The Cathedral Church of St Marie is the Roman Catholic cathedral in Sheffield, England. It lies in a slightly hidden location, just off Fargate shopping street, but signals its presence with a tall spire. It is an especially fine example of an English Roman Catholic Cathedral, with much fine interior decoration. Re-ordering of the Sanctuary following the Second Vatican Council, has been sensitive. There are several particularly notable side altars, as well as historic statues and painted tiles.
History
The Reformation
Before the English Reformation the Church of England was part of the Roman Catholic Church, and Sheffield’s medieval parish church of St. Peter (now the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) was the principal Catholic church in the district. In 1534, during the reign of Henry VIII, the Church of England split from Rome, and Catholic worship was outlawed. Until the 18th century, Catholics faced fines, loss of property and social exclusion, and Catholic priests were hunted down, imprisoned and martyred. The main landowners in Sheffield were the Dukes of Norfolk, and the Shrewsbury Chapel in the now Anglican parish church remained Catholic until 1933. During the reordering of St Mary’s in 1970, at the invitation of the Anglican Cathedral, Mass was celebrated on the altar of the Shrewsbury Chapel once again. The Altar still retains its Catholic consecration crosses, and relics, making this possible.[1] Mass was celebrated in a few houses of gentry in Sheffield, including in a house on Fargate that belonged to the Duke of Norfolk, which had a hidden chapel in its roof.[2]
The establishment of the Church of St Marie
The nave of the Cathedral Church of St Marie
The Catholic Emancipation of the late 18th and early 19th century allowed Catholics to worship more openly. Sheffield Catholics bought the ageing house, which stood on the corner of Fargate and Norfolk Row. They built a small chapel in its back garden on a site which is now between the Mortuary and the Blessed Sacrament Chapels. The names of the priests who served Sheffield before the cathedral was built and the dates of their deaths are on the wall of the Mortuary Chapel. The rest of the land where the cathedral now stands became a cemetery. (Bodies from the cemetery were moved to the new Catholic cemetery at St Bede’s in Rotherham and work on St Marie’s began.) By 1846 the chapel was too small and the young priest, Fr. Pratt, was keen to build a church for the expanding town. A leading local architect, Matthew Ellison Hadfield, designed St Marie’s, based on a 14th-century church at Heckington in Lincolnshire.[2] The church was expensively decorated with the aid of generous donations from the Duke of Norfolk, his mother and parishioners. Fr. Pratt died while the church was being built and was buried at St Bede’s. However, a stonemason, who had often heard him say he wanted to be buried in St Marie’s, dug up the coffin and re‑buried Fr. Pratt in a tomb he had prepared near the altar. Fr Pratt’s body still lies there and a plaque marks the spot, but his effigy has been moved to beneath the altar in the Mortuary chapel.
St Marie’s was completed in 1850 and opened on 11 September. Building the church cost more than £10,500 – a huge sum in those days (about £1.5m today (2020)) – and it was not until 1889 that the church was free from debt. The Parish of St Marie’s, which covered the whole of Sheffield, became part of the Diocese of Beverley in 1850, when Catholic dioceses were re-established for the first time since the Reformation. In 1902 a new presbytery, now known as Cathedral House, was opened. During the Second World War a bomb blew out stained glass windows in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. The remaining windows were removed and stored in a shaft at Nunnery Colliery. The mine flooded during the war, the glass sunk in mud, and drawings for re‑creating the windows were destroyed, however it was still possible to re-install the windows in 1947. When St Marie’s was re-ordered in 1970, following Vatican II, dark woodwork was removed and new lighting and benches were installed. In 1972, a new altar, allowing Mass to be celebrated versus populum, was consecrated by Bishop Gerald Moverley, auxiliary Bishop of Leeds. The church is a Grade II* listed building and was first listed in 1973.[3]
On 30 May 1980 the new diocese of Hallam was created and St. Marie’s became a cathedral. Bishop Moverley was installed as its first bishop and served until his death in 1996, after which Bishop John Rawsthorne became the second Bishop of Hallam.
An extensive programme of renovations caused the cathedral to close in September 2011, re-opening in November 2012. During that time the sanctuary was extended into the crossing and reordered, a new cathedra was installed and the choir moved to the west end of the building. Side chapels and roofing was restored, in some cases revealing original features previously hidden. New heating and toilet facilities have also been installed. During the restoration process, a collection of Nottingham alabaster carvings, mostly originating from the 15th century, were discovered and also underwent extensive restoration, finally going on display in the Cathedral cloisters in April 2017.
Following the re-opening in November 2012, Bishop John Rawsthorne retired at the age of 78. In July 2014, Bishop Ralph Heskett was installed as the third Bishop of Hallam.
Interior of cathedral belfry
The cathedral is one of few Catholic churches quipped for change ringing. It has eight bells in the ring and an Angelus bell. The main ring is by Mears & Stainbank from 1874, the Angelus being an earlier 1850 Charles & George Mears.[4] Steel bells were first installed in 1861, before being replaced with bronze ones in 1874.[5]
In recent years, the cathedral has been developed as a place of significant public interest, and as an especially fine concert venue, having hosted many of the finest choral ensembles in the world.
The Catholic Church, sometimes referred to as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2018.[4] As the world’s oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution,[7] it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.[8] The church consists of 24 particular churches and almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world. The pope, who is the Bishop of Rome (and whose titles also include Vicar of Jesus Christ and Successor of St. Peter), is the chief pastor of the church,[9] entrusted with the universal Petrine ministry of unity and correction. The church’s administration, the Holy See, is in the Vatican City, a tiny enclave of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission,[10][11][note 1] that its bishops are the successors of Christ’s apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ.[14] It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith, reserving infallibility, passed down by sacred tradition.[15] The Latin Church, the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, and institutes such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.[16][17]
Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass.[18] The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, honoured in dogmas and devotions.[19] Its teaching includes Divine Mercy, sanctification through faith and evangelization of the Gospel as well as Catholic social teaching, which emphasises voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates thousands of Catholic schools, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.[20] Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations.
The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, culture, art, music and science. Catholics live all over the world through missions, diaspora, and conversions. Since the 20th century the majority reside in the southern hemisphere, due to secularization in Europe, and increased persecution in the Middle East. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope. Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology. In the 16th century, the Reformation led to Protestantism also breaking away. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its teachings on sexuality, its inability to ordain women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases involving clergy.
Catholic (from Greek: καθολικός, romanized: katholikos, lit. ‘universal’) was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century.[23] The first known use of the phrase "the catholic church" (Greek: καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία, romanized: he katholike ekklesia) occurred in the letter written about 110 AD from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans.[note 2] In the Catechetical Lectures (c. 350) of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name "Catholic Church" was used to distinguish it from other groups that also called themselves "the church".[24][25] The "Catholic" notion was further stressed in the edict De fide Catolica issued 380 by Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire, when establishing the state church of the Roman Empire.[26]
Since the East–West Schism of 1054, the Eastern Church has taken the adjective "Orthodox" as its distinctive epithet (however, its official name continues to be the "Orthodox Catholic Church"[27]) and the Western Church in communion with the Holy See has similarly taken "Catholic", keeping that description also after the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when those who ceased to be in communion became known as "Protestants".[28][29]
While the "Roman Church" has been used to describe the pope’s Diocese of Rome since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages (6th–10th century), the "Roman Catholic Church" has been applied to the whole church in the English language since the Protestant Reformation in the late 16th century.[30] "Roman Catholic" has occasionally appeared also in documents produced both by the Holy See,[note 3] notably applied to certain national episcopal conferences, and local dioceses.[note 4]
The name "Catholic Church" for the whole church is used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1990) and the Code of Canon Law (1983). The name "Catholic Church" is also used in the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965),[31] the First Vatican Council (1869–1870),[32] the Council of Trent (1545–1563),[33] and numerous other official documents.[34][35]
History
Main article: History of the Catholic Church
Further information: Early Christianity and Historiography of early Christianity
Painting a haloed Jesus Christ passing keys to a kneeling man.
This fresco (1481–82) by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel shows Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter.
The Last Supper, a late 1490s mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, depicting the last supper of Jesus and his twelve apostles on the eve of his crucifixion. Most apostles are buried in Rome, including Saint Peter.
The Christian religion is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, who lived and preached in the 1st century AD in the province of Judea of the Roman Empire. Catholic theology teaches that the contemporary Catholic Church is the continuation of this early Christian community established by Jesus.[10] Christianity spread throughout the early Roman Empire, despite persecutions due to conflicts with the pagan state religion. Emperor Constantine legalized the practice of Christianity in 313, and it became the state religion in 380. Germanic invaders of Roman territory in the 5th and 6th centuries, many of whom had previously adopted Arian Christianity, eventually adopted Catholicism to ally themselves with the papacy and the monasteries.
In the 7th and 8th centuries, expanding Muslim conquests following the advent of Islam led to an Arab domination of the Mediterranean that severed political connections between that area and northern Europe, and weakened cultural connections between Rome and the Byzantine Empire. Conflicts involving authority in the church, particularly the authority of the Bishop of Rome finally culminated in the East–West Schism in the 11th century, splitting the church into the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Earlier splits within the church occurred after the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). However, a few Eastern Churches remained in communion with Rome, and portions of some others established communion in the 15th century and later, forming what are called the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Early monasteries throughout Europe helped preserve Greek and Roman classical civilization. The church eventually became the dominant influence in Western civilization into the modern age. Many Renaissance figures were sponsored by the church. The 16th century, however, began to see challenges to the church, in particular to its religious authority, by figures in the Protestant Reformation, as well as in the 17th century by secular intellectuals in the Enlightenment. Concurrently, Spanish and Portuguese explorers and missionaries spread the church’s influence through Africa, Asia, and the New World.
In 1870, the First Vatican Council declared the dogma of papal infallibility and the Kingdom of Italy annexed the city of Rome, the last portion of the Papal States to be incorporated into the new nation. In the 20th century, anti-clerical governments around the world, including Mexico and Spain, persecuted or executed thousands of clerics and laypersons. In the Second World War, the church condemned Nazism, and protected hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust; its efforts, however, have been criticized as inadequate. After the war, freedom of religion was severely restricted in the Communist countries newly aligned with the Soviet Union, several of which had large Catholic populations.
In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council led to reforms of the church’s liturgy and practices, described as "opening the windows" by defenders, but criticized by traditionalist Catholics. In the face of increased criticism from both within and without, the church has upheld or reaffirmed at various times controversial doctrinal positions regarding sexuality and gender, including limiting clergy to males, and moral exhortations against abortion, contraception, sexual activity outside of marriage, remarriage following divorce without annulment, and against same-sex marriage.
Apostolic era and papacy
Main article: Apostolic Age
Jesus’ commission to Saint Peter
The New Testament, in particular the Gospels, records Jesus’ activities and teaching, his appointment of the Twelve Apostles]] and his Great Commission of the apostles, instructing them to continue his work.[36][37] The book Acts of Apostles, tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman empire.[38] The Catholic Church teaches that its public ministry began on Pentecost, occurring fifty days following the date Christ is believed to have resurrected.[39] At Pentecost, the apostles are believed to have received the Holy Spirit, preparing them for their mission in leading the church.[40][41] The Catholic Church teaches that the college of bishops, led by the Bishop of Rome are the successors to the Apostles.[42]
In the account of the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ designates Peter as the "rock" upon which Christ’s church will be built.[43][44] The Catholic Church considers the Bishop of Rome, the pope, to be the successor to Saint Peter.[45] Some scholars state Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.[46][note 5] Others say that the institution of the papacy is not dependent on the idea that Peter was Bishop of Rome or even on his ever having been in Rome.[47] Many scholars hold that a church structure of plural presbyters/bishops persisted in Rome until the mid-2nd century, when the structure of a single bishop and plural presbyters was adopted,[48] and that later writers retrospectively applied the term "bishop of Rome" to the most prominent members of the clergy in the earlier period and also to Peter himself.[48] On this basis, Oscar Cullmann,[49] Henry Chadwick,[50] and Bart D. Ehrman[51] question whether there was a formal link between Peter and the modern papacy. Raymond E. Brown also says that it is anachronistic to speak of Peter in terms of local bishop of Rome, but that Christians of that period would have looked on Peter as having "roles that would contribute in an essential way to the development of the role of the papacy in the subsequent church". These roles, Brown says, "contributed enormously to seeing the bishop of Rome, the bishop of the city where Peter died, and where Paul witnessed to the truth of Christ, as the successor of Peter in care for the church universal".[48]
Antiquity and Roman Empire
Main articles: Early centers of Christianity, Pentarchy, and List of Christian heresies
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Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire’s network of roads and waterways facilitated travel, and the Pax Romana made travelling safe. The empire encouraged the spread of a common culture with Greek roots, which allowed ideas to be more easily expressed and understood.[52]
Unlike most religions in the Roman Empire, however, Christianity required its adherents to renounce all other gods, a practice adopted from Judaism (see Idolatry). The Christians’ refusal to join pagan celebrations meant they were unable to participate in much of public life, which caused non-Christians—including government authorities—to fear that the Christians were angering the gods and thereby threatening the peace and prosperity of the Empire. The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalized in the 4th century.[53]
19th-century drawing of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, originally built in 318 by Emperor Constantine
In 313, Emperor Constantine I’s Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, and in 330 Constantine moved the imperial capital to Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey. In 380 the Edict of Thessalonica made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire, a position that within the diminishing territory of the Byzantine Empire would persist until the empire itself ended in the fall of Constantinople in 1453, while elsewhere the church was independent of the empire, as became particularly clear with the East–West Schism. During the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, five primary sees emerged, an arrangement formalized in the mid-6th century by Emperor Justinian I as the pentarchy of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.[54][55] In 451 the Council of Chalcedon, in a canon of disputed validity,[56] elevated the see of Constantinople to a position "second in eminence and power to the bishop of Rome".[57] From c. 350 to c. 500, the bishops, or popes, of Rome, steadily increased in authority through their consistent intervening in support of orthodox leaders in theological disputes, which encouraged appeals to them.[58] Emperor Justinian, who in the areas under his control definitively established a form of caesaropapism,[59] in which "he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church",[60] reestablished imperial power over Rome and other parts of the West, initiating the period termed the Byzantine Papacy (537–752), during which the bishops of Rome, or popes, required approval from the emperor in Constantinople or from his representative in Ravenna for consecration, and most were selected by the emperor from his Greek-speaking subjects,[61] resulting in a "melting pot" of Western and Eastern Christian traditions in art as well as liturgy.[62]
Most of the Germanic tribes who in the following centuries invaded the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity in its Arian form, which the Catholic Church declared heretical.[63] The resulting religious discord between Germanic rulers and Catholic subjects[64] was avoided when, in 497, Clovis I, the Frankish ruler, converted to orthodox Catholicism, allying himself with the papacy and the monasteries.[65] The Visigoths in Spain followed his lead in 589,[66] and the Lombards in Italy in the course of the 7th century.[67]
Western Christianity, particularly through its monasteries, was a major factor in preserving classical civilization, with its art (see Illuminated manuscript) and literacy.[68][69] Through his Rule, Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–543), one of the founders of Western monasticism, exerted an enormous influence on European culture through the appropriation of the monastic spiritual heritage of the early Catholic Church and, with the spread of the Benedictine tradition, through the preservation and transmission of ancient culture. During this period, monastic Ireland became a centre of learning and early Irish missionaries such as Columbanus and Columba spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe.[1]
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Further information: History of Christianity during the Middle Ages and Christianity in the 16th century § Renaissance Church
Chartres Cathedral, 1220
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The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilization from Late Antiquity to the dawn of the modern age.[8] It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music.[70] Renaissance figures such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Titian, Bernini and Caravaggio are examples of the numerous visual artists sponsored by the church.[71] Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization".[72]
The massive Islamic invasions of the mid-7th century began a long struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Byzantine Empire soon lost the lands of the eastern patriarchates of Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch and was reduced to that of Constantinople, the empire’s capital. As a result of Islamic domination of the Mediterranean, the Frankish state, centred away from that sea, was able to evolve as the dominant power that shaped the Western Europe of the Middle Ages.[73] The battles of Toulouse and Poitiers halted the Islamic advance in the West and the failed Siege of Constantinople halted it in the East. Two or three decades later, in 751, the Byzantine Empire lost to the Lombards the city of Ravenna from which it governed the small fragments of Italy, including Rome, that acknowledged its sovereignty. The fall of Ravenna meant that confirmation by a no longer existent exarch was not asked for during the election in 752 of Pope Stephen II and that the papacy was forced to look elsewhere for a civil power to protect it.[74] In 754, at the urgent request of Pope Stephen, the Frankish king Pepin the Short conquered the Lombards. He then gifted the lands of the former exarchate to the pope, thus initiating the Papal States. Rome and the Byzantine East would delve into further conflict during the Photian schism of the 860s, when Photius criticized the Latin west of adding of the filioque clause after being excommunicated by Nicholas I. Though the schism was reconciled, unresolved issues would lead to further division.[75]
In the 11th century, the efforts of Hildebrand of Sovana led to the creation of the College of Cardinals to elect new popes, starting with Pope Alexander II in the papal election of 1061. When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as Pope Gregory VII. The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into the 21st century. Pope Gregory VII further initiated the Gregorian Reforms regarding the independence of the clergy from secular authority. This led to the Investiture Controversy between the church and the Holy Roman Emperors, over which had the authority to appoint bishops and popes.[76][77]
In 1095, Byzantine emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for help against renewed Muslim invasions in the Byzantine–Seljuk Wars,[78] which caused Urban to launch the First Crusade aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the Holy Land to Christian control.[79] In the 11th century, strained relations between the primarily Greek church and the Latin Church separated them in the East–West Schism, partially due to conflicts over papal authority. The Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach.[80] In this age great gothic cathedrals in France were an expression of popular pride in the Christian faith.
In the early 13th century mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán. The studia conventualia and studia generalia of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of Church-sponsored cathedral schools and palace schools, such as that of Charlemagne at Aachen, into the prominent universities of Europe.[81] Scholastic theologians and philosophers such as the Dominican priest Thomas Aquinas studied and taught at these studia. Aquinas’ Summa Theologica was an intellectual milestone in its synthesis of the legacy of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation.[82]
A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked the 14th century. To escape instability in Rome, Clement V in 1309 became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of Avignon in southern France[83] during a period known as the Avignon Papacy. The Avignon Papacy ended in 1376 when the pope returned to Rome,[84] but was followed in 1378 by the 38-year-long Western schism, with claimants to the papacy in Rome, Avignon and (after 1409) Pisa.[84] The matter was largely resolved in 1415–17 at the Council of Constance, with the claimants in Rome and Pisa agreeing to resign and the third claimant excommunicated by the cardinals, who held a new election naming Martin V pope.[85]
The Renaissance period was a golden age for Catholic art. Pictured: the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo
In 1438, the Council of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.[86] Several eastern churches reunited, forming the majority of the Eastern Catholic Churches.[87]
Age of Discovery
Main article: Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery beginning in the 15th century saw the expansion of Western Europe’s political and cultural influence worldwide. Because of the prominent role the strongly Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal played in Western Colonialism, Catholicism was spread to the Americas, Asia and Oceania by explorers, conquistadors, and missionaries, as well as by the transformation of societies through the socio-political mechanisms of colonial rule. Pope Alexander VI had awarded colonial rights over most of the newly discovered lands to Spain and Portugal[88] and the ensuing patronato system allowed state authorities, not the Vatican, to control all clerical appointments in the new colonies.[89] In 1521 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan made the first Catholic converts in the Philippines.[90] Elsewhere, Portuguese missionaries under the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelized in India, China, and Japan.[91] The French colonization of the Americas beginning in the 16th century established a Roman Catholic francophone population and forbade non-Catholics to settle in Quebec.[92]
Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Main articles: Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Martin Luther, originally an Augustinian monk, posted the Ninety-five Theses in 1517.
In 1415, Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy, but his reform efforts encouraged Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk in Germany, who sent his Ninety-five Theses to several bishops in 1517.[93] His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences, and along with the Leipzig Debate this led to his excommunication in 1521.[93][94] In Switzerland, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers further criticized Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into the Reformation, which gave birth to the great majority of Protestant denominations[95] and also crypto-Protestantism within the Catholic Church.[96] Meanwhile, Henry VIII petitioned the pope for a declaration of nullity concerning his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. When this was denied, he had the Acts of Supremacy passed to make him head of the Church of England, spurring the English Reformation and the eventual development of Anglicanism.[97]
The Reformation contributed to clashes between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V and his allies. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict—the Thirty Years’ War—which broke out in 1618.[98] In France, a series of conflicts termed the French Wars of Religion was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the Huguenots (French Calvinists) and the forces of the French Catholic League, which were backed and funded by a series of popes.[99] This ended under Pope Clement VIII, who hesitantly accepted King Henry IV’s 1598 Edict of Nantes granting civil and religious toleration to French Protestants.[98][99]
The Council of Trent (1545–1563) became the driving force behind the Counter-Reformation in response to the Protestant movement. Doctrinally, it reaffirmed central Catholic teachings such as transubstantiation and the requirement for love and hope as well as faith to attain salvation.[100] In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world, in part through missionaries and imperialism, although its hold on European populations declined due to the growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment.[101]
Enlightenment and modern period
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Ruins of the Jesuit Reduction at São Miguel das Missões in Brazil
Main article: Age of Enlightenment
From the 17th century onward, the Enlightenment questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society.[102] In the 18th century, writers such as Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Catholic Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV of France, which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. As the papacy resisted pushes for Gallicanism, the French Revolution of 1789 shifted power to the state, caused the destruction of churches, the establishment of a Cult of Reason,[103] and the martyrdom of nuns during the Reign of Terror.[104] In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte’s General Louis-Alexandre Berthier invaded the Italian Peninsula, imprisoning Pope Pius VI, who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat of 1801.[105] The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought Catholic revival and the return of the Papal States.[106]
In 1854, Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the Immaculate Conception as a Dogma in the Catholic Church.[107] In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements,[108][109] striking a blow to the rival position of conciliarism. Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church,[110]
The Italian unification of the 1860s incorporated the Papal States, including Rome itself from 1870, into the Kingdom of Italy, thus ending the papacy’s temporal power. In response, Pope Pius IX excommunicated King Victor Emmanuel II, refused payment for the land, and rejected the Italian Law of Guarantees, which granted him special privileges. To avoid placing himself in visible subjection to the Italian authorities, he remained a "prisoner in the Vatican".[111] This stand-off, which was spoken of as the Roman Question, was resolved by the 1929 Lateran Treaties, whereby the Holy See acknowledged Italian sovereignty over the former Papal States in return for payment and Italy’s recognition of papal sovereignty over Vatican City as a new sovereign and independent state.[112]
20th century
Main article: Catholic Church in the 20th century
During the First World War, numerous appeals for peace came from the Catholic Church. The "Dès le début" initiative of Pope Benedict XV of August 1, 1917, failed because of the rejection of the warring parties.[113]
A number of anti-clerical governments emerged in the 20th century. The 1926 Calles Law separating church and state in Mexico led to the Cristero War[114] in which more than 3,000 priests were exiled or assassinated,[115] churches desecrated, services mocked, nuns raped, and captured priests shot.[114] Following the 1917 October Revolution, persecution of the church and Catholics in the Soviet Union continued into the 1930s, with the execution and exiling of clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscation of religious implements, and closure of churches.[116][117] In the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War, the Catholic hierarchy allied with Franco’s Nationalists against the Popular Front government,[118] citing as justification Republican violence against the church.[119][120] Pope Pius XI referred to these three countries as a "terrible triangle".[121][122]
While the church is heavily criticized for having done too little against the Holocaust, the war and the Nazis, individual Catholic resistance groups such as that led by priest Heinrich Maier helped the allies to fight the V-2, which was produced by concentration camp prisoners.
After violations of the 1933 Reichskonkordat between the church and Nazi Germany, Pope Pius XI issued the 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, which publicly condemned the Nazis’ persecution of the church and their ideology of neo-paganism and racial superiority.[123][124][125] The church condemned the 1939 Invasion of Poland that started World War II and other subsequent wartime Nazi invasions.[126] Thousands of Catholic priests, nuns and brothers were imprisoned in the countries occupied by the Nazis, were taken to a concentration camp, tortured and murdered, including Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein.[127][128] It was not only about passive resistance, but also actively about defeating National Socialism. For example, the Catholic resistance group around the priest Heinrich Maier very successfully passed on plans and production facilities for V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and other aircraft to the Allies, with which they could target German production facilities. Maier and his group informed the American secret service OSS very early on about the mass murder of Jews in Auschwitz.[129]
Members of the Canadian Royal 22e Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the Liberation of Rome in 1944 during World War II
Around 1943, Adolf Hitler planned the kidnapping of the Pope and his internment in Germany. He gave SS General Wolff a corresponding order to prepare for the action.[130][131] While Pope Pius XII has been credited with helping to save hundreds of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust,[132][133] the church has also been accused of having encouraged centuries of antisemitism by its teachings[134] and not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities.[135] Many Nazi criminals escaped overseas after the Second World War, also because they had powerful supporters from the Vatican.[136][137][138] The judgment of Pius XII. is made more difficult by the sources, because the church archives for his tenure as nuncio, cardinal secretary of state and pope are in part closed or not yet processed.[139]
In dismembered Yugoslavia, the Church favored the Nazi-installed Croatian Roman Catholic fascist Ustaše regime due to its anti-communist ideology and for the potential to reinstate Catholic influence in the region following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.[140] It did not however formally recognize the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).[140] Despite being informed of the regime’s genocide against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and other non-Croats, the Church did not publicly speak out against it, preferring to exert pressure through diplomacy.[141] In assessing the Vatican’s position, historian Jozo Tomasevich writes that "it seems the Catholic Church fully supported the [Ustaše] regime and its policies."[142]
During the post-war period, Communist governments in Central and Eastern Europe severely restricted religious freedoms.[143] Although some priests and religious people collaborated with Communist regimes,[144] many others were imprisoned, deported, or executed. The church was an important player in the fall of Communism in Europe, particularly in the Polish People’s Republic.[145]
In 1949, the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War led to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries.[146] The new government also created the Patriotic Church and appointed its bishops. These appointments were initially rejected by Rome before many of them were accepted.[147][better source needed] In the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communists closed all religious establishments. When Chinese churches eventually reopened, they remained under the control of the Patriotic Church. Many Catholic pastors and priests continued to be sent to prison for refusing to renounce allegiance to Rome.[148]
Second Vatican Council
Bishops listen during the Second Vatican Council
Main articles: Second Vatican Council, History of the Catholic Church since 1962, and Spirit of Vatican II
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent, four centuries before.[149] Initiated by Pope John XXIII, this ecumenical council modernised the practices of the Catholic Church, allowing the Mass to be said in the vernacular (local language) and encouraging "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations".[150] It intended to engage the church more closely with the present world (aggiornamento), which was described by its advocates as an "opening of the windows".[151] In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the church’s approach to ecumenism,[152] and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document Nostra aetate.[153]
The council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms: proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng said that Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.[154] Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticized the council, arguing that its liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments", among other issues.[155]
Several teachings of the Catholic Church came under increased scrutiny both concurrent with and following the council; among those teachings was the church’s teaching regarding the immorality of contraception. The recent introduction of hormonal contraception (including "the pill"), which were believed by some to be morally different from previous methods, prompted John XXIII to form a committee to advise him of the moral and theological issues with the new method.[156][157] Pope Paul VI later expanded the committee’s scope to freely examine all methods, and the committee’s unreleased final report was rumoured to suggest permitting at least some methods of contraception. Paul did not agree with the arguments presented, and eventually issued Humanae vitae, saying that it upheld the constant teaching of the church against contraception. It expressly included hormonal methods as prohibited.[note 6] This document generated a largely negative response from many Catholics.[from whom?][158]
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II was credited as a major influence to the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism. Here with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in 1982.
Main article: Pope John Paul II
In 1978, Pope John Paul II, formerly Archbishop of Kraków in the Polish People’s Republic, became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. His 26 1/2-year pontificate was one of the longest in history.[159] Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, credited the Polish pope with hastening the fall of Communism in Europe.[160]
John Paul II sought to evangelize an increasingly secular world. He instituted World Youth Day as a "worldwide encounter with the pope" for young people; it is now held every two to three years.[161] He travelled more than any other pope, visiting 129 countries,[162] and used television and radio as means of spreading the church’s teachings. He also emphasised the dignity of work and natural rights of labourers to have fair wages and safe conditions in Laborem exercens.[163] He emphasised several church teachings, including moral exhortations against abortion, euthanasia, and against widespread use of the death penalty, in Evangelium Vitae.[164]
From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its doctrines on sexuality, its inability to ordain women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases.
21st century
In 2005, following the death of John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under John Paul, was elected. He was known for upholding traditional Christian values against secularization,[165] and for increasing use of the Tridentine Mass as found in the Roman Missal of 1962.[166] In 2012, the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, an assembly of the Synod of Bishops discussed re-evangelising lapsed Catholics in the developed world.[167] Citing the frailties of advanced age, Benedict resigned in 2013, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.[168]
Pope Francis
Main article: Pope Francis
Pope Francis, the current pope of the Catholic Church, succeeded Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 as the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Pope from outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III, who reigned in the 8th century. Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God’s mercy, concern for the poor and the environment, as well as his commitment to interfaith dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors.
Pope Francis is recognised for his efforts "to further close the nearly 1,000-year estrangement with the Orthodox Churches".[169] His installation was attended by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church,[170] the first time since the Great Schism of 1054 that the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has attended a papal installation.[171] On 12 February 2016, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the largest Eastern Orthodox church, met in Havana, Cuba, issuing a joint declaration calling for restored Christian unity between the two churches. This was reported as the first such high-level meeting between the two churches since the Great Schism of 1054.[172]
In 2014, the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops addressed the church’s ministry towards families and marriages and to Catholics in "irregular" relationships, such as those who divorced and remarried outside of the church without a declaration of nullity.[173][174] While welcomed by some, it was criticized by some for perceived ambiguity, provoking controversies among individual representatives of differing perspectives.[175]
In 2017 during a visit in Egypt, Pope Francis reestablished mutual recognition of baptism with the Coptic Orthodox Church.[176]
Organization
Main articles: Hierarchy of the Catholic Church and Catholic Church by country
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven." Jesus to Peter in the Gospel of Matthew, 16:19 The crossed gold and silver keys of the Holy See symbolize the keys of Simon Peter, representing the power of the papal office to loose and bind. The triple crown papal tiara symbolizes the triple power of the pope as "father of kings", "governor of the world" and "Vicar of Christ". The gold cross on a monde (globe) surmounting the tiara symbolizes the sovereignty of Jesus.
The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church.[177][178] There are three levels of clergy, the episcopate, composed of bishops who hold jurisdiction over a geographic area called a diocese or eparchy; the presbyterate, composed of priests ordained by bishops and who work in local diocese or religious orders; and the diaconate, composed of deacons who assist bishops and priests in a variety of ministerial roles. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, whose jurisdiction is called the Holy See. In parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both. Additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services.
Holy See, papacy, Roman Curia, and College of Cardinals
Main articles: Holy See, Pope, Roman Curia, and College of Cardinals
Further information: List of popes
Francis is the 266th and current pope of the Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City. He was elected in the papal conclave, 2013.
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral for the Diocese of Rome
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church is headed[note 7] by the Bishop of Rome, known as the pope (Latin: papa; "father"), who is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church.[184] The current pope, Francis, was elected on 13 March 2013 by papal conclave.[185]
Scale of justice
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churches, and canonical structures
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The office of the pope is known as the papacy. The Catholic Church holds that Christ instituted the papacy upon giving the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter. His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the "Holy See" (Sancta Sedes in Latin), or the "Apostolic See" (meaning the see of the apostle Peter).[186][187] Directly serving the pope is the Roman Curia, the central governing body that administers the day-to-day business of the Catholic Church.
The pope is also Sovereign of Vatican City,[188] a small city-state entirely enclaved within the city of Rome, which is an entity distinct from the Holy See. It is as head of the Holy See, not as head of Vatican City State, that the pope receives ambassadors of states and sends them his own diplomatic representatives.[189] The Holy See also confers orders, decorations and medals, such as the orders of chivalry originating from the Middle Ages.
While the famous Saint Peter’s Basilica is located in Vatican City, above the traditional site of Saint Peter’s tomb, the papal cathedral for the Diocese of Rome is the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, located within the city of Rome, though enjoying extraterritorial privileges accredited to the Holy See.
The position of cardinal is a rank of honour bestowed by popes on certain clerics, such as leaders within the Roman Curia, bishops serving in major cities and distinguished theologians. For advice and assistance in governing, the pope may turn to the College of Cardinals.[190]
Following the death or resignation of a pope,[note 8] members of the College of Cardinals who are under age 80 act as an electoral college, meeting in a papal conclave to elect a successor.[192] Although the conclave may elect any male Catholic as pope since 1389 only cardinals have been elected.[193]
Canon law
Main article: Canon law of the Catholic Church
See also: Catholic Church § Liturgy
Canon law (Latin: jus canonicum)[194] is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the church.[195] The canon law of the Latin Church was the first modern Western legal system[196] and is the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the West,[197][198] while the distinctive traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches sui iuris.
Positive ecclesiastical laws, based directly or indirectly upon immutable divine law or natural law, derive formal authority in the case of universal laws from promulgation by the supreme legislator—the Supreme Pontiff—who possesses the totality of legislative, executive and judicial power in his person,[199] while particular laws derive formal authority from promulgation by a legislator inferior to the supreme legislator, whether an ordinary or a delegated legislator. The actual subject material of the canons is not just doctrinal or moral in nature, but all-encompassing of the human condition. It has all the ordinary elements of a mature legal system:[200] laws, courts, lawyers, judges,[200] a fully articulated legal code for the Latin Church[201] as well as a code for the Eastern Catholic Churches,[201] principles of legal interpretation,[202] and coercive penalties.[203][204]
Canon law concerns the Catholic Church’s life and organization and is distinct from civil law. In its own field it gives force to civil law only by specific enactment in matters such as the guardianship of minors.[205] Similarly, civil law may give force in its field to canon law, but only by specific enactment, as with regard to canonical marriages.[206] Currently, the 1983 Code of Canon Law is in effect for the Latin Church.[207] The distinct 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO, after the Latin initials) applies to the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.[208]
Latin and Eastern churches
Main articles: Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, Latin Church, and Eastern Catholic Churches
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Latin cross used in the Latin Church Patriarchal cross used in the Eastern traditions
Latin cross and Byzantine Patriarchal cross
Particular churches are grouped by rite.
Alexandrian Rite
CopticEthiopianEritrean
Armenian Rite
Armenian
Byzantine Rite
AlbanianBelarusianBulgarianCroatian and SerbianGreekHungarianItalo-AlbanianMacedonianMelkiteRomanianRussianRuthenianSlovakUkrainian
East Syriac Rite
ChaldeanSyro-Malabar
Latin liturgical rites
Latin
West Syriac Rite
MaroniteSyriacSyro-Malankara
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In the first thousand years of Catholic history, different varieties of Christianity developed in the Western and Eastern Christian areas of Europe. Though most Eastern-tradition churches are no longer in communion with the Catholic Church after the Great Schism of 1054, autonomous particular churches of both traditions currently participate, also known as "churches sui iuris" (Latin: "of one’s own right"). The largest and most well known is the Latin Church, the only Western-tradition church, with more than 1 billion members worldwide. Relatively small in terms of adherents compared to the Latin Church, are the 23 self-governing Eastern Catholic Churches with a combined membership of 17.3 million as of 2010.[209][210][211][212]
The Latin Church is governed by the pope and diocesan bishops directly appointed by him. The pope exercises a direct patriarchal role over the Latin Church, which is considered to form the original and still major part of Western Christianity, a heritage of certain beliefs and customs originating in Europe and northwestern Africa, some of which are inherited by many Christian denominations that trace their origins to the Protestant Reformation.[213]
The Eastern Catholic Churches follow the traditions and spirituality of Eastern Christianity and are churches which have always remained in full communion with the Catholic Church or who have chosen to re-enter full communion in the centuries following the East–West Schism and earlier divisions. These churches are communities of Catholic Christians whose forms of worship reflect distinct historical and cultural influences rather than differences in doctrine.
A church sui iuris is defined in the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches as a "group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy" that is recognised by the pope in his capacity as the supreme authority on matters of doctrine within the church.[214] The term is an innovation of the CCEO to denote the relative autonomy of the Eastern Catholic Churches,[215] who remain in full communion with the pope, but have governance structures and liturgical traditions separate from that of the Latin Church.[210] While the Latin Church’s canons do not explicitly use the term, it is tacitly recognised as equivalent.
Some Eastern Catholic churches are governed by a patriarch who is elected by the synod of the bishops of that church,[216] others are headed by a major archbishop,[217] others are under a metropolitan,[218] and others are organized as individual eparchies.[219] Each church has authority over the particulars of its internal organization, liturgical rites, liturgical calendar and other aspects of its spirituality, subject only to the authority of the pope.[220] The Roman Curia has a specific department, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, to maintain relations with them.[221] The pope does not generally appoint bishops or clergy in the Eastern Catholic Churches, deferring to their internal governance structures, but may intervene if he feels it necessary.
Dioceses, parishes, organizations and institutes
Further information: List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), Parish in the Catholic Church, Religious institute, and Catholic charities
Distribution of Catholics[222]
Percentage of Catholics by country
Number of Catholics by country
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Individual countries, regions, or major cities are served by particular churches known as dioceses in the Latin Church, or eparchies in the Eastern Catholic Churches, each overseen by a bishop. As of 2008, the Catholic Church has 2,795 dioceses.[223] The bishops in a particular country are members of a national or regional episcopal conference.[224]
Dioceses are divided into parishes, each with one or more priests, deacons or lay ecclesial ministers.[225] Parishes are responsible for the day to day celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of the laity.[226] As of 2016, there are 221,700 parishes worldwide.[227]
In the Latin Church, Catholic men may serve as deacons or priests by receiving sacramental ordination. Men and women may serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, as readers (lectors), or as altar servers. Historically, boys and men have only been permitted to serve as altar servers; however, since the 1990s, girls and women have also been permitted.[228][note 9]
Ordained Catholics, as well as members of the laity, may enter into consecrated life either on an individual basis, as a hermit or consecrated virgin, or by joining an institute of consecrated life (a religious institute or a secular institute) in which to take vows confirming their desire to follow the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.[229] Examples of institutes of consecrated life are the Benedictines, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Missionaries of Charity, the Legionaries of Christ and the Sisters of Mercy.[229]
"Religious institutes" is a modern term encompassing both "religious orders" and "religious congregations," which were once distinguished in canon law.[230] The terms "religious order" and "religious institute" tend to be used as synonyms colloquially.[231]
By means of Catholic charities and beyond, the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.[20]
Membership
Main article: Catholic Church by country
Further information: List of Christian denominations by number of members
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Distribution of Catholics around the world
Africa
Asia
Middle East
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Geographic distribution of Catholics in 2018[4]
The Americas
48.3%
Europe
21.5%
Africa/Oceania
19.1%
Asia
11.1%
Catholicism is the second largest religious body in the world, surpassed in size only by Sunni Islam.[232] Church membership, defined as baptised Catholics, was 1.329 billion at the end of 2018, which is 18% of the world population.[4] Catholics represent about half of all Christians.[233]
Geographic distribution of Catholics worldwide continues to shift, with 17.8% in Africa, 48.3% in the Americas, 11.1% Asia, 21.5% in Europe, and 0.9% in Oceania.[4]
Catholic ministers include ordained clergy, lay ecclesial ministers, missionaries, and catechists. Also as of the end of 2014, there were 465,595 ordained clergy, including 5,237 bishops, 415,792 priests (diocesan and religious), and 44,566 deacons (permanent).[234] Non-ordained ministers included 3,157,568 catechists, 367,679 lay missionaries, and 39,951 lay ecclesial ministers.[235]
Catholics who have committed to religious or consecrated life instead of marriage or single celibacy, as a state of life or relational vocation, include 54,559 male religious, 705,529 women religious. These are not ordained, nor generally considered ministers unless also engaged in one of the lay minister categories above.[234]
Doctrine
Main articles: Catholic theology and Catholic Bible
Catholic doctrine has developed over the centuries, reflecting direct teachings of early Christians, formal definitions of heretical and orthodox beliefs by ecumenical councils and in papal bulls, and theological debate by scholars. The church believes that it is continually guided by the Holy Spirit as it discerns new theological issues and is protected infallibly from falling into doctrinal error when a firm decision on an issue is reached.[236][237]
It teaches that revelation has one common source, God, and two distinct modes of transmission: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition,[238][239] and that these are authentically interpreted by the Magisterium.[240][241] Sacred Scripture consists of the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, consisting of 46 Old Testament and 27 New Testament writings. Sacred Tradition consists of those teachings believed by the church to have been handed down since the time of the Apostles.[242] Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are collectively known as the "deposit of faith" (depositum fidei in Latin). These are in turn interpreted by the Magisterium (from magister, Latin for "teacher"), the church’s teaching authority, which is exercised by the pope and the College of Bishops in union with the pope, the Bishop of Rome.[243] Catholic doctrine is authoritatively summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by the Holy See.[244][245]
Nature of God
Main article: Trinity
C. 1210 manuscript version of the traditional Shield of the Trinity theological diagram
The Catholic Church holds that there is one eternal God, who exists as a perichoresis ("mutual indwelling") of three hypostases, or "persons": God the Father; God the Son; and God the Holy Spirit, which together are called the "Holy Trinity".[246]
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the "Second Person" of the Trinity, God the Son. In an event known as the Incarnation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God became united with human nature through the conception of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ, therefore, is understood as being both fully divine and fully human, including possessing a human soul. It is taught that Christ’s mission on earth included giving people his teachings and providing his example for them to follow as recorded in the four Gospels.[247] Jesus is believed to have remained sinless while on earth, and to have allowed himself to be unjustly executed by crucifixion, as a sacrifice of himself to reconcile humanity to God; this reconciliation is known as the Paschal Mystery.[248] The Greek term "Christ" and the Hebrew "Messiah" both mean "anointed one", referring to the Christian belief that Jesus’ death and resurrection are the fulfilment of the Old Testament’s messianic prophecies.[249]
The Catholic Church teaches dogmatically that "the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, not as from two principles but as from one single principle".[250] It holds that the Father, as the "principle without principle", is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that he, as Father of the only Son, is with the Son the single principle from which the Spirit proceeds.[251] This belief is expressed in the Filioque clause which was added to th
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