Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (seeterminology below) is theChristianchurch infull communion with theBishop of Rome, currentlyPope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to theoriginal Christian community it‘s teachings spread by theTwelve Apostles, in particularSaint Peter.[1]
The Catholic Church is by far the largest Christian church and the largest organized body of any worldreligion.[2] According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Catholic Church‘s worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000, approximately one-sixth of the world‘s population.[3]
The worldwide Catholic Church is made up of oneWestern or Latin and 22Eastern Catholicparticular churches, all of which look to theBishop of Rome, alone or along with theCollege of Bishops, as their highest authority on earth for matters of faith, morals and church governance.[4] It is divided into jurisdictional areas, usually on a territorial basis. The standard territorial unit, each of which is headed by abishop, is called adiocese in the Latin church and aneparchy in the Eastern churches. At the end of 2006, the total number of all these jurisdictional areas (or "Sees") was 2,782.[5]
Contents
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1 Terminology2 Origins and history2.1 Antiquity2.2 East-West Schism2.3 Crusades2.4 Inquisition2.5 Reformation2.6 Modernity2.7 Reforms of the Second Vatican Council
3 Beliefs3.1 Scripture and Tradition3.2 Nature of God3.3 Original sin3.4 The church (Ecclesiology)3.5 Salvation3.6 Catholic life3.7 Social teaching3.8 Human life3.9 Sexuality
4 Prayer and Worship4.1 Liturgy4.1.1 Eucharist4.1.2 Sacraments4.1.3 Liturgy of the Hours
4.2 Devotional life/Personal Prayer
5 Nature and mission of the Church5.1 Churches within the Catholic Church5.2 Ordained Ministry5.2.1 Episcopate5.2.2 Presbyterate (Priesthood)5.2.3 Diaconate
5.3 Laity5.4 Religious5.5 Membership of the Catholic Church5.6 Worldwide distribution5.7 Ecumenism: Quest for Christian Unity
6 Role of the Church in civilization6.1 Church doctrine and science6.2 Church, art, literature, and music6.3 Church and economic development6.4 Social justice, care-giving, and the hospital system6.5 Sexual abuse cases
7 Footnotes8 See also9 References and readings10 External links10.1 Vatican news
[edit] Terminology
Main article:Catholicism
See also:One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church
The church described in this article has, throughout its history, used many names to describe itself.[6] It has not formally 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"[7] or "the Roman Catholic Church".[8]
Divergent usages attach a certain ambiguity to each of the terms Roman Catholic Church and Catholic Church. Some, especiallyEastern Catholics,[9] apply the term Roman Catholic Church only to theWestern or Latin church,[10] excluding theEastern Catholic Churches.[11] 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 (often writing "catholic" with a lower-case ‘c‘ to distinguish it from the Roman Catholic Church). For their understandings of the term, seeCatholicism,Catholic, andOne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
According to the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary, "Roman Catholic is the designation know to English law, but ‘Catholic‘ is that is ordinary use on the continent of Europe, especially in the Latin countries; hence historians frequently contrast ‘Catholic‘ and ‘Protestant‘, especially in reference to the continent; and in familiar, non-controversial use, ‘Catholic‘ is often said instead of ‘Roman Catholic‘".
According to the New Oxford Dictionary quoted in the articleRoman Catholic of theCatholic Encyclopedia, "the use of this composite term (Roman Catholic) in place of the simple Roman, Romanist, or Romish, which had acquired an invidious sense, appears to have arisen in the early years of the seventeenth century. For conciliatory reasons it was employed in the negotiations connected with the Spanish Match (1618-1624) and appears in formal documents relating to this printed by Rushworth (I, 85-89). After that date it was generally adopted as a non-controversial term and has long been the recognized legal and official designation, though in ordinary use Catholic alone is very frequently employed."
The Catholic Encyclopedia considers this statement correct in substance, but identifies earlier uses of the term Roman Catholic by twoAnglican theologians, one in 1581, the other in 1588. It says that for long after the Spanish Match negotiations, in official government use "the term Roman Catholic continued to be a mark of condescension, and language of much more uncomplimentary character was usually preferred." It also cites documentary evidence of use of the term by Catholics themselves in 1630, 1632, 1659 and 1661, and says that, later, Catholic associations adopted it as part of their name. It interprets the form "Catholic Roman", used by some Catholic writers from as early as 1575 (sic) as "simply a translation of the phraseology common both in Latin and in the Romance languages ‘Ecclesia Catholica Romana‘, or in French ‘l‘Église catholique romaine‘." The date 1575 would indicate that the Latin and French equivalents of "Roman Catholic Church" were in "common" use even before the phrase began to be used in English. It appears therefore that "1575" may be a misprint for "1675". Even this indicates that from an early stage the use of "Roman Catholic Church" was by no means a phenomenon limited to the English language.
Many Catholics dislike the term "Roman Catholic", because some use it to posit a distinction between "the Roman Catholic Church" and "the catholic Church".[12] When in dialogue with other Christians, the Church uses either "Catholic Church" or, if this term is not acceptable to the partner in dialogue, "Roman Catholic Church".[13] Except in such dialogue, the Church most commonly refers to itself as "the Church", and uses "the Catholic Church" far less commonly, and "the Roman Catholic Church" extremely rarely.[14] TheCatechism of the Catholic Church is an example: in it, "the Church" appears many hundreds of times, compared to 24 uses of "the Catholic Church" (including the title of the book) 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, SaintAugustine of Hippo remarked that the term was generally thus understood even by those whom he qualified asheretics:
… 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.[15]
The 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 this church is merely part of some larger "Catholic Church"; both terms are used here as alternative names for the entire church that describes itself as "governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."[16]
[edit] Origins and history
Main article:History of the Roman Catholic Church
See also:History of the Papacy

Martyrdom ofSt. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch appointed bySt. Peter.
The Church traces its history toJesus and theTwelve Apostles, and sees thebishops of the Church as the successors of the Apostles in general, and the Pope as the successor ofSaint Peter, leader of the Apostles, in particular.[17] The first known use of the term "Catholic Church" was in a letter byIgnatius 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."[18]
Additionally, Catholic writers list a number of quotes from earlyChurch Fathers suggesting the See of Rome had jurisdictional authority or primacy over other churches,[19] whileOrthodox writers dispute this claim which was one of the main issues behind theEast-West Schism, historically considering the Popefirst among equals.[20]
Central to the doctrines of the Catholic Church isApostolic Succession, the belief that thebishops are the spiritual successors of the original twelve apostles, through the historically unbroken chain of consecration (see:Holy Orders). TheNew Testament contains warnings against teachings considered to be only masquerading as Christianity,[21] and shows how reference was made to the leaders of the church to decide what was true doctrine.[22] The Catholic Church teaches that it is the continuation of those who remained faithful to the apostolic and episcopal leadership and rejected false teachings.
[edit] Antiquity
After an initial period of sporadic but intense persecution, Christianity was legalized in thefourth century, whenConstantine I issued theEdict of Milan in 313. Constantine was instrumental in the convocation of theFirst Council of Nicea in 325, which sought to address theArian heresy and formulated theNicene Creed which is used by the Catholic Church,Eastern Orthodoxy, and variousProtestant churches. On27 February380, EmperorTheodosius I enacted a law establishing Catholic Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire and ordering others to be called heretics.[23]

Illuminated page from the famousBook of Kells, 800.
Following the decline of the Roman Empire, the Church underwent a time of missionary activity and expansion. During theMiddle Ages Catholicism eventually spread among theGermanic peoples (initially in competition withArianism); theVikings; thePoles,Croats,Czechs,Slovaks,Hungarians,Lithuanians,Latvians,Finns andEstonians. The success of monasticism gave rise to various centers of learning, most famously in Ireland and Gaul, and contributed to theCarolingian Renaissance. Later in the medieval period, cathedral schools developed into Universities (seeUniversity of Paris,University of Oxford, andUniversity of Bologna), the direct ancestors of modern Western institutions of learning.
[edit] East-West Schism
Main article:East-West Schism
Through a gradual process over a number of centuries, the church underwent a greatschism that divided the church into a Western (Latin) branch, which has been known as theCatholic Church and an Eastern (Greek) branch, which has become known as theOrthodox Church. These two churches disagree on a number of administrative, liturgical, and doctrinal issues, most notably theFilioque clause andpapal primacy of jurisdiction.
The schism is conventionally dated to 1054, when thePatriarch of Constantinople and the Papal LegateHumbert of Mourmoutiers issued mutualexcommunications that have since been revoked. In spite of that event, both churches continued for many years to maintain friendly relations and seemed to be unaware of any formal or final rupture.[24] However, estrangement continued to grow. In 1190Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch, declared that "noLatin should be given communion unless he first declares that he will abstain from the doctrines and customs that separate him from us";[25] and the sack ofConstantinople in 1204 by the participants in the so-calledFourth Crusade was seen as the West‘s ultimate outrage.
TheSecond Council of Lyons (1274) and theCouncil of Florence (1439) attempted to reunite the churches, but in both cases the Orthodox refused to accept the decisions. The two churches remain in schism to the present day, althoughexcommunications were lifted mutually between Rome and Constantinople in 1965, and efforts to end the schism continue. Some Eastern churches have since reunited with the Catholic Church, acknowledging papal primacy, and others claim never to have been out of communion with the Pope. (SeeEastern Catholic Churches.)
[edit] Crusades

Pope Urban II at theCouncil of Clermont, where he preached theFirst Crusade.
Beginning in 1095 theCrusades, a series of military campaigns in theHoly Land and elsewhere, sanctioned by thePapacy, began under the pontificate ofUrban II in response to pleas from the Byzantine EmperorAlexios I for aid against Turkish expansion. This and the subsequent crusades ultimately failed to stifle Turkish aggression and even contributed to Christian enmity with the sacking and occupation of Constantinople during theFourth Crusade.
[edit] Inquisition
Beginning around 1184, and continuing through theProtestant Reformation, a number of historical movements involving the Catholic Church, broadly referred to as theInquisition, were aimed at securing religious and doctrinal unity within Christianity throughconversion, and sometimes persecution, of allegedheretics. A conviction of heresy, seen astreason againstChristendom, could involve penalties ranging from a fine to a sentence ofcapital punishment such asburning at the stake administered by the state. Historians distinguish between theMedieval Inquisition, theSpanish Inquisition, theRoman Inquisition, and thePortuguese 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 subsequentpropaganda. (SeeBlack Legend.)
[edit] Reformation
The second great rift in the history of Christianity began with theProtestant Reformation, beginning inGermany in the16th century. During this period various groups, often supported by local rulers, repudiated theprimacy of the pope,clerical celibacy, theseven sacraments and various other Catholic doctrines and practices, as well as abuses (such assimony) that were common at the time. Reformers within the Catholic Church launched theCounter Reformation or Catholic Reformation, a period of doctrinal clarification, reform of the clergy and the liturgy, and re-evangelization begun by theCouncil of Trent.
The Council of Trent and its reforms provided the central theme for the next 300 years of Catholic history. The period emphasizedcatechesis andmissionary work, in which theJesuit andFranciscan orders were prominent. Catholicism spread worldwide, at pace with European colonialism: to theAmericas,Asia,Africa andOceania.
[edit] Modernity
Throughout the centuries, the Church has responded to people or groups attempting to change core beliefs. Some of these opponents were declaredheretical. The 18th and 19th century church found itself facing not only the teachings of Protestantism, but alsoEnlightenment andModernist teachings about the nature of the human person, the state, and morality. With the coming of theIndustrial Revolution, and the increased concern about the conditions of urban workers, 19th and 20th century popes issued encyclicals (notablyRerum Novarum) explicatingCatholic Social Teaching.
Many of the challenges focus on a few issues, such as sex and gender themes.Joseph Ratzinger, a cardinal and theologian elected Pope (Benedict XVI) in 2005, responded to these in several statements prior to his election as pope: the Church is ecclesia sua, "His [God‘s] Church", and not the laboratory of theologians.[26]
TheFirst Vatican Council (1869-1870) affirmed the doctrine ofpapal infallibility which Catholics hold to be in continuity with the history ofPetrine supremacy in the church.
[edit] Reforms of the Second Vatican Council
Main article:Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

Pope John XXIII, opening theSecond Vatican Council in 1962
The image above is proposed fordeletion. Seeimages and media for deletion to help reach a consensus on what to do.
The Catholic Church undertook one of the most comprehensive reforms in its history during theSecond Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the decade which followed. For changes in the liturgy, seeMass 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.
TheSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965) was convened byPope John XXIII, primarily as a pastoral but authoritative council,[27] 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, including permission for theLatin liturgical rites to use vernacular languages as well asLatin in theMass and the other sacraments.[28]
[edit] Beliefs

TheCrucifix, a cross with corpus, a symbol used in Catholicism in contrast with some other Christian communions, which use only a cross.
The Church‘scatechesis makes use of theNicene Creed and theApostles‘ Creed, summaries of the main points of Catholic belief. TheCatechism of the Catholic Church gives a "systematic presentation of the faith" and a "complete exposition of Catholic doctrine".[29] The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 2005 and in English in 2006, is a more concise version of the Catechism, in question and answer form.
In addition to all of the main points oforthodoxtrinitarian Christianity, Catholics place particular importance on the Church as an institution founded by Jesus and kept from doctrinal error by the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and as the font of salvation for humanity. The sevensacraments, of which the most important is theEucharist, are of prime importance in obtaining salvation.
[edit] Scripture and Tradition
The principal sources for the teachings of the Catholic Church are the Sacred Scriptures (theBible),Sacred Tradition, andLiving Magisterium. 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, andAramaic for theOld Testament;Greek for theNew 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."[30] The canonical list of sacred books, and their contents, accepted by the Catholic Church are those as contained in the old LatinVulgateedition.[31]
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 asapostolic succession.
[edit] Nature of God
Catholicism ismonotheistic: it believes that God is one, eternal, all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), all-good (omnibenevolent), andomnipresent. 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 theFirst 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,[32] God has also chosen to reveal himself and his will supernaturally in the ways indicated in the Letter to theHebrews 1:1-2.
Catholicism is alsoTrinitarian: 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: theFather‘s relationship to theSon, the Son‘s relationship to the Father, and the relations of both to theHoly Spirit, constitute the one God as a Trinity.
Catholics arebaptized 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."[33]
Catholics believe that God the Son, theDivine Logos, the second of the three Persons of God, becameincarnate asJesus Christ, a human being, born of theVirgin 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 andresurrection, his followers, foremost among them theApostles, spread more and more extensively their faith with a vigour that they attributed to the presence of theHoly Spirit, the third of the three Persons of God, sent upon them by Jesus.
[edit] Original sin
Main article: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.[34]The Fall of Man left humans in a state calledoriginal 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 thebeatific vision. The sacrament ofbaptism is the only means for the remission of original sin.
[edit] The church (Ecclesiology)

Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455. By the end of the 1400s, Catholics such asJohann Gutenberg were operating 250 print shops all over Europe.
The Church is, as scripture states, "the body of Christ,"[35] 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 Jesus on 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 calledTradition, since it is distinct fromSacred Scripture, though closely connected to it."[36] The Church is also a fount of divine grace which is administered through thesacraments (see below). The Church claims infallibility in teaching the faith, based on Jesus‘ scriptural promises to remain with his church always,[37] and to maintain it in truth through the Holy Spirit.[38] Furthermore, Jesus promised divine protection to the teachings and judgements of the Apostles,[39] 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:[40] "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."[41] 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.[42]

TheBasilica of St. John Lateran, cathedral of the diocese of Rome and therefore of the Pope.
Section 8 of theSecond Vatican Council‘s Decree on the Church,Lumen Gentium states that "the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed asone, 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."[16] (The term successor of Peter refers in to the Bishop of Rome, thePope; seePetrine theory).
TheCatechism 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.[43] 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 theCatechism 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."[44]
[edit] 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."[45] 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[46] and through baptism,[47] or refuse it. Human cooperation is needed, in line with a new capacity to adhere to the divine will that God provides.[48] The faith of a Christian is not without works, otherwise it would be dead.[49] In this sense, "by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone,"[50] and eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merits.[51] 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 Church teaches that a person must be in a state ofSanctifying Grace at the moment of death in order to be saved. Sanctifying Grace is conferred atBaptism, and is lost when a soul commits amortal sin. A mortal sin is a deliberate and serious transgression of God‘s law. Sanctifying Grace is regained when a person confesses his or her sin in theSacrament of Penance. If a person repents of his or her sin before he or she dies but is unable to obtain the actual Sacrament of Penance before death due to reasons outside of the person‘s control, the person‘s sin is forgiven by nature of the person‘s desire to receive it.
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."[52]
[edit] Catholic life

A distinct sacrament in the Catholic Church isPenance, which it connects with Jesus‘ words inJohn 20:23 andMatthew 18:18, among other sources. From the filmTrue Confessions (1981) directed by Ulu Grosbard
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 unrepentedmortal sin, which is remitted in theSacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, it is believed that person has God‘s promise of inheriting eternal life. Before entering heaven, some undergo a purification, known asPurgatory.

Armenian-Rite concelebratedDivine Liturgy, "theeucharisticsacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life."[53]
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 by being a model of Christ and his teachings.
Prayer for others, even for enemies and persecutors is a Christian duty.[54] 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 otherSaints. As Mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary is also considered to be the spiritual mother of all Catholics.
[edit] Social teaching
Main article:Catholic 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.[55] 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.[56]
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."[57] This position is also held today by Avery Cardinal Dulles, Msgr. William Smith, Germain Grisez and other Catholic moral theologians.
[edit] Human life
Further information:Roman catholic views on abortionSee also:Humanae Vitae andEvangelium Vitae

Michelangelo‘sThe 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."[58]
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 it believes destroy or devalue divinely created life, includingeuthanasia,eugenics andabortion.
According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church, 2267, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. Today, in fact, given the means at the State‘s disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender "today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (John Paul II,Evangelium vitae 56).
[edit] Sexuality
Further information:Roman Catholic views on contraceptionFurther information:Homosexuality and Catholicism
The Catholic Church teaches that human life and human sexuality are both inseparable and sacred.[59] The Church teaches thatManichaeism, the belief that the spirit is good while the flesh is evil, is aheresy. 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,"[60] then the human body and sex must likewise be good. The Catechism teaches that "the flesh is the hinge of salvation."[61] Indeed, the Church considers the expression of love between husband and wife to be a most elevated form of human activity, joining as it does, husband and wife in complete mutual self-giving, and opening their relationship to new life. “The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through which human life is transmitted, is, as the recent Council recalled, ‘noble and worthy.’”[62] It is in cases in which sexual expression is sought outside sacramental marriage, or in which the procreative function of sexual expression within marriage is deliberately frustrated, that the Catholic Church expresses her grave moral concern.
Pope John Paul II‘s first major teaching was on theTheology 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."[63] "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."[58]
However the Church teaches that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful because it violates the purpose of human sexuality to participate in the "conjugal act" before one is actually married. The conjugal act "aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul" (Catechism 1643) since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity (Catechism 1617).
The Church requires members to eschewmasturbation,fornication,adultery,pornography,prostitution,rape,homosexual practices,[64] andcontraception.[65] The procurement or assistance inabortion can carry the penalty of excommunication,[66] as a specific offence.
The Church has been criticized[citation needed] for its teaching onfidelity,sexual abstinence and its opposition to promoting the use ofcondoms as a strategy to prevent the spread ofHIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, andSTDs 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 question of condom use as part of a broad look at several questions of bioethics.[67] However, the president of thePontifical Council for the Family, CardinalAlfonso López Trujillo, in an interview reported by Catholic News Agency onMay 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."[68]
[edit] Prayer and Worship
In the Catholic Church, there is a distinction between Liturgy, which is the formal public and communal worship of the Church, and personal prayer or devotion, which may be public or private. The Liturgy is regulated by church authority and consists of the Sunday Eucharist (the Mass), the Sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours. All Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life of the Church, but personal prayer and devotions are entirely a matter of personal preference.
[edit] Liturgy
Main article:Catholic 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."[69]
[edit] Eucharist
Main article:Eucharist

Mass celebrated at the Grotto atLourdes. The chalice is displayed immediately after the transubstantiation of the wine into the Blood of Christ.
Catholics see the Eucharist, often called the Mass, as the source and summit of the Christian life, and believe that the bread and wine brought to the altar are transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit into the true Body and the true Blood of Christ.
[edit] Sacraments
Main article:Sacraments of the Catholic Church
TheCatechism 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."
According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church, 1113, "The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church:Baptism,Confirmation orChrismation,Eucharist,Penance,Anointing of the Sick,Holy Orders, andMatrimony."
[edit] Liturgy of the Hours
Main article:Liturgy of the Hours
The Liturgy of the Hours, at least in the simple form of morning prayer and evening prayer, is the daily liturgy of all the Catholic faithful. It is intended as a communal experience, just as the Sunday Eucharist or the celebration of the other Sacraments, but is often recited by individiuals.
[edit] Devotional life/Personal Prayer
Main article:Catholic spirituality
In addition to the liturgy of the Church there is a variety of spirtual practices, devotions, and pietistic practices that Catholics may participate in, either communally or individually.
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 ofrelics of saints, visits to sacred shrines,pilgrimages, processions (including Eucharistic processions), theStations of the Cross (also known as the Way of the Cross), Holy Hours,Eucharistic Adoration,Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and theRosary.
Likewise, the great variety ofCatholic 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."[70]
[edit] Nature and mission of the Church
The Church is the People of God, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ. It is fundamentally a communion of members, and a communion of communions, with each other and with God. The Second Vatican Council identified the nature of the Church to be a mystery. As the Body of Christ, every member has a distinct calling, and is gifted for different kinds of participation in the mission of the Church. This mission is essentially to preach the Good News to all peoples, to form a worshipping communion, and to help those in need, particularly the poor and margianalized.
[edit] Churches within the Catholic Church

St.Ephrem the Syrian, venerated by theMaronites, who have always been in communion with Rome.
Main article:Particular church
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 orparticular 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."[71]
However, the Catholic Church attaches great importance to theparticular churches within it, whose theological significance the Second Vatican Council highlighted. Two uses of the term particular church are distinguished.
Autonomous (sui iuris) particular churches or rites. See:Eastern Catholic Churches Particular or local churches (Dioceses and National Conferences of Bishops). See:Particular church
[edit] Ordained Ministry
Main article:Catholic Church hierarchy
The Church has a hierarchical structure, meaning a holy ordering (as opposed to a charismatic structure). This hierarchical nature applies to the entire Church, though it is often used to refer only to theordained ministers of the Church, who belong to one of the the three holy orders:episcopate (bishops),presbyterate (priests), ordiaconate (deacons).
[edit] Episcopate
Main article:College of Bishops
TheBishops, who possess the fullness of Christian priesthood, are as a body (theCollege of Bishops) the successors of theApostles[72] and are "constituted Pastors in the Church, to be the teachers of doctrine, the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance."[73]
The pope, cardinals (in principle), patriarchs, primates, archbishops andmetropolitans are all bishops and members of the Catholic episcopate or college of bishops.
[edit] Presbyterate (Priesthood)
St.Jean Vianney, a diocesan priest renowned forpenitential life andministry as aconfessor
Main article:Priesthood (Catholic Church)
Bishops are assisted bypriests anddeacons.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 ofArchimandrite,Canon Secular or Regular,Chancellor,Chorbishop, Confessor, Dean of a Cathedral Chapter, Hieromonk, Prebendary, Precentor, etc.
In theLatin Rite, only celibate men, as a rule, are ordained as priests, while theEastern Rites, again as a rule, also ordain married men. Among the Eastern particular churches, theEthiopic 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.
[edit] Diaconate
Main article:Deacon
Since theSecond 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."[74]
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.
[edit] Laity

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 Christianfaithful, 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.[75] 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."[76] These are thelaity, whom John Paul II urged in the post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici (December 30, 1988) "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 inbaptism, 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."[77] They exercise the common, baptism-based priestly office by offering their prayer and works as spiritual sacrifices,[78] the prophetic office by their word and testimony of life in the ordinary circumstances of the world,[79] and the kingly office by self-mastery and conforming worldly institutions to the norms of justice.[80]
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 manylay ecclesial movements and structures in the 20th century: examples areFocolare,Neocatechumenal Way,Communion and Liberation, and thepersonal prelature of Opus Dei. TheDirectory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by thePontifical Council for the Laity, lists the names and characteristics of lay movements that have received official recognition.
Some of the non-ordained exercise formal, public ministry in the name of the church, often on a full time and life-long basis, and often in ministries that were reserved to thepresbyterate in the decades leading up to theSecond Vatican Council. These are calledLay Ecclesial Ministers, a broad category which may include Pastoral Life Coordinators, Pastoral Associates, Pastoral Assistants, Youth Ministers, Campus Ministers, etc. .
[edit] Religious
Main article:Consecrated life (Catholic Church)
Within the Catholic Church, the Consecrated Life refers to the following: the Religious Life, eremitical life, consecrated virginity, societies of consecrated life andsecular institutes. All of these are ways of Christian living by those who have made a public commitment and (if religious) took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Thevows are regulated church Law, both proper to the institute and universal (canon law).[81] Those who have made their profession and vow are not, however, part of the Church hierarchy, unless they are also ordained priests.[82] 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,[83] 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 asHermits 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).
[edit] Membership of the Catholic Church
According tocanon law, one becomes a member of the Catholic Church by beingbaptized in the Church or by being received into the Church (by making a profession of faith, if already baptized).[84] Someone who renounces membership may later be received back into the Catholic Church, after making a profession of faith or, when the person has not defected by a formal act, going to confession.[85]
[edit] Worldwide distribution
For the Roman Catholic Church regionally and by country , seeRoman Catholicism by country,Category:Roman Catholic Church by country, andCategory:Roman Catholic Church by region.

Catholic membership as a percentage of each country‘s population.
The number of Catholics in the world is around 1.1 billion[86] and continues to increase, particularly inAfrica andAsia.Brazil is the country with the largest number of Catholics. 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. In Europe, Romance-speaking countries are historically Catholic, northern Germanic-speaking countries Protestant, and Slavic countries split between Orthodox and Catholic, although there are exceptions. Catholicism‘s presence in the rest of the world is due to the work of missionaries mainly from Spain, Portugal, and France, as well as immigrants from these countries and other Catholic parts of Europe such as theIrish, who planted Catholicism throughout theEnglish-speaking world. In Latin America, where it once had a virtual monopoly, Catholicism has suffered increasing competition from Protestantism, particularly in parts of Central America and the Caribbean. In Africa, it is most dominant in the central part of the continent, while in Asia, there are only two majority-Catholic countries: thePhilippines (due to 300 years of Spanish colonial rule) andEast Timor (due to Portuguese missionaries).
SeeMembership on the conditions required for being considered incanon 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.
[edit] Ecumenism: Quest for Christian Unity
Main article:Catholic Church and ecumenism
While the Catholic Church sees itself as the church founded by Jesus, it recognizes that many of the salvific elements of the Gospel are found in other churches and ecclesial communities also. TheSecond Vatican Council documentLumen 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."[87] At the same time, it affirms that "the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. ... 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."[88] (SeeExtra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.)
The Catholic Church has, since the Second Vatican Council, reached out to other Christian bodies, seeking reconciliation to the greatest degree possible. Significant agreements have been achieved on Baptism, ministry, and the Eucharist withAnglican theologians. On31 October1999, a similar agreement was signed with theLutheran World Federation on the theology of justification.[89] The same document was adopted by the World Methodist Council in a tripartite signing ceremony that took place on23 July2006.[90] These landmark documents have brought closer fraternal ties with those ecclesial communities. However, recent developments, such as ordination of women to priesthood and acceptance of homosexual relationships, present new obstacles to reconciliation with some of them.
Consequently, in recent years the Catholic Church has focused its efforts at reconciliation with theOrthodox Churches of the East, with which the theological differences are not as great. Relations with theRussian Orthodox Church were strained in the1990s over property issues in countries that were formerly Soviet-dominated, and these differences are not solved (most notably the parishes belonging to theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church); however, fraternal relations with other Eastern churches continue to progress.
[edit] Role of the Church in civilization
[edit] Church doctrine and science

Map of mediaeval universities established by Catholic students, faculty, monarchs, or priests
Historians of science, including non-Catholics such asJ.L. Heilbron,[91]Alistair Cameron Crombie, David C Lindberg,[92]Edward Grant,Thomas Goldstein,[93] and Ted Davis, have argued that the Church had a significant, positive influence on the development of civilization. They hold that, not only did monks save and cultivate the remnants of ancient civilization during the barbarian invasions, but that the Church promoted learning and science through its sponsorship of manyuniversities 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.[94] The Church‘s priest-scientists, many of whom were Jesuits, were the leading lights inastronomy,genetics,geomagnetism,meteorology,seismology, andsolar physics, becoming the "fathers" of these sciences. It is important to remark names of important churchmen such as the Augustinian abbotGregor Mendel (pioneer in the study of genetics),Roger Bacon (aFranciscan monk who was one of the early advocates of thescientific method), and Belgian priestGeorges Lemaître (the first to propose theBig Bang theory). Even more numerous are Catholic laity involved in science:Henri Becquerel who discoveredradioactivity;Galvani,Volta,Ampere,Marconi, pioneers inelectricity andtelecommunications;Lavoisier, "father of modernchemistry";Vesalius, founder of modernhuman anatomy;Cauchy one of the mathematicians who laid the rigorous foundations ofcalculus.
This position is a reverse of the view, held by someenlightenment philosophers, that the Church‘s doctrines were superstitious and hindered the progress of civilization.
In the most famous example cited by these critics,Galileo Galilei, in 1633, was denounced for his insistence on teaching aheliocentric universe, previously proposed byNicolaus Copernicus, who was probably a priest[95]. After numerous years of investigations, consultations with the Popes, promises kept and then broken by Galileo, and finally a trial by the Tribunal of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, Galileo was found "suspect of heresy" - not heresy, as is frequently misreported. Even though modern science confirms that two of the four scientific theses steadfastedly advanced by Galileo were in fact wrong, viz. the position that the Sun is the center of the Universe, and that the Earth circles the Sun in a perfectly round orbit,Pope John Paul II, on31 October1992, publicly expressed regret for the actions of those Catholics who badly treated Galileo in that trial.[96] An abstract of the acts of the process against Galileo is available at theVatican Secret Archives, which reproduces part of it on its website. CardinalJohn Henry Newman, in the nineteenth century, stated 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.[97]
Recently, the Church has been both criticized and applauded for its teaching thatembryonic stem cell research is a form of experimentation on human beings, and results in the killing of a human person. Criticism has been on the grounds that this doctrine hinders scientific research. The Church argues that advances in medicine can come without the destruction of humans (in an embryonic state of life); for example, in the use of adult or umbilical stem cells in place of embryonic stem cells.
[edit] Church, art, literature, and music

The School of Athens byRaphael,Apostolic Palace,Vatican
Several historians credit the Catholic Church for the brilliance and magnificence of Westernart. They refer to the Church‘s fight againsticonoclasm, a movement against visual representations of the divine, its insistence on building structures befitting worship,Augustine‘s repeated reference toWisdom 11:20 (God "ordered all things by measure and number and weight") which led to the geometric constructions of Gothic architecture, thescholastics‘ coherent intellectual systems called theSumma Theologiae which influenced the intellectually consistent writings ofDante, its creation and sacramental theology which has developed aCatholic imagination influencing writers such asJ. R. R. Tolkien[98],C.S. Lewis, andWilliam Shakespeare,[99] and of course, the patronage of the Renaissance popes for the great works of Catholic artists such asMichelangelo,Raphael,Bernini,Borromini andLeonardo da Vinci. In addition, we must take into account the enormous body of religious music composed for the Catholic Church, a body which is profoundly tied to the emergence and development of the European tradition ofclassical music, and indeed, all music that has been influenced by it.
[edit] Church and economic development
Francisco de Vitoria, a disciple ofThomas 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.[100]
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."[101] 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 center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization."[102]
[edit] 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.
The Catholic Church has contributed to society through its social doctrine which has guided leaders to promote social justice and by setting up thehospital 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.[103]
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 fewer 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 byBramante and another part of it byMichelangelo. The Hospital of the innocents in Florence for foundlings was an architectural gem. The Hospital of Sienna, built in honor ofSt. 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 toPope 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.[104]
In spite of the lingering problems of the Dark Ages, hospitals began to appear in great numbers in France and England. Following the French Norman invasion into England, the explosion of French ideals led most Medieval monasteries to develop a hospitium or hospice for pilgrims. This hospitium eventually developed into what we now understand as a hospital, with various monks and lay helpers providing the medical care for sick pilgrims and victims of the numerous plagues and chronic diseases that afflicted Medieval Western Europe. Benjamin Gordon supports the theory that the hospital – as we know it - is a French invention, but that it was originally developed for isolating lepers and plague victims, and only later undergoing modification to serve the pilgrim.[105]
Owing to a well-preserved 12th century account of the monk Eadmer of the Canterbury cathedral, there is an excellent account of Bishop Lanfranc’s aim to establish and maintain examples of these early hospitals:
But I must not conclude my work by omitting what he did for the poor outside the walls of the city Canterbury. In brief, he constructed a decent and ample house of stone…for different needs and conveniences. He divided the main building into two, appointing one part for men oppressed by various kinds of infirmities and the other for women in a bad state of health. He also made arrangements for their clothing and daily food, appointing ministers and guardians to take all measures so that nothing should be lacking for them.[106]
The beauty and efficiency of the Italian hospitals inspired even some who were otherwise critical of the Church. The German historianLudwig von Pastor recounts the words ofMartin 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.[107]
The Catholic Church as opus proprium, says Benedict XVI inDeus 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.
On November 14, 2006, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also issed the documentMinistry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination to provide "guidelines for the pastoral care of people with a homosexual inclination".
[edit] Sexual abuse cases
Main article:Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
Main article:Cases of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church
Since 1985, there have been an estimated 1,400 sexual abuse lawsuits launched against Roman Catholic priests in the United States. Allegations were made that priests had sexually abused boys over several decades and that church leaders had sometimes dealt with the abusive priests by relocating them instead of reporting them to civil authorities. A study by the U.S. Bishop‘s National Review Board found that U.S. sex-abuse related costs totaled $573 million, with $219 million covered by insurance companies. The same study concluded that 81% of the abuse victims were male and that the majority were postpubescent, making the abuse cases a matter of homosexuality and not of pedophilia.[108]
Since2001, the adjudication of charges of sexual abuse by clergy is no longer within the competence of the local bishop, but is reserved to theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, in accord with Pope John Paul II‘s Apostolic LetterSacramentorum sanctitatis tutela and itsaccompanying norms (both documents in Latin). Under the Church‘s 1983 Code of Canon Law clerical sexual abuse against a minor can be punished with dismissal from the clerical state ("laicization").[109] Rome‘sCongregation for Catholic Education issued an official document, theInstruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders (2005). The document states that the Church "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture‘".
[edit] Footnotes
^ "The Roman Catholic Church traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007).^Major Branches of Religions. adherents.com. Retrieved on2006-09-14.^ Central Statistics Office (2007). Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2005. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.ISBN 978-88-209-7928-7. ^Lumen gentium, chapter III^ Central Statistics Office (February 2007).Annuario Pontificio (Pontifical Yearbook). Libreria Editrice Vaticana, p. 1172.ISBN 978-88-209-7908-9. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church748–810^ Instances of the Catholic Church:Joint International Commission between representatives of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation. Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church (October 1999).Official Common Statement. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Pope John Paul II, Mar Khanania Dinkha IV (November 1994).Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.^ Instances of the Roman Catholic Church: Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (May 2003).Final Communiqué of the Joint Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (May 2005).Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews (March 1982).Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Pope Pius XI (December 1929).Divini Illius Magistri. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.; Pope Pius XII (August 1950).Humani Generis. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.^ Not theHoly See, which has never used the term Roman Catholic Church to mean the Western particular church. Official documents such as the papal encyclicalsDivini illius Magistri andHumani generis use the term Roman Catholic Church to refer to the whole church in communion with the See of Rome, never to the Western part alone. The term appears repeatedly in this sense in official documents concerning dialogue between the Church as a whole and groups outside her fold. Examples of such documents can be found at the links on the Vatican website under the headingPontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.Pope John Paul II too treated "Roman Catholic Church " as equivalent to "Catholic Church" in his talk at the general audience of 26 June 1985 (actual text in Italian,Spanish translation). In theFirst Vatican Council‘sDogmatic Constitution de fide catholica, the phrase the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church (in Latin, Sancta catholica apostolica Romana ecclesia) also refers to something other than the Latin-Rite or Western church.^ The term "Latin Rite" or "Latin Church" refers not to a liturgical rite (such as theRoman Rite, theAmbrosian Rite or theMozarabic Rite, or, for that matter, theByzantine Rite) but to the Westernparticular church, which is analogous to, for instance, theMaronite church.^ Theseparticular churches too are infullcommunion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.^ For example, proponents of the "Branch theory" say that "Each National Church ... still remains a ‘branch‘ of the Catholic Church as it was before. At the present day the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Greek Churches are each of them a branch of the Universal Church" (The Church in Catholic Encyclopedia]^ Partners who do not accept the term "Catholic Church" include theWorld Council of Churches (e.g.Final Communiqué of the Joint Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches) and theAnglican Communion (e.g.Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC): The Seattle Statement. On the other hand, the term "Catholic Church" has been accepted by theAssyrian Church of the East (Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East) and theLutheran World Federation (e.g.Official Common Statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church)^ Examples of the use of "Roman Catholic Church" by Popes, even when not addressing members of other churches, are the encyclicalsDivini illius Magistri andHumani generis, and the talk byPope John Paul II at the general audience of26 June1985 (actual text in Italian,Spanish translation) in which he treated "Roman Catholic Church " as synonymous with "Catholic Church".^ St. Augustine (397).Chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith. Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental. ^ab Pope Paul VI (November 1964).Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), 8. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-14.^Catechism of the Catholic Church. Retrieved on2007-01-01. “881. The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. ‘The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.‘ This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church‘s very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.”^Ignatius of Antioch.Letter to the Smyrnaeans. para. 8.^The Authority of the Pope: Part I. Catholic Answers.
Primacy of the Apostolic See, Corunum Catholic Apologetic Web Page, retrieved Nov. 30, 2006^ Ware, Kallistos.The Great Schism. The Orthodox Church. Retrieved on2006-12-02. “The east acknowledged the Pope as the first bishop in the church, but saw him as the first among equals.”^2 Corinthians 11:13-15;2 Peter 2:1-17;2 John 7-11;Jude 4-13^Acts 15:1-2^ "It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation should continue to the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. ... We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches." Halsall, Paul (June 1997).Theodosian Code XVI.i.2. Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions. Fordham University. Retrieved on2006-09-19.^Milton V. Anastos, Constantinople and Rome^The Great Schism: The Estrangement of Eastern and Western Christendom^ Allen, John L. (June 2005). The Rise of Benedict XVI. Doubleday Publishing.ISBN 0-385-51320-8. ; Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI); von Balthasar, Hans Urs (1971). Two Say Why: Why I am still a Christian. Franciscan Herald Press.ISBN 0-85532-289-6. ^ "In view of the pastoral nature of the Council, it avoided any extraordinary statement of dogmas that would be endowed with the note of infallibility, but it still provided its teaching with the authority of the supreme ordinary Magisterium. This ordinary Magisterium, which is so obviously official, has to be accepted with docility, and sincerity by all the faithful, in accordance with the mind of the Council on the nature and aims of the individual documents" (Pope Paul VI, atGeneral Audience of 12 January 1966^ "The use of the Latin language, with due respect of particular law, is to be preserved in the Latin rites. But since the use of the vernacular, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or in other parts of the liturgy, may fequently be of great advantage to the people, a wider use may be made of it, especially in ... It is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority ... to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36).^ John Paul II, Apostolic LetterLaetamur Magnopere^ Pope Pius XII.Divino Afflante Spiritu. Vatican. para. 16.^ Council of TrentSession IV; here an "edition" should not be confused with a "translation"^Romans 1:20^Matthew 11:27^Romans 5:12^Ephesians 1:22-23; cf.Romans 12:4-5^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,77–78^Matthew 28:20^John 14:16-17;John 14:26^Matthew 18:18;Luke 10:16^Matthew 18:17^1 Timothy 3:15^1 Corinthians 11:2;2 Thess 2:15;1 Thess 2:13;2 Thess 3:6;2 Timothy 2:2^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,85^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,773,775^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,2007^Romans 3:22^Romans 6:3-4^ Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.Response of the Catholic Church to the Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification, 2–3. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^James 2:26^James 2:24^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, [http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt3art2.htm 1987–2016 ]^ Pope Paul VI (November 1964).Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), 14. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^ Pope Paul VI (November 1964).Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), 11. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^Matthew 5:44^ Koch, Carl (January 1994). The Catholic Church. Saint Mary‘s Press.ISBN 0-88489-298-0. ^ Aquinas, Thomas.Of War (Four Articles), Q. 40.. The Summa Theologica (Second Part of Second Part). Benzinger Brothers. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^ Pope John Paul II (March 1995).Evangelium Vitae. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15. ^ab Pope John Paul II (20 February 1980).General Audience. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,2331–2400^Genesis 1:31^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,1015^ ”Humanae Vitae, no. 11” [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html^ Pope John Paul II (29 October 1980).General Audience, 6. L‘Osservatore Romano. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,2351–2357^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,2370^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,2272^ Dickey, Christopher (May 2006).Catholics and Condoms. Newsweek. MSNBC. Retrieved on2006-09-16.^Church ‘will not budge one inch‘ on issue of condom use, says Cardinal Lopez Trujillo. Catholic News Agency (May 2006). Retrieved on2006-09-16.^ Pope Paul VI (December 1963).Sacrosanctum Concilium, 2. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.; Catechism of the Catholic Church1068–69^ Catechism of the Catholic Church2558^ Joseph Card. Ratzinger, Alberto Bovone (May 1992).Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, 9. Vatican. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^Canon 42.Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.^Canon 375. 1983Code of Canon Law. Vatican.^ Committee on the Diaconate.Frequently Asked Questions About Deacons. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,871–2^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,898^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,899^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,901^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,905^ Catechism of the Catholic Church,908–9^Canons 573–746. Code of Canon Law. Vatican.^ [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P1X.HTM can. 588 CIC 1983}^Canons 573–602, 605–709. Code of Canon Law. Vatican.^ cf. Code of Canon Law,canon 11^ 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 ofapostasy,heresy orschism; 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"(circular letter 10279/2006 of 13 March 2006 from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts to Presidents of Episcopal Conferences). Those who do not take this step are presumed to be still linked with the Catholic Church and thus bound by ecclesiastical laws.^ The Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2005, compiled by the Central Statistics Office of the Church and published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana in 2007 (ISBN 978-88-209-7928-7) put the recorded membership figure for the end of 2005 at 1,114,966,000; according to theWorld Christian Database the figure was 1,119 million (cf.World Christian Trends 2005, page 3).^Lumen Gentium §8^Lumen Gentium §14^Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification;Official Common Statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church about the Declaration^Methodist Statement^J.L. Heilbron. London Review of Books. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^ Lindberg, David; Numbers, Ronald L (October 2003). When Science and Christianity Meet. University of Chicago Press.ISBN 0-226-48214-6. ^ Goldstein, Thomas (April 1995). Dawn of Modern Science: From the Ancient Greeks to the Renaissance. Da Capo Press.ISBN 0-306-80637-1. ^ Pope John Paul II (September 1998).Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), IV. Retrieved on2006-09-15.^Catholic Encyclopedia^ Choupin, Valeur des Decisions Doctrinales du Saint Siege^How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Catholic Education Resource Center (May 2005).^ Boffetti, Jason (November 2001).Tolkien‘s Catholic Imagination. Crisis Magazine. Morley Publishing Group.^ Voss, Paul J. (July 2002).Assurances of faith: How Catholic Was Shakespeare? How Catholic Are His Plays?. Crisis Magazine. Morley Publishing Group.^ de Torre, Fr. Joseph M. (1997).A Philosophical and Historical Analysis of Modern Democracy, Equality, and Freedom Under the Influence of Christianity. Catholic Education Resource Center.^ Schumpeter, Joseph (1954). History of Economic Analysis. London: Allen & Unwin. ^Review of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods, Jr.. National Review Book Service. Retrieved on2006-09-16.^ Risse, Guenter B (April 1999). Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals. Oxford University Press, 59.ISBN 0-19-505523-3. ^Walsh, James Joseph (1924). The world‘s debt to the Catholic Church. The Stratford Company, 244. ^ Gordon, Benjamin (1959). Medieval and Renaissance Medicine. New York: Philosophical Library, 341. ^ Orme, Nicholas (1995). The English Hospital: 1070-1570. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 21-22. ^ von Pastor, Ludwig (1891).The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (Volume V). B. Herder, 65.  cf. Luther, Martin. (1967). Luther‘s Works, American Edition, 55 vols. Helmut T. Lehmann, Theodore G. Tappert, editors,Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press,Table Talk,vol. 54, p.296, No. 3930, ( recorded by Anthony Lauterbach, August 1, 1538 ).ISBN 0-8006-0354-0^ Study commissioned by the U.S. Bishops‘ National Review Board, published by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, 27 February 2004, available atAmericanCatholic.org^Canon 1395. Code of Canon Law. Vatican.