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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. [4] [5] [9] It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.
The history of the Catholic Church is the formation, events, and historical development of the Catholic Church through time.. According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, it started from the day of Pentecost at the upper room of Jerusalem; [1] the Catholic tradition considers that the Church is a continuation of the early Christian community established by the Disciples of Jesus.
In the aftermath of World War II, religious existence came under fire from communist governments in Eastern Europe and China. [1] Although some priests have since been exposed as collaborators, [2] [3] both the Church's official resistance and the leadership of Pope John Paul II are credited with helping to bring about the downfall of communist governments across Europe in 1991.
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world". The laity forms the majority of the estimated over one billion Catholics in the world. [1]
The Vatican said Tuesday that its doctrine office will prepare a document on women in leadership roles in the Catholic Church, a new initiative to respond to longstanding demands by women to have ...
In the early Church, the biblical passage Matthew 22:21 ("Render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's") was a source of discussion regarding the role of the Church and its relations with secular governments, defining the dualism of Catholic political thinking - unlike earlier religions, the Catholic ...
It was thought that these practices would draw the Catholic Church and Protestant communities closer together in a truly spiritual ecumenism. Today, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal enjoys support from most of the Church's hierarchy, from the Pope to bishops of dioceses around the world, as a recognized ecclesial movement. [32] [33] [34] [35]
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the pope. With 23 percent of the United States ' population as of 2018 [update] , the Catholic Church is the country's second-largest religious grouping after Protestantism , and the country's largest single church if Protestantism is divided ...