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It traces its origins to the [[Christianity]] founded by [[Jesus Christ]]. It traces its origins to the [[Christianity]] founded by [[Jesus Christ]].
 +==History==
 +
 +Catholic tradition and doctrine hold that the Catholic Church is the [[one true church]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Christ's Faithful - Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life |publisher=Vatican.va |date=1946-02-20 |accessdate=2013-03-12}}<p>{{cite web|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Sacraments_of_the_Catholic_Church.html |title=Sacraments of the Catholic Church |publisher=Princeton.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-03-12}}<p>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/pastoral/church_membership.htm |title=Church Membership |publisher=Orthodoxresearchinstitute.org |date= |accessdate=2013-03-12}}<p>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/chura5.htm|title=Basic Catholic Catechism;The Church and Salvation|author=Most, Fr. William G.|publisher=Eternal Word Network Television|year=1990|accessdate=12 December 2013}}</ref> founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD in the province of [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]] of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0703923.htm|title=Vatican congregation reaffirms truth, oneness of Catholic Church|publisher=Catholic News Service|accessdate=17 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html |title=Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church |publisher=Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith |date=29 June 2007 |accessdate=18 April 2012}}</ref> The [[New Testament]] records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the [[twelve Apostles]] and [[Great Commission|his instructions to them to continue his work]].<ref name="Kreeft98O">Kreeft, p. 980.</ref><ref name=bokenkotter30>Bokenkotter, p. 30.</ref>
 +
 +The Catholic Church teaches that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, in an event known as [[Pentecost]], signalled the beginning of the public ministry of the Catholic Church.<ref name=autogenerated8>Barry, p. 46.</ref> [[Catholic theology|Catholic doctrine]] teaches that the contemporary Catholic Church is the continuation of this early [[Christian Church|Christian community]]. It interprets the [[Confession of Peter]] found in the [[Gospel of Matthew]] as Christ's designation of [[Saint Peter]] the Apostle and his successors, the [[bishop of Rome|Bishops of Rome]] to be the temporal head of his Church, a doctrine known as [[apostolic succession]].
 +
 +===Antiquity and Roman Empire===
 +{{see also|Early centers of Christianity|List of Christian heresies}}
 +Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's well-defined 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.<ref name=bokenkotter24>Bokenkotter, p. 24.</ref>
 +
 +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 [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|resulting persecutions]] were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalised in the 4th century.<ref name=macculloch155and164>MacCulloch, ''Christianity'', pp. 155–159, 164.</ref>
 +
 +[[File:Basilica di San Pietro 1450.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Nineteenth-century drawing of [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]], originally built in 318 by Constantantine]]In 313, [[Constantine I and Christianity|Emperor Constantine I]]'s [[Edict of Milan]] legalised Christianity, and in 380 the [[Edict of Thessalonica]] made Catholic Christianity the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] which would persist until the [[Byzantine Empire|empire itself]] ended with the [[Fall of Constantinople]]. During this time (the period of the [[Seven Ecumenical Councils]]) five primary sees emerged, an arrangement formalized by Emperor [[Justinian I]] as the [[pentarchy]] of Rome, [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Patriarch of Antioch|Antioch]], [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] and [[Patriarch of Alexandria|Alexandria]].<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=Qrt3Z7fyzlUC&pg=PA92&dq=Justinian+pentarchy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QYexUuLQDsiS7Qa26oC4BA&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Justinian%20pentarchy&f=false Paul Valliere, ''Conciliarism'' (Cambridge University Press 2012 ISBN 978-1-10701574-6), p. 92]</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=4_UB3_UpIcQC&pg=PA3&dq=Justinian+pentarchy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iouxUuumMZCBhAf84oCAAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwATgU#v=onepage&q=Justinian%20pentarchy&f=false Patriarch Bartholomew, ''Encountering the Mystery'' (Random House 2008 ISBN 978-0-38552561-9), p. 3]</ref> On 11 May 330, Constantine moved the imperial capital to [[Constantinople]], modern [[Istanbul, Turkey]], and in 451 the [[Council of Chalcedon]], in a canon of disputed validity,<ref>[http://www.aoiusa.org/canon-28-and-eastern-papalism-cause-or-effect/ George C. Michalopulos, "Canon 28 and Eastern Papalism: Cause or Effect?"]</ref> elevated the [[see of Constantinople]] to a position "second in eminence and power to the bishop of Rome".<ref name="Noble214">Noble, p. 214.</ref> But from c. 350 to c. 500, in spite of these developments, the bishops, or popes, of Rome, a city no longer the capital of the empire, steadily increased in authority.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Rome (early Christian)." Cross, F. L., ed., ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005</ref>
 +
 +Most of the Germanic tribes who in the following centuries invaded the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity in its [[Arianism|Arian]] form, which the Catholic Church declared [[Christian heresy|heretical]].<ref>Le Goff, p. 14:"The face of the barbarian invaders had been transformed by another crucial fact. Although some of them had remained pagan, another part of them, not the least, had become Christian. But, by a curious chance, which was to leave serious consequences, these converted barbarians - the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vandals, and later the Lombards - had been converted to Arianism, which had become a heresy after the council of Nicaea. They had in fact been converted by followers of the 'apostle of the Goths', Wulfilas."</ref> The resulting religious discord between Germanic rulers and Catholic subjects<ref>Le Goff, p. 14: "Thus what should have been a religious bond was, on the contrary, a subject of discord and sparked off bitter conflicts between Arian barbarians and Catholic Romans."</ref> was avoided when, in 497, [[Clovis I]], the [[Franks|Frankish]] ruler, converted to orthodox Catholicism, allying himself with the papacy and the monasteries.<ref>Le Goff, p. 21: "Clovis' master-stroke was to convert himself and his people not to Arianism, like the other barbarian kings, but to Catholicism."</ref> The Visigoths in Spain followed his lead in 589,<ref>Le Goff, p. 21</ref> and the Lombards in Italy in the course of the 7th century. [[Western Christianity]], particularly through its [[Western monasticism|monasteries]], was a major factor in preserving [[Classical antiquity|classical civilisation]], with its art (see [[Illuminated manuscript]]) and literacy.<ref>''How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe'' by Thomas Cahill, 1995.</ref><ref name=Cahill_Thomas>Cahill, Thomas. ''How the Irish Saved Civilization''. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.</ref> <ref group="note">Through his [[Rule of Saint Benedict|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 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|St Columbanus]] and [[St Columba]] spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe.{{ref|name=Cahill_Thomas}}</ref>
 +
 +The massive [[Islam]]ic invasions of the [[Christianity in the 7th century|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 [[patriarchate]]s of [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], [[Patriarch of Alexandria|Alexandria]] and [[Patriarch of Antioch|Antioch]] and was reduced to that of [[Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]], the empire's capital. The battles of [[Battle of Toulouse (721)|Toulouse]] and [[Battle of Poitiers (732)|Poitiers]] halted the Islamic advance in the West, although Rome itself later suffered the [[Sack of Rome (846)|pillaging]] of its outskirts in 846.
 +
 +===Medieval and Renaissance periods===
 +The Catholic Church was the [[Role of the Catholic Church in Western civilization|dominant influence on Western civilisation]] from late antiquity to the dawn of the modern age.<ref name="O'CollinsPref">[[Gerald O'Collins|O'Collins]], p. v (preface).</ref> It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music.<ref>Woods, pp. 115–27</ref> 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.<ref>Duffy, p. 133.</ref>
 +
 +In the eleventh 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, 1061|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 twenty-first 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 Emperor]]s, over which had the authority to appoint bishops and Popes.
 +
 +In 1095, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos|Alexius I]] appealed to [[Pope Urban II]] for help against renewed Muslim invasions in the [[Byzantine–Seljuk Wars]],<ref name="rileysmith">Riley-Smith, p. 8</ref> which caused Urban to launch the [[First Crusade]] aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the [[Holy Land]] to Christian control.<ref name="Bokenkotter140">Bokenkotter, pp. 140–141</ref> In the [[Christianity in the 11th century|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.
 +
 +In the early 13th century [[mendicant orders]] were founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] and [[Saint Dominic|Dominic de Guzmán]]. The ''studia conventuale'' and ''[[studium generale|studia generale]]'' of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of Church sponsored [[cathedral school]]s and palace schools, such as that of [[Charlemagne]] at [[Aachen]], into the prominent universities of Europe.<ref>Woods, pp. 44–48</ref> [[Scholasticism|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 philosophy|Ancient Greek philosophers]] such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation.<ref>Bokenkotter, pp. 158–159</ref>
 +
 +A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked the 14th century. To escape instability in Rome, [[Pope Clement V|Clement V]] in 1309 became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of [[Avignon]] in southern France<ref name="Duffy122">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p.&nbsp;122</ref> during a period known as the [[Avignon Papacy]].The [[Avignon Papacy]] ended in 1376 when the Pope returned to Rome,<ref name="McManners232">Morris, p. 232</ref> but was followed in 1378 by the 38-year-long [[Western Schism|Western schism]] with claimants to the papacy in Rome, Avignon and (after 1409) Pisa.<ref name="McManners232"/> The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the [[Council of Constance]] where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming [[Pope Martin V|Martin V]] pope.<ref name="McManners240">Collinson, p. 240</ref>
 +
 +===Reformation===
 +{{seealso2|[[Protestant Reformation]]|[[Criticism of the Catholic Church#Criticism of Catholic actions in history|Criticism of Catholic actions in history]]}}
 +[[File:Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach der Ältere.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Martin Luther]] initiated the [[Protestant Reformation]] against the Catholic Church in 1517]]
 +In Germany in 1517, [[Martin Luther]] sent his ''[[The Ninety-Five Theses|Ninety-Five Theses]]'' to several bishops.<ref name="Bokenkotter215">Bokenkotter, p. 215</ref> His theses protested key points of Catholic [[doctrine]] as well as the sale of [[indulgence]]s.<ref name="Bokenkotter215"/><ref name="Vidmar184">Vidmar, p. 184.</ref> In Switzerland, [[Huldrych Zwingli]], [[John Calvin]], and others further criticised Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into the European movement called the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref name="Bokenkotter223">Bokenkotter, pp. 223–224</ref> The [[English Reformation]] during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] began as a political dispute. When the pope denied Henry's petition for an [[annulment]] of his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]], he had the [[Acts of Supremacy]] passed, making him head of the English Church.<ref name="Bokenkotter235">Bokenkotter, pp. 235–237</ref>
 +
 +In Germany, the Reformation led to war between the Protestant [[Schmalkaldic League]] and the Catholic Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict, the [[Thirty Years' War]], which broke out in 1618.<ref name="Vidmar233"/> In France, a series of conflicts termed the [[French Wars of Religion]] was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the [[Huguenot]]s and the forces of the [[Catholic League (French)|French Catholic League]]. A series of popes sided with and became financial supporters of the Catholic League.<ref name="Duffy177">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), pp. 177&ndash;8</ref> This ended under [[Pope Clement VIII]], who hesitantly accepted King [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV's]] 1598 [[Edict of Nantes]], which granted civil and [[religious toleration]] to Protestants.<ref name="Vidmar233">Vidmar, ''The Catholic Church Through the Ages'' (2005), p. 233</ref><ref name="Duffy177"/>
 +
 +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.<ref name="Bokenkotter242">Bokenkotter, pp. 242–244</ref> In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world despite experiencing a reduction in its hold on European populations due to the growth of [[religious scepticism]] during and after the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}
 +
 +===Early Modern Period===
 +[[File:São Miguel das Missões (Brazil).jpg|thumb|Ruins of the [[Jesuit Reduction]] at [[São Miguel das Missões]] in Brazil.]]
 +{{See also|Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery}}
 +
 +The [[Age of Discovery]] 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<ref name="Koschorke13">Koschorke, p. 13, p. 283</ref> and the ensuing ''patronato'' system allowed state authorities, not the Vatican, to control all clerical appointments in the new colonies.<ref>Hastings (1994), p. 72</ref> In 1521 the Portuguese explorer [[Ferdinand Magellan]] made the first Catholic converts in the Philippines.<ref name="Koschorke21">Koschorke, p. 21</ref> Elsewhere, Portuguese missionaries under the Spanish Jesuit [[Francis Xavier]] evangelised in India, China, and Japan.<ref name="Koschorke3">Koschorke, p. 3, p. 17</ref>
 +
 +From the 17th century onward, the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society.<ref name="Pollard8">Pollard, pp. 7–8</ref> 18th century writers such as Voltaire and the Encyclopedists wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 [[revocation of the Edict of Nantes]] by King Louis XIV, which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. The [[French Revolution]] of 1789 brought about a shifting of powers from the Church to the State, destruction of churches and the establishment of a [[Cult of Reason]].<ref name="Bokenkotter285">Bokenkotter, pp. 283–285</ref> In 1798, [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s General Louis Alexandre Berthier invaded Italy, imprisoning [[Pope Pius VI]], who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the [[Concordat of 1801]].<ref name="Collins176">Collins, p. 176</ref> The end of the [[Napoleonic wars]] brought Catholic revival and the return of the [[Papal States]].<ref>Duffy, pp. 214–216</ref>
 +
 +In 1854 [[Pope Pius IX]], with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the [[Immaculate Conception]] as a [[Dogma (Roman Catholic)|dogma]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19930324en.html |title=John Paul II, General Audience, March 24, 1993 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=24 March 1993 |accessdate=30 June 2011}}</ref> In 1870, the [[First Vatican Council]] affirmed the doctrine of [[papal infallibility]] when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements.<ref name="Leith">Leith, ''Creeds of the Churches'' (1963), p. 143</ref><ref name="Duffy232">Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p. 232</ref> Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the [[Old Catholic Church]].<ref name="Fahlbusch">Fahlbusch, ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'' (2001), p. 729</ref>
 +
 +[[Italian unification]] of the 1860s incorporated the Papal States, including Rome itself from 1870, into the [[Kingdom of Italy]], thus ending the papacy's millennial [[temporal power (papal)|temporal power]]. The pope rejected the Italian [[Law of Guarantees]], which granted him special privileges, and to avoid placing himself in visible subjection to the Italian authorities remained a "[[prisoner in the Vatican]]".<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=y_4eaFsFdI4C&pg=PT155&dq=Kertzer+%22papal+prisoner%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A1scUp2fBomp7Ab67IHYDQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Kertzer%20%22papal%20prisoner%22&f=false David I. Kertzer, ''Prisoner of the Vatican'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2006 ISBN 978-0-54734716-5)]</ref> 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 and Italy recognized papal sovereignty over [[Vatican City]] as a new sovereign and independent state.
 +
 +===Twentieth century===
 +<!--Following paragraph includes text copied from the article on the [[Terrible Triangle]] -->
 +The 20th century saw the rise of various politically radical and [[anti-clerical]] governments. The 1926 [[Calles Law]] separating church and state in Mexico led to the [[Cristero War]]<ref name="Chadwick264">Chadwick, Owen, pp. 264–265</ref> in which over 3,000&nbsp;priests were exiled or assassinated,<ref name="Scheina">Scheina, p. 33.</ref> churches desecrated, services mocked, nuns raped and captured priests shot.<ref name="Chadwick264"/> In the Soviet Union following the 1917 [[Bolshevik Revolution]], persecution of the Church and Catholics continued well into the 1930s.<ref>Riasanovsky 617</ref> In addition to the execution and exiling of clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscation of religious implements and closure of churches was common.<ref name="Riasanovsky 634">Riasanovsky 634</ref> In the 1936–39 [[Spanish Civil War]], the Catholic hierarchy allied itself with [[Francisco Franco|Franco's]] [[Spanish State|Nationalists]] against the [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] government,<ref>Payne, p. 13</ref> citing [[Red Terror (Spain)|Republican violence]] against the Church<ref>Alonso, pp. 395–396</ref> and "foreign elements which have brought us to ruin".<ref>Blood of Spain, Ronald Fraser p. 415, collective letter of bishops of Spain, addressed to the bishops of the world. ISBN 0-7126-6014-3</ref> [[Pope Pius XI]] referred to these three countries as a "terrible triangle" and the failure to protest in Europe and the United States as a "conspiracy of silence".
 +
 +After violations of the 1933 [[Reichskonkordat]] that had guaranteed the [[Catholic Church and Nazi Germany|Church in Nazi Germany]] some protection and rights,<ref name="Rhodes182">Rhodes, p. 182-183</ref> [[Pope Pius XI]] issued the 1937 encyclical ''[[Mit brennender Sorge]]'',<ref name="Rhodes197">Rhodes, p. 197</ref> which publicly condemned the Nazis' persecution of the Church and their ideology of neopaganism and racial superiority.<ref name="Rhodes204">Rhodes, p. 204-205</ref> After the Second World War began in September 1939, the Church condemned the invasion of Poland and subsequent 1940 Nazi invasions.<ref name="Cook983">Cook, p. 983</ref> Thousands of Catholic priests, nuns and brothers were imprisoned and murdered throughout the areas occupied by the Nazis including Saints [[Maximilian Kolbe]] and [[Edith Stein]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/01/non_jews_persecution.asp |title=Non-Jewish Victims of Persecution in Germany |publisher=Yad Vashem |date= |accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> In the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]], [[Pope Pius XII]] directed the Church hierarchy to help [[Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust|protect Jews from the Nazis]].<ref>Bokenkotter p. 192</ref> While Pius XII has been credited with helping to save hundreds of thousands of Jews by some historians,<ref name="Deák">Deák, p. 182</ref> the Church has also been accused of encouraging centuries of [[Christianity and antisemitism|antisemitism]]<ref>{{Cite news| last =Eakin| first =Emily| title =New Accusations Of a Vatican Role In Anti-Semitism; Battle Lines Were Drawn After Beatification of Pope Pius IX| work =The New York Times| date =1 September 2001| url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E3DF1130F932A3575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|accessdate=9 March 2008}}</ref> and Pius himself of not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities.<ref name="Phayer">Phayer, pp. 50–57</ref> Debate over the validity of these criticisms continues to this day.<ref name="Deák" />
 +
 +Postwar Communist governments in Eastern Europe severely restricted religious freedoms.<ref name="communist">{{Cite news|title=Pope Stared Down Communism in Homeland&nbsp;– and Won|work=CBC News|date=April 2005|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/pope/communism_homeland.html|accessdate=31 January 2008}}</ref> Although some priests and religious collaborated with Communist regimes,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Craig|title=In Poland, New Wave of Charges Against Clerics|work=The New York Times|date=10 January 2007|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/europe/10poland.html|accessdate=23 May 2008}}</ref> many were imprisoned, deported or executed and the Church would be an important player in the [[fall of communism]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/14023 |title=Untold story of 1989 |publisher=The Tablet |date= |accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> The [[Chinese Civil War|rise to power]] of the Communists in China in 1949 led to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries.<ref name="Bokenkotter357">Bokenkotter, pp. 356–358</ref> The new government also created the [[Patriotic Church]] whose unilaterally appointed bishops were initially rejected by Rome before many of them were accepted.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7005927.stm |title=Asia-Pacific &#124; China installs Pope-backed bishop |publisher=BBC News |date=21 September 2007 |accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> The [[Cultural Revolution]] of the 1960s led to the closure of 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.<ref>Chadwick, p.259</ref>
 +
 +====Second Vatican Council====
 +{{See also|Post Vatican II history of the Catholic Church|Spirit of Vatican II}}
 +The [[Second Vatican Council]] in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the [[Council of Trent]] four centuries before.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}} 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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html |title=CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM |publisher=Vatican.va |date=4 December 1963 |accessdate=12 January 2012}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Duffy272">Duffy, pp. 270–276</ref> In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the Church's approach to [[Catholic Church and ecumenism|ecumenism]],<ref>Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p. 272, p. 274</ref> and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially [[Judaism]], in its document ''[[Nostra Aetate]]''.<ref name="NOSTRA AETATE">Pope Paul VI. [http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html ''Nostra Aetate'': Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions]. 28 October 1965. Retrieved 2011-06-16. According to Section 4: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures."</ref>
 +
 +The council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms: proponents of the "[[Spirit of Vatican II]]" such as Swiss theologian [[Hans Küng]] claimed Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.<ref>Bauckham, p. 373</ref> [[Traditionalist Catholics]], such as [[Archbishop]] [[Marcel Lefebvre]], however, strongly criticised the council, arguing that its liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments", among other issues.<ref>O'Neel, Brian. [http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0304fea2.asp "Holier Than Thou: How Rejection of Vatican II Led Lefebvre into Schism"], ''This Rock'', Volume 14, Number 4. San Diego: Catholic Answers, April 2003.</ref>
 +
 +[[File:President and Mrs. Reagan meet Pope John Paul II 1982.jpg|thumb|[[Pope John Paul II]] with U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] and his wife, [[Nancy Reagan|Nancy]], in 1982.]]
 +
 +In 1978, [[Pope John Paul II]], formerly archbishop of [[Kraków]] in then-[[Communism|Communist]] Poland, became the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. His 27-year [[pontificate]] was one of the longest in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/April-02.html;jsessionid=08931E713115A304B13BB1A6FA315A63.public1 |title=2&nbsp;April – This Day in History |publisher=History.co.uk |date=|accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], the president of the [[Soviet Union]], credited the Polish Pope with hastening the fall of Communism in Europe.<ref>{{cite news|author=Peter and Margaret Hebblethwaite and Peter Stanford |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/02/guardianobituaries.catholicism |title=Obituary: Pope John Paul II |work=The Guardian |date=2 April 2005|accessdate=28 October 2010 |location=London}}</ref>
 +
 +[[Pope John Paul II]] sought to evangelise an increasingly secular world. He instituted [[World Youth Day]] as a "worldwide encounter with the Pope" for young people which is now held every two to three years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.madrid11.com/en/what-is-wyd |title=WYD 2011 Madrid – Official Site – What is WYD? |publisher=Madrid11.com |date=15 June 2011 |accessdate=2012-08-17}}</ref> He travelled more than any other Pope, visiting 129 countries,<ref>Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. (2006). ''Chronicle of the Popes: Trying to Come Full Circle''. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-500-28608-1.</ref> and used television and radio as means of spreading the Church's teachings. In 2012, the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Church called a new Synod to discuss re-evangelising lapsed Catholics in the developed world.
 +
 +The Catholic nun [[Mother Teresa]] of Calcutta was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html |title=Press Release – The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 |publisher=Nobelprize.org |date=27 October 1979 |accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref> Bishop [[Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo]] won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1996/press.html |title=Press Release – Nobel Peace Prize 1996 |publisher=Nobelprize.org |date=11 October 1996 |accessdate=28 October 2010}}</ref>
== See also == == See also ==
*[[Art in Roman Catholicism]] *[[Art in Roman Catholicism]]

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Illustration: The Ecstatic Virgin Anna Katharina Emmerich by (1885) by Gabriel Cornelius von Max
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The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") is a list of publications which the Catholic Church censored for being a danger to itself and the faith of its members. The various editions also contain the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling and censorship of books. The aim of the list was to prevent the reading of immoral books or works containing theological errors and to prevent the corruption of the faithful.
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The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") is a list of publications which the Catholic Church censored for being a danger to itself and the faith of its members. The various editions also contain the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling and censorship of books. The aim of the list was to prevent the reading of immoral books or works containing theological errors and to prevent the corruption of the faithful.

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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with 1.2 billion members worldwide.

It is also the largest single religious denomination in the world.

It traces its origins to the Christianity founded by Jesus Christ.

Contents

History

Catholic tradition and doctrine hold that the Catholic Church is the one true church<ref>{{

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| {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if: |1}}}} ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted }} }}{{#if: | {{#if: | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: | {{{last}}}{{#if: | , {{{first}}} }} | {{{author}}} }}]] | {{#if: | {{{last}}}{{#if: | , {{{first}}} }} | {{{author}}} }} }} }}{{#if: | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }} }}{{#if: | {{#if: 29 June 2007 | (29 June 2007) | {{#if: | {{#if: | ({{{month}}} {{{year}}}) | ({{{year}}}) }} }} |}} }}{{#if: | . }}{{ #if: | {{{editor}}}: }}{{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church | [{{{archiveurl}}} Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church] }}}} | {{#if: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html | {{#if: Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church | Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church }}}} }}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: | () }}{{#if: | . {{{work}}} }}{{#if: | {{{pages}}} }}{{#if: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | . Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith{{#if: | | {{#if: 29 June 2007 || }} }} }}{{#if: ||{{#if: 29 June 2007 | (29 June 2007) | {{#if: | {{#if: | ({{{month}}} {{{year}}}) | ({{{year}}}) }} }} }} }}.{{#if: | Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]]. }}{{#if: 18 April 2012 | Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|18 April 2012{{#if: | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}. }}{{#if: | Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}. }}{{#if: | Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}. }}{{#if: |  “{{{quote}}}” }}</ref> The New Testament records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the twelve Apostles and his instructions to them to continue his work.<ref name="Kreeft98O">Kreeft, p. 980.</ref><ref name=bokenkotter30>Bokenkotter, p. 30.</ref> The Catholic Church teaches that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, in an event known as Pentecost, signalled the beginning of the public ministry of the Catholic Church.<ref name=autogenerated8>Barry, p. 46.</ref> Catholic doctrine teaches that the contemporary Catholic Church is the continuation of this early Christian community. It interprets the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew as Christ's designation of Saint Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Bishops of Rome to be the temporal head of his Church, a doctrine known as apostolic succession.

Antiquity and Roman Empire

Template:See also Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's well-defined 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.<ref name=bokenkotter24>Bokenkotter, p. 24.</ref>

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 legalised in the 4th century.<ref name=macculloch155and164>MacCulloch, Christianity, pp. 155–159, 164.</ref>

[[File:Basilica di San Pietro 1450.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Nineteenth-century drawing of Old St. Peter's Basilica, originally built in 318 by Constantantine]]In 313, Emperor Constantine I's Edict of Milan legalised Christianity, and in 380 the Edict of Thessalonica made Catholic Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire which would persist until the empire itself ended with the Fall of Constantinople. During this time (the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils) five primary sees emerged, an arrangement formalized by Emperor Justinian I as the pentarchy of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.<ref>Paul Valliere, Conciliarism (Cambridge University Press 2012 ISBN 978-1-10701574-6), p. 92</ref><ref>Patriarch Bartholomew, Encountering the Mystery (Random House 2008 ISBN 978-0-38552561-9), p. 3</ref> On 11 May 330, Constantine moved the imperial capital to Constantinople, modern Istanbul, Turkey, and in 451 the Council of Chalcedon, in a canon of disputed validity,<ref>George C. Michalopulos, "Canon 28 and Eastern Papalism: Cause or Effect?"</ref> elevated the see of Constantinople to a position "second in eminence and power to the bishop of Rome".<ref name="Noble214">Noble, p. 214.</ref> But from c. 350 to c. 500, in spite of these developments, the bishops, or popes, of Rome, a city no longer the capital of the empire, steadily increased in authority.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Rome (early Christian)." Cross, F. L., ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005</ref>

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.<ref>Le Goff, p. 14:"The face of the barbarian invaders had been transformed by another crucial fact. Although some of them had remained pagan, another part of them, not the least, had become Christian. But, by a curious chance, which was to leave serious consequences, these converted barbarians - the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vandals, and later the Lombards - had been converted to Arianism, which had become a heresy after the council of Nicaea. They had in fact been converted by followers of the 'apostle of the Goths', Wulfilas."</ref> The resulting religious discord between Germanic rulers and Catholic subjects<ref>Le Goff, p. 14: "Thus what should have been a religious bond was, on the contrary, a subject of discord and sparked off bitter conflicts between Arian barbarians and Catholic Romans."</ref> was avoided when, in 497, Clovis I, the Frankish ruler, converted to orthodox Catholicism, allying himself with the papacy and the monasteries.<ref>Le Goff, p. 21: "Clovis' master-stroke was to convert himself and his people not to Arianism, like the other barbarian kings, but to Catholicism."</ref> The Visigoths in Spain followed his lead in 589,<ref>Le Goff, p. 21</ref> and the Lombards in Italy in the course of the 7th century. Western Christianity, particularly through its monasteries, was a major factor in preserving classical civilisation, with its art (see Illuminated manuscript) and literacy.<ref>How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill, 1995.</ref><ref name=Cahill_Thomas>Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.</ref> <ref group="note">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 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 St Columbanus and St Columba spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe.Template:Ref</ref>

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. The battles of Toulouse and Poitiers halted the Islamic advance in the West, although Rome itself later suffered the pillaging of its outskirts in 846.

Medieval and Renaissance periods

The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilisation from late antiquity to the dawn of the modern age.<ref name="O'CollinsPref">O'Collins, p. v (preface).</ref> It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music.<ref>Woods, pp. 115–27</ref> 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.<ref>Duffy, p. 133.</ref>

In the eleventh 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 twenty-first 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.

In 1095, Byzantine emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for help against renewed Muslim invasions in the Byzantine–Seljuk Wars,<ref name="rileysmith">Riley-Smith, p. 8</ref> which caused Urban to launch the First Crusade aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the Holy Land to Christian control.<ref name="Bokenkotter140">Bokenkotter, pp. 140–141</ref> 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.

In the early 13th century mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán. The studia conventuale and studia generale 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.<ref>Woods, pp. 44–48</ref> 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.<ref>Bokenkotter, pp. 158–159</ref>

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<ref name="Duffy122">Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 122</ref> during a period known as the Avignon Papacy.The Avignon Papacy ended in 1376 when the Pope returned to Rome,<ref name="McManners232">Morris, p. 232</ref> but was followed in 1378 by the 38-year-long Western schism with claimants to the papacy in Rome, Avignon and (after 1409) Pisa.<ref name="McManners232"/> The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the Council of Constance where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming Martin V pope.<ref name="McManners240">Collinson, p. 240</ref>

Reformation

Template:Seealso2 [[File:Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach der Ältere.jpeg|thumb|upright|Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church in 1517]] In Germany in 1517, Martin Luther sent his Ninety-Five Theses to several bishops.<ref name="Bokenkotter215">Bokenkotter, p. 215</ref> His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences.<ref name="Bokenkotter215"/><ref name="Vidmar184">Vidmar, p. 184.</ref> In Switzerland, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and others further criticised Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into the European movement called the Protestant Reformation.<ref name="Bokenkotter223">Bokenkotter, pp. 223–224</ref> The English Reformation during the reign of Henry VIII began as a political dispute. When the pope denied Henry's petition for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, he had the Acts of Supremacy passed, making him head of the English Church.<ref name="Bokenkotter235">Bokenkotter, pp. 235–237</ref>

In Germany, the Reformation led to war between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict, the Thirty Years' War, which broke out in 1618.<ref name="Vidmar233"/> In France, a series of conflicts termed the French Wars of Religion was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the Huguenots and the forces of the French Catholic League. A series of popes sided with and became financial supporters of the Catholic League.<ref name="Duffy177">Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), pp. 177–8</ref> This ended under Pope Clement VIII, who hesitantly accepted King Henry IV's 1598 Edict of Nantes, which granted civil and religious toleration to Protestants.<ref name="Vidmar233">Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), p. 233</ref><ref name="Duffy177"/>

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.<ref name="Bokenkotter242">Bokenkotter, pp. 242–244</ref> In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world despite experiencing a reduction in its hold on European populations due to the growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment.Template:Citation needed

Early Modern Period

[[File:São Miguel das Missões (Brazil).jpg|thumb|Ruins of the Jesuit Reduction at São Miguel das Missões in Brazil.]] Template:See also

The Age of Discovery 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<ref name="Koschorke13">Koschorke, p. 13, p. 283</ref> and the ensuing patronato system allowed state authorities, not the Vatican, to control all clerical appointments in the new colonies.<ref>Hastings (1994), p. 72</ref> In 1521 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan made the first Catholic converts in the Philippines.<ref name="Koschorke21">Koschorke, p. 21</ref> Elsewhere, Portuguese missionaries under the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelised in India, China, and Japan.<ref name="Koschorke3">Koschorke, p. 3, p. 17</ref>

From the 17th century onward, the Enlightenment questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society.<ref name="Pollard8">Pollard, pp. 7–8</ref> 18th century writers such as Voltaire and the Encyclopedists wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV, which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. The French Revolution of 1789 brought about a shifting of powers from the Church to the State, destruction of churches and the establishment of a Cult of Reason.<ref name="Bokenkotter285">Bokenkotter, pp. 283–285</ref> In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte's General Louis Alexandre Berthier invaded Italy, imprisoning Pope Pius VI, who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat of 1801.<ref name="Collins176">Collins, p. 176</ref> The end of the Napoleonic wars brought Catholic revival and the return of the Papal States.<ref>Duffy, pp. 214–216</ref>

In 1854 Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the Immaculate Conception as a dogma.<ref>{{

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}}</ref> In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements.<ref name="Leith">Leith, Creeds of the Churches (1963), p. 143</ref><ref name="Duffy232">Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 232</ref> Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church.<ref name="Fahlbusch">Fahlbusch, The Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001), p. 729</ref>

Italian unification of the 1860s incorporated the Papal States, including Rome itself from 1870, into the Kingdom of Italy, thus ending the papacy's millennial temporal power. The pope rejected the Italian Law of Guarantees, which granted him special privileges, and to avoid placing himself in visible subjection to the Italian authorities remained a "prisoner in the Vatican".<ref>David I. Kertzer, Prisoner of the Vatican (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2006 ISBN 978-0-54734716-5)</ref> 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 and Italy recognized papal sovereignty over Vatican City as a new sovereign and independent state.

Twentieth century

The 20th century saw the rise of various politically radical and anti-clerical governments. The 1926 Calles Law separating church and state in Mexico led to the Cristero War<ref name="Chadwick264">Chadwick, Owen, pp. 264–265</ref> in which over 3,000 priests were exiled or assassinated,<ref name="Scheina">Scheina, p. 33.</ref> churches desecrated, services mocked, nuns raped and captured priests shot.<ref name="Chadwick264"/> In the Soviet Union following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, persecution of the Church and Catholics continued well into the 1930s.<ref>Riasanovsky 617</ref> In addition to the execution and exiling of clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscation of religious implements and closure of churches was common.<ref name="Riasanovsky 634">Riasanovsky 634</ref> In the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War, the Catholic hierarchy allied itself with Franco's Nationalists against the Popular Front government,<ref>Payne, p. 13</ref> citing Republican violence against the Church<ref>Alonso, pp. 395–396</ref> and "foreign elements which have brought us to ruin".<ref>Blood of Spain, Ronald Fraser p. 415, collective letter of bishops of Spain, addressed to the bishops of the world. ISBN 0-7126-6014-3</ref> Pope Pius XI referred to these three countries as a "terrible triangle" and the failure to protest in Europe and the United States as a "conspiracy of silence".

After violations of the 1933 Reichskonkordat that had guaranteed the Church in Nazi Germany some protection and rights,<ref name="Rhodes182">Rhodes, p. 182-183</ref> Pope Pius XI issued the 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge,<ref name="Rhodes197">Rhodes, p. 197</ref> which publicly condemned the Nazis' persecution of the Church and their ideology of neopaganism and racial superiority.<ref name="Rhodes204">Rhodes, p. 204-205</ref> After the Second World War began in September 1939, the Church condemned the invasion of Poland and subsequent 1940 Nazi invasions.<ref name="Cook983">Cook, p. 983</ref> Thousands of Catholic priests, nuns and brothers were imprisoned and murdered throughout the areas occupied by the Nazis including Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein.<ref>{{

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}}</ref> In the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII directed the Church hierarchy to help protect Jews from the Nazis.<ref>Bokenkotter p. 192</ref> While Pius XII has been credited with helping to save hundreds of thousands of Jews by some historians,<ref name="Deák">Deák, p. 182</ref> the Church has also been accused of encouraging centuries of antisemitism<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Pius himself of not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities.<ref name="Phayer">Phayer, pp. 50–57</ref> Debate over the validity of these criticisms continues to this day.<ref name="Deák" />

Postwar Communist governments in Eastern Europe severely restricted religious freedoms.<ref name="communist">Template:Cite news</ref> Although some priests and religious collaborated with Communist regimes,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> many were imprisoned, deported or executed and the Church would be an important player in the fall of communism in Europe.<ref>{{

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}}</ref> The rise to power of the Communists in China in 1949 led to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries.<ref name="Bokenkotter357">Bokenkotter, pp. 356–358</ref> The new government also created the Patriotic Church whose unilaterally appointed bishops were initially rejected by Rome before many of them were accepted.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s led to the closure of 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.<ref>Chadwick, p.259</ref>

Second Vatican Council

Template:See also The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent four centuries before.Template:Citation needed 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".<ref>{{

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}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Duffy272">Duffy, pp. 270–276</ref> In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the Church's approach to ecumenism,<ref>Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 272, p. 274</ref> and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document Nostra Aetate.<ref name="NOSTRA AETATE">Pope Paul VI. Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. 28 October 1965. Retrieved 2011-06-16. According to Section 4: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures."</ref>

The council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms: proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng claimed Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.<ref>Bauckham, p. 373</ref> Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticised the council, arguing that its liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments", among other issues.<ref>O'Neel, Brian. "Holier Than Thou: How Rejection of Vatican II Led Lefebvre into Schism", This Rock, Volume 14, Number 4. San Diego: Catholic Answers, April 2003.</ref>

[[File:President and Mrs. Reagan meet Pope John Paul II 1982.jpg|thumb|Pope John Paul II with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in 1982.]]

In 1978, Pope John Paul II, formerly archbishop of Kraków in then-Communist Poland, became the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. His 27-year pontificate was one of the longest in history.<ref>{{

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Pope John Paul II sought to evangelise an increasingly secular world. He instituted World Youth Day as a "worldwide encounter with the Pope" for young people which is now held every two to three years.<ref>{{

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}}</ref> He travelled more than any other Pope, visiting 129 countries,<ref>Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. (2006). Chronicle of the Popes: Trying to Come Full Circle. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-500-28608-1.</ref> and used television and radio as means of spreading the Church's teachings. In 2012, the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Church called a new Synod to discuss re-evangelising lapsed Catholics in the developed world.

The Catholic nun Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor.<ref>{{

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}}</ref> Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".<ref>{{

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See also

See also




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