   #copyright

Roman Catholic Church

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Religious movements,
traditions and organizations

   The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see Terminology below) is
   the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome,
   currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins and sees itself as
   the same Church founded by Jesus of Nazareth and maintained through
   Apostolic Succession from the Twelve Apostles.

   The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and the largest
   organized body of any world religion. According to the Statistical
   Yearbook of the Church, the Church's worldwide recorded membership at
   the end of 2004 was 1,098,366,000 or approximately 1 in 6 of the
   world's population.

   The Catholic Church is a worldwide organization made up of one Western
   or Latin-Rite and 22 Eastern Rite particular Churches, all of which
   regard the Holy See of Rome as a central authority. It is divided into
   jurisdictional areas, usually on a territorial basis. The standard
   territorial unit is called a diocese in the Latin Rite and an eparchy
   in the Eastern Rites, each of which is headed by a bishop. At the end
   of 2005, the total number of all these jurisdictional areas or sees was
   2770.

Terminology

   The Church described in this article has, throughout its history, used
   many names to describe itself, the most common being simply "the
   Church". It has not declared any of these names to be the name by which
   it should be known. However, in view of the sensibilities of other
   Christians, it refers to itself in its relations with them as either
   "the Catholic Church" or, less preferably, "the Roman Catholic Church".

   Divergent usages attach a certain ambiguity to each of the terms Roman
   Catholic Church and Catholic Church. Some apply the term Roman Catholic
   Church only to the Western or Latin Church, including those parts that
   follow a liturgical rite other than the Roman, but excluding the
   Eastern-Rite particular Churches that are in full communion with the
   Pope and thus part of the same Church. (The Holy See has never used the
   term Roman Catholic Church in this sense.) As for the 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.

   Protestants were the first to use the term Roman Catholic to mean the
   whole of the Church faithful to the Bishop of Rome. However, Catholics
   themselves employed it as early as the seventeenth century, not only in
   English but also in Latin and French, to profess their faith in the
   importance of communion with the see of Rome. Nonetheless, this is
   generally not the Church's preferred term, because of its use by some
   to posit a distinction between "the Roman Catholic Church" and another
   supposedly larger body called "the Catholic Church". Therefore, in its
   relations with other Christians, the Church prefers to use "the
   Catholic Church", rather than "the Roman Catholic Church." However,
   except in such relations, the most common term by which the Church
   refers to itself is neither "the Catholic Church" nor "the Roman
   Catholic Church", but simply "the Church". This term appears many
   hundreds of times in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, compared to
   24 uses of "the Catholic Church" and no use of the term "the Roman
   Catholic Church".

   The name "Catholic Church" for this Church is formally accepted by some
   other Christian Churches, as shown in the joint documents referenced
   above, but most of these groups use "Roman Catholic Church" instead. In
   informal use, however, members even of the latter groups commonly
   understand "Catholic Church" as referring to it. As far back as 397,
   Saint Augustine of Hippo remarked that the term was generally thus
   understood even by those whom he qualified as heretics:

          … 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.

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

Origins and history

   Martyrdom of St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch appointed by St. Peter.
   Enlarge
   Martyrdom of St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch appointed by St. Peter.

   The Church traces its institution to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, in
   particular Saint Peter, the leader of the Apostles, who is regarded as
   the first Pope. The first known use of the term "Catholic Church" was
   in a letter by Ignatius of Antioch in 107, who wrote: "Where the bishop
   appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there
   is the Catholic Church." Additionally, Catholic writers list a number
   of references which point to at least a ' first among equals' status
   for the See of Rome from the very earliest times.

   Central to the doctrines of the Catholic Church is Apostolic
   Succession, the belief that the bishops are the spiritual successors of
   the original twelve apostles, through the historically unbroken chain
   of consecration (see: Holy Orders). The New Testament contains warnings
   against teachings considered to be only masquerading as Christianity,
   and shows how reference was made to the leaders of the Church to decide
   what was true doctrine. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the
   continuation of those who remained faithful to the apostolic and
   episcopal leadership and rejected false teachings.

   After an initial period of sporadic but intense persecution,
   Christianity was legalized in the fourth century, when Constantine I
   issued the Edict of Milan in 313. Constantine was instrumental in the
   convocation of the First Council of Nicea in 325, which sought to
   address the Arian heresy and formulated the Nicene Creed which is used
   by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and various Protestant
   churches. On 27 February 380, Emperor Theodosius enacted a law
   establishing Catholic Christianity as the official state religion of
   the Roman Empire.
   Illuminated page from the famous Book of Kells, 800.
   Enlarge
   Illuminated page from the famous Book of Kells, 800.

   Following the decline of the Roman Empire, the Church underwent a time
   of missionary activity and expansion. During the Middle Ages
   Catholicism eventually spread among the Germanic peoples (initially in
   competition with Arianism); the Vikings; the Poles, Croats, Czechs,
   Slovaks, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Finns and Estonians. The
   success of monasticism gave rise to various centers of learning, most
   famously in Ireland and Gaul, and contributed to the Carolingian
   Renaissance. Later in the medieval period, cathedral schools developed
   into Universities (see University of Paris, University of Oxford, and
   University of Bologna), the direct ancestors of modern Western
   institutions of learning.

   During the 11th century, through a gradual process over a number of
   decades, the Church underwent the Great Schism in which the Catholic
   Church and Eastern Orthodoxy divided over a number of administrative,
   liturgical, and doctrinal issues, most notably the Filioque and papal
   primacy of jurisdiction. Both the Second Council of Lyons (1274) and
   the Council of Basel (1439) attempted to reunite the Churches, but in
   both cases the Orthodox rejected the councils. The Catholic Church and
   Eastern Orthodoxy remain in schism to the present day, although
   excommunications were lifted in 1965, and efforts to end the schism
   continue. Some Eastern churches have since been reunited with the
   Catholic Church, acknowledging the primacy of the pope, and together
   form the Eastern Catholic (sometimes referred to as "Uniate") Churches.
   Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached the First
   Crusade.
   Enlarge
   Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached the First
   Crusade.

   Beginning in 1092 the Crusades, a series of military campaigns,
   especially those in the Holy Land and sanctioned by the Papacy, began
   under the pontificate of Urban II in response to pleas from the
   Byzantine Emperor Alexis I for aid against Turkish expansion. The
   actions of the crusaders in this and subsequent crusades, such as the
   sacking of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, would become the
   subject of much controversy.

   Beginning around 1184, and continuing through the Reformation, a number
   of historical movements involving the Catholic Church, broadly referred
   to as the Inquisition, were aimed at securing religious and doctrinal
   unity within Christianity through conversion, and sometimes
   persecution, of alleged heretics. A conviction of heresy, seen as
   treason against Christendom, could involve penalties ranging from a
   fine to a sentence of capital punishment such as burning at the stake.
   For an example of the rarity of this sentence, from 1540 to 1700 of all
   the cases brought before the Spanish Inquisition only 2-3% per year
   resulted in execution, lower than virtually any secular court of the
   time. Historians distinguish between the Medieval Inquisition, the
   Spanish Inquisition, the Roman Inquisition, and Portuguese Inquisition
   as distinct historical events. The extent of the Inquisition's
   activity, and particularly the exact number of deaths, has been the
   subject of much subsequent propaganda.
   Pope John XXIII, opening the Second Vatican Council in 1962, displays
   the consecrated Host to those assisting at Pontifical High Mass.
   Enlarge
   Pope John XXIII, opening the Second Vatican Council in 1962, displays
   the consecrated Host to those assisting at Pontifical High Mass.

   The second great rift in the history of Christianity began with the
   Protestant Reformation, beginning in Germany in the 16th century.
   During this period various groups, often supported by local rulers
   repudiated primacy of the pope, clerical celibacy, the seven sacraments
   and various other Catholic doctrines and practices, as well as abuses
   (such as simony) common at the time. Reformers within the Catholic
   Church launched the Counter Reformation, a period of doctrinal
   clarification, reform of the clergy and the liturgy, and
   re-evangelization begun by the Council of Trent.

   The Council of Trent and its reforms provided the theme for the next
   300 years of Catholic history. The period emphasized catechesis and
   missionary work, in which the Jesuit and Franciscan orders were
   prominent. Catholicism spread worldwide, at pace with European
   colonialism: to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The 18th and
   19th century Church found itself facing not only the teachings of
   Protestantism, but also Enlightenment and Modernist teachings about the
   nature of the human person, the state, and morality. With the coming of
   the Industrial Revolution, and the increased concern about the
   conditions of urban workers, 19th and 20th century popes issued
   encyclicals (notably Rerum Novarum) explicating Catholic Social
   Teaching.

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

   The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was convened by Pope John XXIII,
   primarily as a pastoral but authoritative council, to make the historic
   teachings of the Catholic Church clear to the modern world. It issued
   documents on a number of topics, including the nature of the Church,
   the mission of the laity, and religious freedom. It also issued
   directions for a revision of the liturgy, the implementation of which
   resulted in, among other things, a return to the celebration of Mass
   and the other sacraments in local vernacular languages as well as in
   Latin, although some hold that the Council intended Latin to have
   priority.

Membership of the Catholic Church

   According to canon law, one becomes a member of the Catholic Church by
   being baptized in the Church or by being received into the Church
   (through making, if already baptized, a profession of faith).

   To break on one's own initiative the juridical bond with the Church, a
   formal act is required in writing before one's local Ordinary or parish
   priest, who is to judge the genuineness of the act of apostasy, heresy
   or schism; without this formal act of defection, "heresy (whether
   formal or material), schism and apostasy do not in themselves
   constitute a formal act of defection, if they are not externally
   concretized and manifested to the ecclesistical authority in the
   required manner." Those who do not take this step are presumed to be
   still linked with the Catholic Church and "continue to be bound by
   merely ecclesiastical laws."

Beliefs

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

   The Church's catechesis makes use of the Nicene Creed and the Apostles'
   Creed, convenient summaries of the main points of Catholic belief. The
   Catechism of the Catholic Church gives a "systematic presentation of
   the faith" and a "complete exposition of Catholic doctrine". The
   Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in
   2005 and in English in 2006, is a much more concise version of the
   Catechism, in question and answer form.

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

Scripture and Tradition

   The principal sources for the teachings of the Catholic Church are the
   Sacred Scriptures (the Bible) and Sacred Tradition. In his 1943
   encyclical letter, Divino Afflante Spiritu, Pope Pius XII encouraged
   Biblical scholars to study diligently the original languages of the
   books of the Bible (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic for the Old Testament;
   Greek for the New Testament) and other cognate languages, so as to
   arrive at a deeper and fuller knowledge of the meaning of these texts,
   stating that "the original text ... having been written by the inspired
   author himself, has more authority and greater weight than any even the
   very best translation, whether ancient or modern." The canonical list
   of sacred books, and their contents, accepted by the Catholic Church
   are those as contained in the old Latin Vulgate edition.

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

Nature of God

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

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

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

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

   Catholics believe that God the Son, the Divine Logos, the second of the
   three Persons of God, became incarnate as Jesus Christ, a human being,
   born of the Virgin Mary. He remained truly divine and was at the same
   time truly human. In what he said, and by how he lived, he taught all
   people 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
   with a vigour that they attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit,
   the third of the three Persons of God, sent upon them by Jesus.

Original Sin

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

The Church

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

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

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

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

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

Salvation

   The Church teaches that salvation to eternal life is God's will for all
   people, and that God grants it to sinners as a free gift, a grace,
   through the sacrifice of Christ. "With regard to God, there is no
   strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there
   is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from
   him, our Creator." 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). We can either accept the gift God gives through
   faith in Jesus Christ and through baptism, or refuse it. Human
   cooperation is needed, in line with a new capacity to adhere to the
   divine will that God provides. The faith of a Christian is not without
   works, otherwise it would be dead. In this sense, "by works a man is
   justified, and not by faith alone," and eternal life is, at one and the
   same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merits.
   Faith, and subsequently works, are a result of God's grace - thus, it
   is only because of grace that the believer can be said to "merit"
   salvation.

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

Catholic life

   Catholics are obliged to endeavour to be true disciples of Jesus. They
   seek forgiveness of their sins and follow the example and teaching of
   Jesus. They believe that Jesus has provided seven sacraments which give
   Grace from God to the believer.

   Unless a Catholic dies in unrepented mortal sin, which is remitted in
   the Sacrament of Penance, it is believed that person has God's promise
   of inheriting eternal life. Before entering heaven, some undergo a
   purification, known as Purgatory.
   Armenian-Rite concelebrated Divine Liturgy, "the eucharistic sacrifice,
   which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life." Enlarge
   Armenian-Rite concelebrated Divine Liturgy, "the eucharistic sacrifice,
   which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life."

   Catholics believe that God works actively in the world. Catholics grow
   in grace through participation in the sacramental life of the Church,
   and through prayer, the work of mercy, and spiritual disciplines such
   as fasting and pilgrimage. The Catholic laity also grow in grace when
   they fulfill their secular duties and try to imbue society with
   Christian values.

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

Social teaching

   Catholic teachings stress forgiveness, doing good for others,
   especially those most in need, and the sanctity of life. Catholics were
   pacifists in the earliest days of the Church, as witnessed by the fact
   that Christians were forbidden to join the Roman Army. This was part of
   the cause of their political persecution in the empire. Today, however,
   only some Catholics hold that position, with various analyses of the
   "just war theory" more widely held. It should be noted that the purpose
   of the Catholic "just war" criteria is to prevent and limit war rather
   than to justify it.

   Capital punishment, though it has not been absolutely condemned by the
   Church, has come under increasing criticism by theologians and Church
   leaders. Pope John Paul II, for instance, opposed capital punishment in
   all instances as being immoral, because there are other options for
   punishment and deterrence in the modern world. He, along with most
   other modern Catholic theologians, held that if capital punishment was
   ever moral—a position some dispute—it would only be justifiable when
   there was no other option for the protection of the lives of others.
   After four years of consultations with the world's Catholic bishops,
   John Paul II wrote that execution is only appropriate "in cases of
   absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible
   otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady
   improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are
   very rare, if not practically non-existent." This position is also held
   today by Avery Cardinal Dulles, Msgr. William Smith, Germain Grisez and
   other Catholic moral theologians.

Human life and sexuality

   Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Pope John Paul II taught that, "by
   means of his corporality, his masculinity and femininity, (man) becomes
   a visible sign of the economy of truth and love, which has its source
   in God himself."
   Enlarge
   Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Pope John Paul II taught that, "by
   means of his corporality, his masculinity and femininity, (man) becomes
   a visible sign of the economy of truth and love, which has its source
   in God himself."

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

   The Church teaches that Manichaeism, the belief that the spirit is good
   while the flesh is evil, is a heresy. Therefore, the Church does not
   teach that sex is sinful or an impairment to a grace-filled life. As
   God created the human body in his own image and likeness, and because
   he found everything he created to be "very good," then the human body
   and sex must likewise be good. The Catechism teaches that "the flesh is
   the hinge of salvation."

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

Liturgy

   The Catholic Church is fundamentally liturgical in its public life of
   worship. Liturgy is derived from the Greek for "work of the people."
   The Second Vatican Council stated "for the liturgy, 'through which the
   work of our redemption is accomplished,' most of all in the divine
   sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the
   faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the
   mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church."

Sacraments

   Mass celebrated at the Grotto at Lourdes. The chalice is displayed to
   the people immediately after the consecration of the wine.
   Enlarge
   Mass celebrated at the Grotto at Lourdes. The chalice is displayed to
   the people immediately after the consecration of the wine.

   The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1131 teaches: "The sacraments are
   efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the
   Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by
   which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces
   proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them
   with the required dispositions."

   The seven sacraments are:
     * Baptism
     * Confirmation
     * Eucharist
     * Penance (also called Confession and Reconciliation)
     * Anointing of the Sick
     * Holy Orders
     * Matrimony

Devotional life of the Church

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

Personal prayer

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

Particular Churches within the single Catholic Church

   St. Ephrem the Syrian, venerated by the Maronites, who have always been
   in communion with Rome.
   Enlarge
   St. Ephrem the Syrian, venerated by the Maronites, who have always been
   in communion with Rome.

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

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

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

Relations with other Christians

   While the Catholic Church sees itself as the Church founded by Christ,
   it recognizes that many of the salvific elements of the Gospel are
   found in other Churches and ecclesial communities also. The Second
   Vatican Council document Lumen Gentium says that "the one Church of
   Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and
   apostolic... subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the
   successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although
   many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its
   visible structure. Likewise, the document affirms the doctrine of Extra
   Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.

   The Catholic Church has, since the Second Vatican Council, reached out
   to Christian bodies, seeking reconciliation to the greatest degree
   possible. Significant agreements have been achieved on Baptism,
   ministry, and the Eucharist with Anglican theologians. With Lutheran
   bodies a similar agreement has been reached on the theology of
   justification. These landmark documents have brought closer fraternal
   ties with those ecclesial communities. However, recent developments,
   such as the ordination of women and accepting of couples living in
   homosexual relationships, present new obstacles to reconciliation with,
   in particular, Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed Churches.

   Consequently, in recent years the Catholic Church has focused its
   efforts at reconciliation with the Orthodox Churches of the East, with
   which the theological differences are not as great. Relations with the
   Russian Orthodox Churches were strained in the 1990s over property
   issues in countries that were formerly Soviet-dominated, and these
   differences are not solved (most notably the parishes belonging to the
   Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church), however fraternal relations with
   other Eastern churches continue to progress.

Hierarchical constitution of the Church

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

Episcopate

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

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

The Pope

   The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger). His
   first encyclical is Deus Caritas Est, God is love.
   Enlarge
   The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger). His
   first encyclical is Deus Caritas Est, God is love.

   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.’"

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

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

College of cardinals

   Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, pictured with
   Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State, when he was
   Cardinal Secretary of State.
   Enlarge
   Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, pictured with
   Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State, when he was
   Cardinal Secretary of State.

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

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

Presbyterate (Priesthood)

   St. Jean Vianney, the patron saint of diocesan priests renowned for his
   acts of penance and his ministry as a confessor.
   St. Jean Vianney, the patron saint of diocesan priests renowned for his
   acts of penance and his ministry as a confessor.

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

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

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

Diaconate

   Since the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church again admits married
   men of mature age to ordination as Permanent deacons. "Deacons are
   ordained as a sacramental sign to the Church and to the world of
   Christ, who came 'to serve and not to be served.' The entire Church is
   called by Christ to serve, and the deacon, in virtue of his sacramental
   ordination and through his various ministries, is to be a servant in a
   servant-Church. As ministers of Word, deacons proclaim the Gospel,
   preach, and teach in the name of the Church. As ministers of Sacrament,
   deacons baptize, lead the faithful in prayer, witness marriages, and
   conduct wake and funeral services. As ministers of Charity, deacons are
   leaders in identifying the needs of others, then marshalling the
   Church's resources to meet those needs. Deacons are also dedicated to
   eliminating the injustices or inequities that cause such needs."

   Candidates for the Diaconate go through a Diaconate Formation program
   that is designed based on the contemporaneous needs of their Diocese
   but must meet minimum standards set by the Bishops Conference in their
   home country. Upon completion of their formation program and acceptance
   by their local Bishop, Candidates receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders
   through Ordination. Generally, following Ordination, a Deacon is
   assigned by his Bishop to a local Parish in which he will perform his
   ministry and serve the local church and community.

Laity

   Saint Monica with son, St. Augustine. She converted both her husband
   and son through her virtuous life.
   Enlarge
   Saint Monica with son, St. Augustine. She converted both her husband
   and son through her virtuous life.

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

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

   This theology of the laity, called a "characteristic mark" of Vatican
   II by Paul VI and John Paul II, was complemented, and in some cases
   influenced, by the rise of many lay ecclesial movements and structures
   in the 20th century: examples are Focolare, Neocatechumenal Way,
   Communion and Liberation, and the personal prelature of Opus Dei. The
   Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by
   the Pontifical Council for the Laity, lists the names and
   characteristics of lay movements that have received official
   recognition.

Consecrated life

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

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

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

Catholic Church in society

Worldwide distribution

   Catholic membership as a percentage of each country's population.
   Enlarge
   Catholic 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. In most industrialized
   countries, church attendance has decreased since the 19th century,
   though it remains higher than that of other "mainline" Churches.

   See Membership on the conditions required for being considered in canon
   law a member of the Catholic Church.

   In countries where a question on religion is included in the census,
   the number given in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church (see, above,
   Introduction) is that of the census returns; thus, for instance, in the
   case of New Zealand, where 27.5% of the population classified
   themselves in the 2001 census as being of no religion, the number of
   canonical Catholics is doubtless higher than the number appearing in
   the Statistical Yearbook of the Church. Furthermore, since Catholic
   population is the usual basis for assessing each diocese's contribution
   to national-level offices and services and the levy on each parish for
   diocesan initiatives, there is a temptation, not always resisted, for
   bishops and parish clergy in countries that do not have detailed census
   reports on religion to under-report the number of Catholics in their
   area.

Perspectives on the Catholic Church

   Pope John Paul II blessing the faithful.
   Enlarge
   Pope John Paul II blessing the faithful.

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

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

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

Role of the Church in civilization

Church doctrine and science

   Many enlightenment philosophers perceived the Church's doctrines as
   superstitious and hindering the progress of civilization. In the most
   famous instance, many criticized it for the 1633 trial of Galileo
   Galilei, in which the Church condemned his advancement of the
   heliocentric system of Catholic priest Nicolaus Copernicus, in favour
   of a geocentric system. Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for the
   Church's actions in that trial on 31 October 1992. An abstract of the
   acts of the process against Galileo is available at the Vatican Secret
   Archives, which reproduces part of it on its website.

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

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

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

Church, art, and literature

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

   While some critics accuse members of the Catholic Church of destroying
   the art of some of the colonized natives, several historians credit the
   Catholic Church for the brilliance and magnificence of Western art.
   They refer to the Church's fight against iconoclasm, a movement against
   visual representations of the divine, its insistence on building
   structures befitting worship, Augustine's repeated reference to Wisdom
   11:20 (God "ordered all things by measure and number and weight") which
   led to the geometric constructions of Gothic architecture, the
   scholastics' coherent intellectual systems called the Summa Theologiae
   which influenced the intellectually consistent writings of Dante, its
   creation and sacramental theology which has developed a Catholic
   imagination influencing writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien and William
   Shakespeare, and lastly, the patronage of the Renaissance popes for the
   great works of Catholic artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini,
   Borromini and Leonardo da Vinci.

Church and economic development

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

   Joseph Schumpeter, an economist of the twentieth century, referring to
   the scholastics, wrote, "it is they who come nearer than does any other
   group to having been the ‘founders’ of scientific economics." Other
   economists and historians, such as Raymond de Roover, Marjorie
   Grice-Hutchinson, and Alejandro Chafuen, have also made similar
   statements. Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the
   Catholic Church is "at the centre of the development of the values,
   ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call
   Western civilization."

Social justice, care-giving, and the hospital system

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

   While it is criticized in many places, the Catholic Church also has
   contributed much to society through its Social Doctrine which has
   guided leaders to promote social justice and by setting up the hospital
   system in Medieval Europe, a system which was different from the merely
   reciprocal hospitality of the Greeks and family-based obligations of
   the Romans. These hospitals were established to cater to "particular
   social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to
   historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse.

   James Joseph Walsh wrote the following about the Catholic Church's
   contribution to the hospital system:

     During the thirteenth century an immense number of [these] hospitals
     were built. The Italian cities were the leaders of the movement.
     Milan had no less than a dozen hospitals and Florence before the end
     of the Fourteenth century had some thirty hospitals. Some of these
     were very beautiful buildings. At Milan a portion of the general
     hospital was designed by Bramante and another part of it by
     Michelangelo. The Hospital of the innocents in Florence for
     foundlings was an architectural gem. The Hospital of Sienna, built
     in honour of St. Catherine, has been famous ever since. Everywhere
     throughout Europe this hospital movement spread. Virchow, the great
     German pathologist, in an article on hospitals, showed that every
     city of Germany of five thousand inhabitants had its hospital. He
     traced all of this hospital movement to Pope Innocent III, and
     though he was least papistically inclined, Virchow did not hesitate
     to give extremely high praise to this pontiff for all that he had
     accomplished for the benefit of children and suffering mankind.

   The beauty and efficiency of the Italian hospitals inspired even some
   who were otherwise critical of the Church. The German historian Ludwig
   von Pastor recounts the words of Martin Luther who, while journeying to
   Rome in the winter of 1510-1511, had occasion to visit some of these
   hospitals:

     In Italy, he remarks, the hospitals are handsomely built, and
     admirably provided with excellent food and drink, careful attendants
     and learned physicians. The beds and bedding are clean, and the
     walls are covered with paintings. When a patient is brought in, his
     clothes are removed in the presence of a notary who makes a faithful
     inventory of them, and they are kept safely. A white smock is put on
     him and he is laid on a comfortable bed, with clean linen. Presently
     two doctors come to him, and the servants bring him food and drink
     in clean glasses, showing him all possible attention.

   The Catholic Church as opus proprium, says Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas
   Est, has conducted throughout the centuries from its very beginning and
   continues to conduct many charitable services — hospitals, schools,
   poverty alleviation programs, among others.

Controversial Catholic teachings and discipline

   Throughout the centuries, the Church has had to respond to many
   criticisms, some of which are now considered outright heresies. In
   recent decades, criticisms tend to focus on a few issues, many of which
   deal with sex and gender themes. To these criticisms and controversies
   over traditional Church doctrine, the basic response of Benedict XVI, a
   renowned theologian, can be found in some statements before his
   election to the papacy: the Church is ecclesia sua, "his [God's]
   Church", and not the laboratory of theologians.
   Assumption of Mary. Criticized for reserving the priesthood to men, the
   Church states, "the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the
   ministers but the saints."
   Enlarge
   Assumption of Mary. Criticized for reserving the priesthood to men, the
   Church states, "the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the
   ministers but the saints."

Ordination reserved to men

   The Catholic Church and the other ancient Christian Churches see
   priestly ordination as a sacrament effecting an ontological change, not
   as the deputizing of someone to perform a function or as the admission
   of someone to a profession such as that of medicine or law. They see as
   not unconnected with this their belief that priestly ordination can be
   conferred only on males. In the face of continued questioning, Pope
   John Paul II felt obliged to confirm the existing teaching that the
   Church is not empowered to change this practice: "In order that all
   doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter
   which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of
   my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32) I declare that
   the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on
   women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the
   Church's faithful." The Catholic Church thus holds this teaching as
   irrevocable and as having the character of infallibility, not in virtue
   of the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis itself, from which this
   quotation is taken and which states this only implicitly, but because
   the teaching "has been preserved by the constant and universal
   Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium."

Clerical celibacy

   In the Latin Church only celibate men, as a rule, are ordained as
   priests, while the Eastern Catholic Churches also ordain married men.
   Both East and West maintain the tradition of holding it impossible for
   a priest to marry after ordination. Even a married priest whose wife
   dies may not then marry another wife..

   To explain this tradition, one theory holds that, in early practice,
   married men who became priests – they were often older men, "elders" –
   were expected to refrain permanently from sexual relations with their
   wives, perhaps because they, as priests representing Christ, were
   treated as the Church's spouse. When at a later stage it was clear that
   not all did refrain, the Western reaction was to ordain only celibates,
   while the Eastern Churches relaxed the rule, so that Eastern Orthodox
   Churches now require their married clergy to abstain from sexual
   relations only for a limited period before celebrating the Eucharist.
   The Church in Persia, which in the fifth century became separated from
   the Church described as Orthodox or Catholic, decided at the end of
   that century to abolish the rule of continence and allow priests to
   marry, but recognized that it was abrogating an ancient tradition. The
   Coptic and Ethiopic Churches, whose separation came slightly later,
   allow deacons (who are ordained when they are boys) to marry, but not
   priests. The theory in question, if true, helps explain why all the
   ancient Christian Churches of both East and West, with the one
   exception mentioned, exclude marriage after priestly ordination, and
   why all reserve the episcopate (seen as a fuller form of priesthood
   than the presbyterate) for the celibate.

   It is sometimes claimed that celibacy became mandatory for Latin-Rite
   priests only in the eleventh century; but others say, for instance:
   "(I)t may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great the law
   of celibacy was generally recognized in the West," and that the
   eleventh-century regulations on this matter, as on simony, should
   obviously not be interpreted as meaning that either non-celibacy or
   simony were previously permitted.

   The Latin-Rite discipline continues to be debated for a variety of
   reasons. First, many believe celibacy was not required of the apostles,
   though others think the apostles did leave their wives. Second, this
   requirement excludes a great number of otherwise qualified men from the
   priesthood, qualifications which according to the defenders of celibacy
   should be determined not by merely human hermeneutics but by the
   hermeneutics of the divine will. Third, some say that resisting the
   natural sexual impulse in this way is unrealistic and harmful for a
   healthy life, a criticism which is countered by the faith in the power
   of grace and of man, made in the image of God who is Love. Sexual
   scandals among priests, the defenders say, are a breach of the Church's
   discipline, not a result of it, especially since only a small
   percentage of priests have been involved. Fourth, it is said that
   mandatory celibacy distances priests from this experience of life,
   compromising their moral authority in the pastoral sphere, although its
   defenders argue that the Church's moral authority is rather enhanced by
   a life of total self-giving in imitation of Christ, a practical
   application of Vatican II teaching that "man cannot fully find himself
   except through a sincere gift of himself."

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

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

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

Reforms of the Second Vatican Council

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

   Some Catholics, who have become known as traditionalist Catholics,
   rejected many of these changes, which they viewed as inconsistent with
   what the Church had always taught. Among the most controversial of
   changes was the adoption of a new rite of Mass, which traditionalist
   Catholics view as watered down, "protestantized", or even invalid.

Catholic teachings on human sexuality

   The Catholic Church teaches that human life and human sexuality are
   both inseparable and sacred. Some criticize the Church's teaching on
   sexual and reproductive matters. The Church requires members to eschew
   masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, homosexual
   practices, and artificial contraception. The procurement or assistance
   in abortion can carry the penalty of excommunication, as a specific
   offence.
   AIDS education in Uganda. Although doubted by some, the Church's
   teaching on abstinence has been seen as a contribution to Uganda's
   success against AIDS.
   Enlarge
   AIDS education in Uganda. Although doubted by some, the Church's
   teaching on abstinence has been seen as a contribution to Uganda's
   success against AIDS.

   Some criticize the Church's teaching on fidelity, sexual abstinence and
   its opposition to promoting the use of condoms as a strategy to prevent
   the spread of HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and STDs as counterproductive.
   However, the Church maintains that the promotion of abstinence is the
   only effective way to deal with the AIDS crisis.

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

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
