilizing the West.
Charlemagne, the greatest king of the Franks, became one of the most
important people in European as well as church history. During his reign,
he laid a foundation for the organized, civilized society that was later
built in Western Europe. This foundation resulted from the ideals that
Charlemagne pursued--orderly government, religious reform, and the expansion
of the Christian world through conquest and missionary activity.
Charlemagne involved himself deeply in church affairs and became protector
of the popes. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned him emperor of the Romans,
restoring the idea of empire in the West. Charlemagne's empire formed the
basis of what became the Holy Roman Empire in 962. The Holy Roman Empire
lasted until 1806. It consisted largely of German and Italian states ruled
by German emperors.
Cluniac reform was the name given to a vast reform movement within the
church. It began in the 900's and lasted about 200 years. It was centered
in the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, France. The movement introduced
significant changes in the way monasteries were governed and monks lived.
It also helped correct abuses within the church, such as simony (buying or
selling sacred things or church offices). The Cistercian order--founded in
1098 in Citeaux, France--also became a leading force for church renewal,
particularly under the leadership of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Split with the East. Since the 400's, the Eastern churches had continued to
drift away from the church in the West. Then, in the 800's, Photius,
patriarch of Constantinople, had a serious dispute with the papacy. A major
issue in the dispute was the pope's claim to authority over Eastern
Christians. In the 1000's, a conflict also developed between Rome and the
patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius. Part of this conflict
arose from claims by each church that the other was interfering in its
affairs. Serious schisms (splits) emerged from these disagreements. The
disagreements led to a formal division between the Eastern churches that
employed the Byzantine rite and the Western church that followed the Latin
rite and acknowledged the primacy of the bishop of Rome. However, some
Eastern churches eventually reunited with the Roman Catholic Church, forming
what are now called the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Innocent III became pope in 1198. He was one of the most powerful popes of
the Middle Ages. He influenced the political affairs of much of Europe.
Innocent called one of the most important church councils of the period, the
Fourth Lateran Council, which met in 1215. The council enacted 70 decrees
(official decisions) regulating church affairs. Innocent also encouraged
the founding of the Dominican and Franciscan religious orders. Saint
Dominic and Saint Francis of Assisi established these mendicant (begging)
orders. The members sought to live a life of poverty in community as they
preached the gospel.
Innocent's reign led to the establishment of the religious court known as
the Inquisition. The Inquisition was set up in 1231 to investigate and
combat heresy. But the inquisitors often misused their power, and they had
some suspects tortured or even put to death.
Scholasticism. In the 1100's, the system of thought called medieval
scholasticism began to develop. It reached its peak in the 1200's. Its
scholars, called scholastics, tried to better understand Christian doctrine
by the use of reason. The writings on logic by the ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle had an early influence on scholasticism. The
scholastics put various doctrines and their explanations into systematic
order. They also tried to resolve conflicting views in Christian theology.
The leading scholastics included Saint Albertus Magnus of Germany, Roger
Bacon of England, Saint Bonaventure of Italy, and especially Saint Thomas
Aquinas of Italy. The center of scholasticism was the University of Paris,
where Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas taught.
Boniface VIII became pope in 1294. He tried to unify the Christian world
more closely under the papacy. Boniface insisted that kings of individual
nations were subject to the Holy Roman emperor and that the emperor's power,
in turn, came from the pope. In 1302, Boniface issued a bull (papal decree)
called Unam sanctam. The bull declared that, for salvation, every human
being must be subject to the pope. The bull angered the French king, Philip
IV, who said Boniface was trying to claim authority over the French king and
the French people.
The Avignon papacy. In 1309, Pope Clement V moved from Rome to Avignon, in
what is now France. The popes did not return to Rome until 1377. One
reason that the popes lived in Avignon was that they wished to avoid the
civil wars that were disrupting Italy in the 1300's. Also, the popes came
to be increasingly influenced by the powerful French kings. During the
Avignon period, papal reform efforts continued, and the church sent
missionaries to Asia and encouraged the expansion of universities. But
hostility against a French-dominated papacy began to grow outside of France.
The Great Schism. From 1378 to 1417, a controversy called the Great Schism
deeply divided the church. During this time, candidates from Avignon and
Rome both claimed to be the rightful pope. In 1409, the Council of Pisa
tried to untangle the dispute but instead created a third claim to the
office. Each of the three men demanded obedience from the Christian
faithful, which caused much confusion and doubt.
In 1417, bishops and other high-ranking clergymen meeting at the Council of
Constance finally ended the Great Schism by electing a fourth man, Martin V,
as the single rightful pope. But the controversy had caused damage within
the church. For example, reform efforts had been slowed. A conflict also
had developed over the idea that a general council of bishops had greater
authority than the pope.
The close of the Middle Ages. From the 1300's through the 1500's, medieval
Europe gradually gave way to modern Europe. During these 300 years, the
Middle Ages overlapped a period called the Renaissance. This was a time of
great cultural and intellectual activity, when ideas and customs that had
been accepted for hundreds of years were questioned or swept away. The
Renaissance began in Italy in the 1300's and spread throughout Western
Europe in the 1400's and 1500's.
The Renaissance emphasized the great dignity of humanity and the beauty of
life on earth and had both good and bad effects on Catholicism. Popes
supported Renaissance artists and scholars, but the papacy also suffered a
moral decline. The church sponsored important historical scholarship, but
the popes often became involved in Italian politics. Reform efforts within
the church slackened.
Meanwhile, during the 1400's, a revival of deep religious feeling occurred
among clergy and the laity. Many Catholics expressed this feeling in
emotional devotions (pious practices) to the sufferings and death of Jesus.
During this time, however, piety was being divorced from its roots in
theology, and theology was hardening into conflicting schools of thought and
losing much of its vitality.
The Council of Florence, which began in 1438, reunited the Western church
with some Eastern churches. However, the reunification lasted only a few
years. In 1453, Muslims captured Constantinople and ruled over most Eastern
Christians until the 1800's.
The Reformation. Medieval Christian civilization ended with the
Reformation, a religious revolution that gave birth to Protestantism in the
1500's. As a result of the Reformation, Europe became divided between Roman
Catholic and Protestant countries.
By the early 1500's, the conditions in the church that led to the
Reformation were apparent. The papacy was dominated by temporal concerns.
The Roman Curia often was corrupt. Many bishops lived like princes and
neglected the faithful. A great number of clergymen were uneducated and
ignored their pastoral duties. Members of religious orders had become
worldly. Fear and superstition were common among the laity. The liturgy no
longer held much meaning or inspiration for the people, and theology had
generally become dry and unrelated to real life.
Some councils, popes, saints, scholars, and movements among the people had
indeed attempted to reform the church during the late Middle Ages. However,
the church remained largely unreformed.
In 1517, Martin Luther, a member of the Augustinian order, issued his famous
Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. The theses were statements
attacking the church's doctrine of indulgences and the abuses that arose in
granting indulgences. An indulgence is a release from part or all of
temporal punishment due for sin, provided that the sin has already been
forgiven. The church's doctrine on indulgences was basically sound. But it
was not always understood properly. Also, many preachers sold indulgences.
Many people bought them from the church, hoping the indulgences would hasten
the release of a dead person's soul from purgatory. Luther's attack on
indulgences began the Reformation.
By the late 1500's, the Reformation had divided Western Europe into
Protestant and Roman Catholic lands. Catholicism was reduced primarily to
the Mediterranean countries, as well as to Hungary, Poland, and small areas
within the Holy Roman Empire. But while the church lost much ground in
Europe to Protestantism, it achieved enormous success in other parts of the
world. Beginning in the 1500's, Catholic missionaries converted many people
in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
The Counter Reformation, also known as the Catholic Reformation, was a
reform movement within Catholicism that increased in intensity as the church
reacted to the Protestant Reformation. It took place during the 1500's and
1600's.
Beginning in the 1520's, such reform popes as Adrian VI, Paul III, and
especially Paul IV concentrated on correcting abuses in the Roman Curia and
hierarchy. By the end of the reign of Saint Pius V in 1572, the papacy had
clearly committed itself to church reform.
A leading force in the Counter Reformation was the Society of Jesus,
commonly called the Jesuits. Saint Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits in
1534, and Paul III confirmed the order in 1540. Loyola did not found the
Jesuits specifically to counteract Protestantism. But the order proved well
equipped for the task. The Jesuits were flexible, practical, and completely
at the pope's service. They were intelligent, deeply religious men who
revived Catholicism both intellectually and spiritually. To a large extent,
the Jesuits helped halt the advance of Protestantism, even regaining vast
areas that had come under Protestant influence in Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, France, and eastern and central Europe.
Perhaps the greatest single force in renewing Catholic life and worship was
the Council of Trent (1545-1563). The council issued decrees on the Mass
and other areas of doctrine and discipline that eliminated much confusion
within the church. Its decrees on such topics as the training of priests
and the granting of indulgences reformed church life wherever they were put
into effect.
The Counter Reformation drew strength from the spiritual renewal led by
Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. It found artistic
expression in the baroque churches and monasteries built during this period
and in the polyphonic music composed for religious services by the Italian
composer Giovanni Palestrina and the English composer William Byrd.
A number of religious and political wars broke out during the Counter
Reformation. Between 1562 and 1598, the Catholic majority in France and
French Protestants called Huguenots fought eight civil wars called the Wars
of Religion. The Thirty Years' War destroyed much of Germany. It began as
a civil war between Protestants and Catholics in the German states but
eventually involved most European countries. The Peace of Westphalia, which
ended the war in 1648, declared that the people of each state must follow
the religion of their ruler. This principle greatly weakened the Holy Roman
Empire. It also ended the medieval idea of a Christian commonwealth of
nations harmoniously directed by the supreme authority of pope and emperor.
Catholic revival in France. Perhaps the most outstanding example of church
renewal in the 1600's occurred in France. Several people especially helped
to create this renewal. Saint Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, inspired
many Christians by his uniting of humanism and piety. Saint Vincent de Paul
devoted his life to serving the poor. He founded the Vincentians, an order
of missionary priests to country districts in France. Saint Louise de
Marillac worked with Vincent de Paul in assisting the needy. She was one of
many women who helped restore a sense of charity and deep religious feeling
to both convent and Catholic family life.
During the 1600's, several French clergymen founded religious institutes
that helped inspire a new emphasis on spirituality in the priesthood.
Pierre Cardinal de Berulle established the French Oratory in 1611. Jean
Jacques Olier founded the Company of Saint Sulpice in 1642, and Saint John
Eudes established the Congregation of Jesus and Mary in 1643.
Gallicanism. The period from the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 to
the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789-1799) has been called the Revolt
of the Catholic Kings. The period was marked by quarrels between church and
state, especially over Gallicanism--the view that the authority of national
churches should be increased at the expense of papal authority.
Gallicanism developed in France, and the dispute over it became most
critical there. King Louis XIV and Pope Innocent XI quarreled over Louis's
attempts to increase his influence in French religious affairs. The quarrel
led many French clergymen to adopt doctrines that the papacy could not in
conscience accept. For example, some French clergymen believed that a
general church council was superior to the pope. Although the controversy
died down in the 1690's, the French clergy remained anti-Roman for many
years.
Gallicanism, with its emphasis on nationalism, became popular in every
European country ruled by a Catholic monarch. During the late 1700's, the
Holy Roman emperor, Joseph II, tried to separate the Catholic Church in
Austria from Rome. Joseph considered the church a department of state whose
task was to promote morality. He controlled all levels of the clergy and
even interfered with the liturgy. Rulers in Naples, Sardinia, Spain, and
Venice followed Joseph's example.
Jansenism. While the church faced challenges from Catholic rulers, it also
was disrupted from within by theological disputes. The most serious dispute
was over a religious movement known as Jansenism. Jansenism arose in France
in the mid-1600's. It was based on the writings of Cornelius Jansen, bishop
of Ypres, Belgium. Jansen developed doctrines on divine grace that played
down human freedom and denied that Christ died for all humanity. The church
attacked some Jansenist doctrines as heresy.
The movement tore Catholic France apart. It divided many French bishops
from Rome and even attracted the attention of Kings Louis XIV and Louis XV.
The Catholic philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal became a leading
spokesman for Jansenism and a fierce critic of the Jesuits, who spoke
against it. Three popes condemned Jansenism--Innocent X in 1653, Alexander
VII in 1656, and Clement XI in 1713. But their condemnation only fueled the
controversy.
Jansenism finally began to lose influence in the 1730's. But its harsh idea
of God and emphasis on divine punishment still influence some Catholics
today.
The Age of Reason was a period during which philosophers emphasized the use
of reason as the one sure method of learning truth. The Age of Reason
lasted from the late 1600's to the late 1700's. During this time, many
people attacked organized religion in general and the Catholic Church in
particular. They claimed that the church favored obedience to authority
over individual freedom and that it sacrificed reason to tradition. They
also believed that the Catholic clergy's obedience to Rome violated national
sovereignty. The leaders of the period included such French intellectuals
as Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire.
Suppression of the Jesuits. During the middle and late 1700's, several
nations banned the Jesuit Order from their country and colonies. Portugal
banned the Jesuits in 1759, France in 1764, and Spain in 1767. In 1773,
pressure from Catholic rulers helped force Pope Clement XIV to suppress the
Jesuits in all countries.
The Jesuits were banned for several reasons. Some Catholic rulers and
churchmen were jealous of the order's influence. Some accused the Jesuits
of accumulating too much power and wealth. Gallicans opposed the order's
total obedience to the pope, and Jansenists objected to the order's emphasis
on human freedom.
The suppression of the Jesuits was never completely effective. For example,
the order survived in Russia through the friendship of Empress Catherine the
Great. Pope Pius VII lifted the ban in 1814. But the suppression caused a
severe setback in Catholic education and missionary activity.
The decline of church influence. The forces of democracy and nationalism
swept across Europe from the start of the French Revolution through the
1800's. These forces often were accompanied by fierce opposition to the
Roman Catholic Church because the church was viewed as a supporter of the
traditional order.
The church suffered enormous losses as a result of the French Revolution.
For example, many of the great abbeys of Europe disappeared, and with them
the influence of the monastic orders as centers of scholarship and spiritual
renewal. Catholic influence over public life was severely lessened, often
by civil laws. Catholic universities yielded to state-sponsored education.
Theology came to be studied mostly in seminaries rather than in
universities, and it became increasingly separated from modern thought and
problems.
In many countries, the church suffered from a shortage of priests. This was
especially true in France. During the French Revolution, the church lost
half its clergy. Many priests were executed or died in prison. Others left
the church.
The papacy had governed certain territories called the Papal States, which
were gradually absorbed by Italy. By 1870, the papacy had lost the last of
the land that once made up the Papal States. The pope's territory was
reduced to Vatican City. Although that seemed at the time to be a loss, it
freed the papacy from political pressures and concerns.
Although the church suffered setbacks and hostility during the 1800's,
Catholic life itself experienced renewal. The restoration of the Jesuit
Order in 1814 enabled it to play a large role in that renewal. New
religious orders of women became active in education in Belgium, France, and
Germany. In Germany, the Congress of Mainz founded the Catholic Union in
1848. The union was an association of Catholics dedicated to promoting the
ideals of their religion in social life.
Vatican Council I. In 1846, Pius IX became pope. He ruled until 1878--the
longest reign in papal history. Pius's reign reached a high point when he
summoned Vatican Council I (1869-1870). The council defined as Catholic
doctrine the pope's primacy over the whole church. It also declared him to
be infallible--that is, incapable of error when, as supreme pastor of the
church, he formally defines matters of faith and morals.
Leo XIII. A new age of church history began after Leo XIII became pope in
1878. Leo tried to convince the governments of his time that they and the
church could live in harmony. He faced especially strong antichurch feeling
in Germany, France, and Italy. He succeeded in easing the German
government's restrictions against the church, but he failed in France and
Italy. In fact, the French government passed new antichurch laws in 1880,
including laws that expelled religious orders from France and banned
religious education in the schools.
Leo sought to make the church more active in confronting issues and problems
of the modern world. He began a new policy of maintaining contact between
the papacy and everyday Catholic life. He established this contact through
letters to the Catholic world, called encyclicals. The encyclicals dealt
with such subjects as philosophy and Bible studies, theology and church law,
and the relations between the state and the working class. Leo's most
important statement on social questions was called Rerum Novarum (1891).
Pius X. The papacy of Saint Pius X, which lasted from 1903 to 1914,
featured the most impressive reform activity since the Council of Trent in
the 1500's. Reforms were made in such areas as liturgy, the reception of
Holy Communion, seminary education, and church law.
However, Pius vigorously opposed Modernism, a movement that began in the
late 1800's among Catholic intellectuals in several European countries.
Modernists desired to bring Catholic thought into what they felt was a
closer relation to the knowledge and outlook of the time. A number of
church leaders believed that Modernism challenged important Catholic
teachings. Some other Catholics believed that the Modernists raised valid
issues. Pius formally condemned Modernism, but such Modernist issues as
Biblical scholarship were discussed in the 1960's at Vatican Council II.
During the 1920's and 1930's, the church made concordats (agreements) with
many nations to guarantee its freedom and its spiritual authority over
Catholics in the countries involved. During this period, the church also
updated its worldwide missionary activities. Meanwhile, many clergy and
laity made significant contributions to learning and scholarship, especially
in the areas of Bible and church history.
Facing opposition. Throughout most of the 1900's, the church faced
hostility from European dictatorships. During the 1920's and 1930's,
dictatorships in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union often opposed the
church. After World War II (1939-1945), the church faced persecution in the
Communist countries of Eastern Europe. In the 1940's and 1950's, Pope Pius
XII worked constantly to preserve the religious freedom of Catholics living
under dictatorships. Pius's encyclicals on the liturgy and other topics
prepared the way for the great reforms of Vatican Council II.
Vatican Council II. Pope John XXIII succeeded Pius in 1958. John called
Vatican Council II, which met from 1962 to 1965. The council marked a
turning point in thehistory of the Roman Catholic Church. The council
issued 16 documents that tried to give a deeper understanding of the church
and its doctrines and help the church serve the needs of the modern world.
These documents led to a number of reforms. These major reforms included
celebration of the liturgy in the language of the people rather than in
Latin, a renewed emphasis on the importance of Bible reading and study, and
an encouragement of active participation of the laity in the life of the
church. The council also involved the church more fully in the ecumenical
movement to unite all Christians.
Paul VI, who succeeded John XXIII in 1963, guided the council to its
completion. He led the church through the turmoil of the late 1960's, when
much in society as well as the church was undergoing radical change.
Paul disheartened liberals by reaffirming the church's traditional teaching
on sexual morality in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. But he also
promoted the council's liturgical reforms and spoke out strongly on behalf
of social justice, especially for developing nations. He directed a reform
of the Roman Curia, made the College of Cardinals a more international body,
and increased the number of bishops from developing countries. Paul also
traveled widely. He visited the United States as well as countries in Latin
America, Africa, and Asia. He showed, both in word and deed, that the Roman
Catholic Church was no longer a Europe-centered church.
Growth of the church outside Europe
Before the 1500's, the Roman Catholic Church had spread to only a few areas
outside Europe. But during the 1500's, due to the activities of Catholic
missionaries, the church began to take root throughout the world.
In Africa in the 1500's, the most successful Catholic missions were those in
the Portuguese colonies of Angola, the Congo, and Mozambique. Missionaries
had begun accompanying Portuguese explorers to Africa by the late 1400's.
The missions in Africa eventually declined, however, particularly because of
a lack of priests. By the beginning of the 1800's, Christianity had almost
completely died out on the continent. In the mid-1800's, many European
countries started colonizing Africa, and missionary activity began again.
The church eventually spread throughout the continent. Today, Africa has
the fastest growing Catholic population in the world.
In Asia, Catholic missionaries were sent to every country that European
colonial interests discovered in the 1500's. They were most successful
where Spanish control was strong. In the Philippines, missionaries first
arrived in 1564. By the 1800's, the majority of the Philippine population
had become Catholic.
Missionaries who reached Japan in 1549 established a Roman Catholic
community in Kyushu. Japanese rulers later turned away from Western
influence, and in 1614 Japanese Catholics were persecuted and killed for
their faith. It was not until 1873 that religious freedom was granted once
more. A small group of secret Christians survived in spite of the
persecution, and the church has many members in southern Japan.
In India, Catholic missionaries, especially the Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier,
established churches in Goa and surrounding areas during the early 1500's.
Goa was then a Portuguese colony. Today, the largest Indian Roman Catholic
communities are in the southwestern states of Goa and Kerala.
In Latin America. Soon after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Western
Hemisphere in 1492, Spain and Portugal claimed nearly all of Latin America.
Catholic missionaries accompanied Spanish and Portuguese explorers and
colonists and converted most Latin American Indians.
Many natives of Latin America accepted Christianity only under pressure from
colonial rulers and, in fact, still retained their old religious beliefs.
As a result, the church tried to strengthen the faith of the converts. For
example, it helped establish universities in Lima, Peru; Mexico City; and
elsewhere. The church also recruited clergy from among Latin Americans.
But the number of native-born priests proved inadequate for church needs.
Catholicism in Latin America thus remained almost totally dependent on the
church in Europe.
In the 1800's, the church in Latin America declined after many colonies
gained their independence from Spain and Portugal. The church had had close
ties with the colonial powers, and many clergymen had opposed the
independence movements. As a result, many Latin Americans became hostile
toward the church, and it lost much influence in Latin American life.
In Latin America today, there is a renewal of Catholicism, mainly because
bishops and priests have become involved in social problems. Following a
movement called liberation theology, they have established local Christian
groups, called base communities, for prayer, reflection, and social action.
However, Protestantism has won many people away from Catholicism, and
anticlerical feeling remains strong in many countries.
In Canada. Canada became a flourishing territory for Catholic missionaries
beginning with French colonial rule in 1534. In 1763, Canada became a
British colony. Until 1774, Britain restricted the religious freedom of
French Canadians, who were Catholics. In 1774, the British Parliament
passed the Quebec Act, which restored religious liberties to French
Canadians.
Today, the Roman Catholic Church is the country's largest single body of
Christians. The church plays a particularly influential role in the
province of Quebec, where most of the people are Catholics.
In the United States. Spanish missions covered an immense territory from
Florida to northern California. The missions of New France extended from
the Great Lakes in the north, through the Mississippi Valley, and south to
Louisiana. In the 13 English colonies, along the Atlantic coast, Maryland
had the largest concentration of Catholics.
The mainstream of Catholic life emerged from the minority Catholics of the
English colonies rather than from the state-favored Catholics of the French
and Spanish colonies. Occasionally, the governments of the English colonies
passed anti-Catholic legislation. But generally they followed a policy of
religious freedom. This freedom and the growing separation of church and
state helped make the Catholic Church acceptable to non-Catholics. In 1789,
Catholic priests in the United States elected John Carroll as the country's
first bishop.
During the 1800's, waves of immigration shaped the nature of the church in
the United States. From 1790 to the mid-1860's, more than 2 million
Catholics arrived, mainly from Germany and Ireland. From 1870 to 1900, over
3 million more Catholics came, most of them from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and
Poland. By 1900, Irish Americans had become the most powerful force in the
church in the United States.
Some native-born Americans subjected many Catholic immigrants to a form of
prejudice called nativism. They questioned the patriotism, morals, and
religion of the immigrants. Nativism sometimes led to violence, such as the
burning of the Ursuline convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1834.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), Catholics on both sides showed such
loyalty and courage that they won increased acceptance in the North and the
South.
From 1865 to 1900, several conflicts developed within the church in the
United States. Many Catholics believed that Catholic children should be
educated in state-supported public schools. Others believed Catholic
children should attend schools operated by the church. Some Catholics
supported the Knights of Labor, an early labor organization. Others
attacked the organization, partly because they claimed its social programs
were too extreme. Conflicts sometimes broke out among the various
nationalities of Catholic immigrants, especially between German Catholics
and Irish Catholics.
In 1887, bishops of the United States established the Catholic University of
America in Washington, D.C. They founded the school as the official
national Roman Catholic university in the United States.
During the late 1800's, some European Catholic leaders accused American
Catholics of a tendency toward nationalism. The Europeans labeled this
tendency Americanism and saw in it an attempt to dilute the church's
doctrines to make them fit modern culture. American Catholics denied the
charges. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII condemned the views of Americanism without
naming anyone as holding its principles.
During the 1900's, the church in the United States grew strong. American
bishops coordinated their various activities through national meetings and,
after Vatican II, established the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
An increasing number of American missionaries went to other lands. Catholic
education, from the elementary to the university level, spread throughout
the country. The study of liturgy and theology made great strides.
Catholics became a powerful political factor, especially in such large
cities as Boston, Chicago, and New York. The election in 1960 of John F.
Kennedy, a Catholic, as President symbolized the final assimilation of the
church into American society.
Today, major concerns of the church in the United States include financial
problems and a growing shortage of priests. Because of the shortage, some
Catholics argue that priests should be allowed to marry and that women
should be eligible to become priests. Others insist such changes would be
contrary to the church's tradition.
The church today
John Paul II was elected pope in 1978. A native of Poland, he became the
first non-Italian pope since the Renaissance. Many people believe he played
an important part in bringing about the collapse of Communism in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
In 1983, John Paul issued a new code of church law that incorporated the
reforms of Vatican Council II into the institutional life of the church.
For example, the code called for an active role for lay people in parish and
diocesan advisory bodies. In 1992, John Paul announced the publication of a
new Cathechism of the Catholic Church, a comprehensive statement of Catholic
doctrine, liturgical practice, and morality. It is intended primarily for
bishops for use in religious education.
John Paul has traveled throughout the world, and he has written extensively.
He addressed issues of social justice in his encyclical Centesiumus Annus
(1991), written on the hundredth anniversary of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum
(1891). He discussed principles of Catholic morality in Veritatis Splendor
(1993) and Evangelium Vitae (1995). John Paul wishes to prepare the church
for the task of a new evangelization--preaching the gospel to a world he
considers to be often aimless and adrift. He has encouraged ecumenical
dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Church and has furthered understanding
and respect between Catholics and Jews.
Challenges. The Roman Catholic Church as a whole faces a number of
challenges. A major challenge is to preserve its strong unity in faith,
even as it encourages different cultural expressions of that faith
throughout the world. This issue of inculturation has received much
discussion and debate among Catholics. Another pressing task is to further
the full participation of the laity, both men and women, in all areas of the
church's life and mission. Finally, the church is aware of a need to find a
balance between Roman Catholicism's distinctive insistence on the primacy of
the pope and the renewed realization that the bishops share leadership
responsibilities.
Contributor: Robert P. Imbelli, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology,
Boston College.
Questions
What event marked the beginning of the Reformation?
What is a creed?
Who wrote the first encyclicals?
What are some responsibilities of the Roman Curia?
Why did the church in Latin America decline in the 1800's?
Where did Gallicanism develop?
What are the two main parts of the Eucharist?
How was the Great Schism brought to an end?
What reforms resulted from Vatican Council II?
Why did the Eastern and Western churches split?
Additional resources
Collinge, William J. Historical Dictionary of Catholicism. Scarecrow,
1997.
McBrien, Richard P. Catholicism. Rev. ed. HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.
McBrien, Richard P., and others, eds. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of
Catholicism. HarperCollins, 1995.
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