Catholic Church

The Catholic Church (in Latin, Ecclesia Catholica and in ancient Greek, Καθολικὴ Ἐκκλησία) is the most numerous Christian Church. It is made up of 24 sui iuris Churches: the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Churches, which are in full communion with the Pope and together gather more than 1.36 billion faithful in the world.

The Catholic Church maintains that it subsists the only Church founded by Christ, entrusted to the Apostle Peter, to whom it entrusted its diffusion and government together with the other apostles. For this reason, it considers itself as a « sacrament", a "sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of all mankind".

The visible head of the Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, the pope, considered the successor of the apostle Peter, who according to Catholic tradition was the first pope. The current pope is Francis. The papal seat, known as The Holy See occupies a pre-eminent place among the other episcopal sees and constitutes the central government of the Church, for whom it acts and speaks, and is internationally recognized as a sovereign entity. The basic concepts of Catholicism are expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

All those baptized according to their own rites and who have not performed a formal act of apostasy belong to the Catholic Church. According to data from the 2022 Pontifical Yearbook referring to the year 2020, the number of baptized members of the Church is 1,360 million, around 18% of the world's population.

With two millennia of history, the Catholic Church is the oldest international institution in the world and has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture. Its tasks include spreading the Gospel and carrying out corporal and spiritual works of mercy in care of the sick, poor and afflicted, as part of its social doctrine known as the Social Doctrine of the Church (DSI). The Catholic Church, in fact, is the largest non-governmental provider of education and medical services in the world.

Etymology

The word "church" means "convocation." It comes from the late Latin ecclesĭa and this from the Greek ἐκκλησία, ekklēsía, which properly means "assembly" and which comes from the verb ἐκ-καλεῖν, ek-kalein, "to call out".

Designates the assemblies of the town, which mostly had a religious character. It is the term frequently used in the Greek text of the Old Testament to designate the assembly of the chosen people in the presence of God, especially when it comes to the assembly on Sinai, where the people of Israel received the law and was constituted by God. as his holy people. The first Christian community, giving itself the name "Church", considered itself heir to that assembly. Therefore, according to Catholic belief, this term designates the people summoned and gathered by God from all the ends of the world to form the assembly of all those who, by faith and Baptism, have been made children of God, members of Christ and temple of the Holy Spirit.

Icon of Ignatius of Antioch. CenturyXVII. Pushkin Museum.

The English and German words for "Church", Church and Kirche respectively, come from the Greek kyriaké, whose meaning is "the one that belongs to the Lord".

The term «Catholic», for its part, comes from the late Latin catholĭcus, which in turn comes from the Greek καθολικός, katholikós, which means «universal». Ignatius of Antioch provides in his Letter to the Smyrniots, written around the year 110, the oldest testimony of this adjective as a qualifier for the Church:

Where the bishop is the community, just as Christ Jesus is the Catholic Church.

Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8, 2

Before the end of the century II, the term “Catholic” began to designate what was considered the true Church and their doctrine, differentiating it from that of dissident groups.

In an epistle addressed to the novacianist Sympronius, Pacianus of Barcelona (IV century) justified the application of the name «Catholics » to his co-religionists of the past and present, and came to express:

Christianus mihi nomen est, catholicus cognomen (“Christian is my name, Catholic is my last name”)

Paciano de Barcelona (Epistula 1, 4)

In the same letter, Paciano highlighted the unity of the Catholic Church in contrast to the diversity of minority groups of his time, several of which took the names of their founders, whose doctrines differed from the ecclesiastical line of thought (Ebionites, Marcionites, Valentinians, Apollinarians, Montanists, and Novatianists).

The word "Catholicism" is generally used to refer to the religious experience shared by people who live in communion with the Catholic Church. Thus, it usually refers to both the beliefs of the Catholic Church and its community of believers.

In countries where Catholicism is the majority, the Catholic Church is commonly known as "the Church", a term that in other countries is applied to other Christian Churches. According to a long tradition, there are also different images that have been used to refer to the Catholic Church, such as Sacrament of Christ, People of God, Mystical Body of Christ, Bride of Christ, Jerusalem above, Building of God, Boat of Peter or Salvation Ship.

Features

The Eucharist, a central sacrament in the Catholic Church. The elevation in the mass according to the Roman rite.

The Catholic Church sees itself and proclaims itself as the one commissioned by Jesus Christ to help walk the spiritual path towards God by living reciprocal love and through the administration of the sacraments, through which God grants the Grace to the believer.

The Catholic Church conceives of itself as the only Church founded by Christ, and therefore, the only authentic one compared to the other Christian churches and denominations that have historically emerged after it.

Also, since it considers that it is an institution both divine and human it is both outside and inside history, in the Roman Catechism (published in 1566) it was written that it consists of two parts: the pilgrim Church, militant or in transit (the one that exists in history) and the triumphant or heavenly Church (on finally reaching the vision of God); to which was sometimes added the purgative, suffering or expectant church (that of those who died and they have not yet reached the beatific vision), the latter part of the Church being invisible but not yet in its final state.

The Catholic Church considers that it is entrusted with the mission of preparing, imparting and propagating Christian teaching, as well as caring for the unity of the faithful. It must also provide the grace of the sacraments to its faithful through the ministry of its priests. In addition, the Catholic Church manifests itself as a hierarchical and collegiate structure, whose head is Christ, who uses the college of the apostles, and who in later history exercises authority through his successors: the pope and the bishops.

The authority to teach the Magisterium of the Church bases its teachings on Revelation, which is expressed both in the Holy Scriptures and in Sacred Tradition.

The Catholic Church considers itself the heir to the tradition and doctrine of the primitive church founded by Jesus Christ and, therefore, as the only legitimate representative of Christ on Earth. Through the figure of the bishops, successors without interruption of the apostles, he fulfills the mandate of Jesus to take care of his sheep.

Attributes of the Catholic Church

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church is "one, holy, catholic and apostolic". These four attributes, inseparably linked to each other, already appear as such in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of the year 381, and indicate essential features of the Church and its mission, and are often called "notes of the Church."

Catholics profess their faith in the four attributes (or notes) of the Church by reciting the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. The notes of the Church are dogma of faith, these are according to the official teaching:

• Unit: The Church is "one" because of its origin, God Himself. God is one according to the Catholic doctrine. It is one because of his Founder, Christ. The Apostle Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, refers to the Church as:

"The Body of Christ": The parts of the body are many, but the body is one; however many parts, they all form one body.

In another letter, Paul also teaches about this attribute:

Keep bonds of peace between you and remain united in the same spirit. One body and one same spirit, for you have been called to one vocation and one same hope. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, who acts for all and is in all.

Christ himself teaches and prays for this unity of his Church:

May all be one, like you, Father, you are in me and I in you. May they also be one in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me.

• Holiness: the Catholic Church, despite the sins and faults of each of its members who are still on earth, is in itself "santa" because "Santo" is its founder and "santos" are its aims and objectives. He is also holy through his faithful, for they do sanctifying action, especially those who have attained a high degree of virtue and have been canonized by the Church itself. The Catholic Church contains the fullness of the means of sanctification and salvation. It is holy because its members are called to be holy.
• Catholicity: with the meaning of "universal" the Church is "Catholic" as soon as it seeks to proclaim the Good News and receive in its bosom all human beings, from all time and everywhere, to accept their doctrine and receive Baptism; wherever one of its members is found, there is the Catholic Church present. It is also "catholic" because Christ is present in it, which implies that He receives from Him the fullness of the means of salvation.
• Apostolicity: the Catholic Church was founded by Christ on the foundation of Peter and the other apostles. The entire Apostolic College enjoys authority and power whenever it is in communion with Peter and his successors; Peter and the other Apostles have in the pope and the bishops their successors, who exercise the same authority and power as in their day the first exercised, who were chosen and instituted by Christ. It is also "apostolic" because it keeps and transmits the teachings heard to the apostles.

These attributes are found in all the particular Churches that comprise the Catholic Church, which are the particular Churches of the Latin Church (with Latin rites) and the Eastern Catholic Churches (with Eastern rites); all of them have in common the aforementioned attributes or essential characteristics and the supreme authority of the supreme pontiff as vicar of Christ on Earth.

Doctrine

Asunción de la Virgen, Tiziano, Santa María dei Frari (Venice). A belief that distinguishes Catholicism from the rest of Christianity is the Marian dogmas.

The fundamental doctrine for the Catholic Church is found in the Creed, which includes the formulas of faith elaborated in the first councils in history. The Creed finds a systematic explanation in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, approved in 1992 by John Paul II and whose final version was promulgated in 1997.

A particular and genuine characteristic to distinguish Catholics from other Christian groups is their acceptance of all ecumenical councils in history (from the Council of Nicaea I to the Second Vatican Council).

The notion of Revelation is central to Catholic doctrine, because under that term two inseparable sources are included: Sacred Scripture and Tradition. A synthesis on this subject can be found in the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum of the Second Vatican Council. For Catholics, the culmination of Revelation is Jesus Christ.

Also notable is the position held by the Bishop of Rome. He receives the title of pope and is considered not only bishop of his diocese but head of the entire Catholic Church, that is, Pastor and Doctor of all Christians because he is considered the successor of Saint Pedro. His choice has varied throughout history; since the XI century he is elected by the college of cardinals in the conclave. The pope until February 28, 2013 was Benedict XVI, the 265th in history. He announced his resignation from the pontificate on the 11th of the same month. On March 13, 2013, the until then archbishop of the city of Buenos Aires, cardinal primate, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francisco in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.

The pope enjoys in the Catholic Church a status of supreme hierarchy, possessing the primacy over all other bishops and the full power of regime (as the legislative, executive and judicial power is called in the Catholic Church), which can exercise universally, immediately and supremely over each and every one of the Catholic pastors and faithful. The authority of the Bishop of Rome, his hierarchy within the magisterium of the Catholic Church, has been exposed at various times in history and in a special way at the First Vatican Council.

Other parts of the Catholic doctrine, outstanding and distinctive in relation to the rest of the Christians, are the belief in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and in the Assumption of Mary, mother of Jesus, as well as the faith in the effective spiritual authority of the Catholic Church to forgive sins and remit temporal penalties owed by them, through the Sacrament of Penance and indulgences.

Another prominent dogma in the Catholic Church is the belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in that through the change called transubstantiation the bread and wine presented on the Altar become body and blood. of Christ.

According to Catholic doctrine, the salvation of the soul is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ and good works, which constitutes a key differential point with other Christian groups such as Protestants and Evangelicals, who preach that only faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for the salvation of the soul, being the works a consequence of this.

Church Commandments

Among the precepts of the Catholic Church is the keeping of fasting and abstinence in Good Friday, the day when the celebration of the Passion of the Lord is offered.

The commandments of the Church are five precepts promulgated by the ecclesiastical authority that refer to the liturgical life of the faithful, that promote their approach to the sacraments, and that aim to guarantee a minimum in the spirit of prayer and in moral effort, in the growth of love of God and neighbor.

The five commandments of the Church are:

1. Hear mass every Sunday and feast.
2. Confess mortal sins at least once every year, and in danger of death, and if it is to be communicated.
3. Communicate at least for Easter Resurrection.
4. Help and refrain from eating meat when ordered by the Holy Mother Church.
5. Help the Church in her needs.

Sacraments

For the Catholic Church, the sacraments are effective signs of God's grace, celebrated under visible rites, which were instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which divine life is dispensed to all who receive them with the proper disposition.

There are seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Marriage. The sacraments correspond to all the important stages and moments of the believer's life, establishing a parallelism between the stages of natural life and the stages of spiritual life. Thus, the sacraments can be classified into three groups: the "sacraments of Christian initiation", the "sacraments of healing" and the "sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful".

Sacraments of Christian initiation

Baptism of Agustin of Hippo represented in a sculptural group of the cathedral of Troyes (1549), France.

• Baptism: It is the foundation of all Christian life, the porch of life in the spirit and door that opens access to the other sacraments. By Baptism Christians are freed from sin and regenerated as children of God, become members of Christ and are incorporated into the Church and made partakers of their mission.
• Confirmation: With baptism and the Eucharist, the sacrament of confirmation constitutes the whole of the "sacraments of Christian initiation". Confirmation binds those most intimately baptized to the Church and "enriches them with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. In this way they commit much more, as authentic witnesses of Christ, to extend and defend faith with their words and works" (LG 11; cf OCf, Praenotanda 2)
• Eucharist: This sacrament culminates in Christian initiation. Those who have been elevated to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and more deeply configured with Christ by Confirmation, participate through the Eucharist with the whole community in the sacrifice of the Lord himself.

It should be mentioned that for Catholicism the Eucharist does not represent a symbol but is Jesus Christ himself with his body, blood, soul and divinity present in the Eucharist.

Sacraments of healing

Young scout receiving the sacrament of forgiveness or penance.

• Penitentiary: Through this sacrament the faithful obtain from God's mercy the forgiveness of sins committed against him and reconcile with the Church. Receive the name of the sacrament conversion, since he sacramentally makes the call of Christ to conversion, the return to the Father of which man had gone away by sin; sacrament of the penancein consecration of a personal and ecclesial process of conversion, repentance and reparation on the part of the sinful Christian; confessionbecause the manifestation of sins before the priest is an essential element of this sacrament; Sorry. because God grants the penitent "for forgiveness and peace"; and sacrament of reconciliation, for he bestows upon the sinner the love of God which he reconciles.
• Anointing the sick: With the holy anointing of the sick and with the prayer of the priests, the whole Church entrusted the sick to the suffering and glorified Lord so that he might relieve them and save them. He even encourages them to freely join the passion and death of Christ; and thus contribute to the good of the People of God" (LG 11).

Sacraments at the service of the community

Priestly ordination ritual.

• Priestly Order: The Order is the sacrament thanks to which the mission entrusted by Christ to his Apostles remains exercised in the Church until the end of time: it is therefore the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It comprises three degrees: the diaconate, the presbiterate and the episcopate.

It is the only sacrament that can only be received by men.

• Marriage: "The marriage covenant, by which the man and the woman are among themselves a consortium of all life, ordained by their natural nature to the good of the spouses and to the generation and education of the offspring, was elevated by Christ our Lord to the dignity of the sacrament between the baptized" (CIC, can. 1055,1)

Organization

The Catholic Church has members in most countries on Earth, though their proportion in the population varies from a majority in some to almost none in others. It is a hierarchical organization in which the ordained clergy is divided into bishops, priests, and deacons. The clergy is organized in a hierarchical way, but takes into account the communion of the faithful. Each member of the clergy reports to a higher authority, but the higher authority must govern with the community in mind, through consultation, meetings, and the exchange of ideas.^{[citation needed]}

Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Cathedral of Rome and Mother and Head of All Churches of the World, for its seat of the pontiff Roman.

Territorially, the Catholic Church is organized into dioceses or particular Churches, each one under the authority of a bishop; some of these, higher ranking, are called archdiocese (or archdiocese) and are under the authority of an archbishop. In the Eastern Catholic churches, these circumscriptions are usually called eparchies and archeparchies, respectively. According to data as of November 2022, there are 2,895 dioceses worldwide, of which 643 are archdioceses. The Diocese of Rome, which includes the territory of Vatican City, is the papal seat. Likewise, there are 9 patriarchates (3 Latin and 6 Oriental), 10 patriarchal exarchates and 5 territories dependent on patriarchs.

Some territories, without actually being considered dioceses, function in practice as such: they are territorial prelatures and abbeys, governed by a prelate or an abbot, respectively. Currently, there are 40 territorial prelatures, almost 80% of them in Latin America (mainly in Brazil and Peru), and 11 territorial abbeys, more than half in Italy, as well as 1 personal prelature (the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei), with headquarters in Italy, 36 military ordinariates, 9 Eastern ordinariates (3 of the Armenian rite and 6 for faithful of Eastern rites who are in territories without an eparch, that is, a bishop, of their own rite) and 3 personal ordinariates for faithful converts from Anglicanism (Catholics of the Anglican rite): St. Peter's Chair in the United States and Canada, Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom, and Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.

The Cathedral of San Enrique, the main church of the Catholic diocese of Helsinki.

Diocese can be grouped into ecclesiastical provinces and these, in turn, into ecclesiastical regions. The archdiocese that presides over an ecclesiastical province is called metropolitan. Sometimes the ecclesiastical province is made up solely of the metropolitan archdiocese. Of the 643 existing archdioceses, 563 are metropolitan (of which 5 are headquarters of metropolitan Eastern Catholic churches), 4 are major archieparchies (one of them also has 5 archiepiscopal exarchates, in Ukraine) and the remaining 76 are called archiepiscopal archdioceses.

The territories where the organization of the Church is not yet sufficient to erect a diocese (or an eparchy) are directed by a vicar (or exarch) and are called apostolic vicariates (or exarchates); Currently there are 82 apostolic vicariates (mainly in America, but also in Africa, Asia and 2 in Europe) and 14 apostolic exarchates (in Europe and America, but also one in China). If the organization is very incipient, apostolic prefectures are erected (currently there are 39, almost three quarters in China). For serious reasons, stable apostolic administrations are erected (currently there are 8, in Europe and Asia); In addition, there is the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Maria Vianney, in Brazil (diocese of Campos), for the faithful who adhere to the "extraordinary Roman rite" or Tridentine Mass. In territories where the Church has not yet officially entered, independent missions sui iuris are organized (currently there are 8).

The government of the Catholic Church resides in the bishops considered as a college whose head is the bishop of Rome, the pope. The power of this college over the Church as a whole is solemnly exercised in the ecumenical council, an assembly of all the bishops of the world presided over by the pope, which is summoned when the most important decisions have to be made, in matters of faith (dogmas), moral or other pastoral reasons. Each of the bishops, for his part, is the principle and visible foundation of unity in his particular Church. The bishops have the mission of teaching, sanctifying and governing with their authority and sacred power.

Cardinals are personally chosen by the pope. Its essential function is to choose the successor to the pope, when he dies or resigns. The pope, in his activity for the universal Catholic Church, is usually helped by certain cardinals in the administration of the Holy See and the Roman Curia, but not exclusively by cardinals. In the government of their dioceses individual bishops are also assisted by priests and deacons and by others.

In each Eastern Catholic patriarchal Church the patriarch has authority over all the bishops, including the metropolitans, and the other faithful of the Church over which he presides. The same goes for the major archbishop in his particular church sui iuris and for the metropolitan in a Church sui iuris.

In the Latin Church the powers of the metropolitan bishop in the suffragan dioceses are very limited.

The bishops of a country can be organized in an episcopal conference (or assembly of ordinaries, in the East), whose positions are elective among the bishops of the same nation. There are also inter-diocesan organizations that involve more than one country. We have like this:

• 114 Episcopal Conferences.
• 6 Ordinary Assemblies.
• 6 Patriarchal synods, 1 for each patriarchal Church (these Eastern churches led by a patriarch).
• 4 Synods Archiepiscopales Mayors, 1 for each Church Archiepiscopal Mayor (those Eastern churches presided over by a major archbishop).
• 3 Councils of Churches, 1 for each Metropolitan Church (those Eastern churches presided over by a Metropolitan Archbishop).
• 13 Miscellaneous International Conferences.

Congregations and orders

Religious orders are not part of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church as orders, but depend on the pope and bishops in various ways. They can be of two types:

• Diocesan religious orders: depend on the bishop of the diocese in which they have been recognized.
• Religious orders of papal law: they depend directly on the Pope, although they must work in communion with the bishops of the dioceses in which they act.

Religious congregations and orders are established according to the three basic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The origin of each one is explained, according to Catholics, by an inspiration given to the founder, which must be recognized as authentic by the hierarchical authorities. Such inspiration or charisma is materialized in constitutions that are valid only if they are approved by the hierarchical authorities, and according to which the members of each order or congregation must live. After the Renaissance, the newly founded movements cease to receive the name orders and are called congregations. Not all congregations take the vow of poverty, some take only a utilitarian poverty pledge.

Within the Catholic Church are many monastic religious orders of friars and nuns, as well as congregations and Institutes of religious life. Its members usually make the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity; In any case, the votes to be made remain at the disposal of each institution. They all dedicate their lives entirely to God. Other religious practices include fasting, meditation, prayer, penance, and pilgrimage. Among its main founders are the following saints:

• 

  Benito de Nursia. Founder of the Order of Benedictines and Pattern of Europe

• 

  Bernard of Claraval, doctor of the Church and spiritual master of the order of the Cistercian of the centuryXII, represented in the image hugging Christ.

• 

  Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order and master of the spiritual life of the centuryXIII.

• 

  Domingo de Guzmán, founder of the order of the Preachers at the beginning of the centuryXIII.

• 

  Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus and one of the great masters of the spiritual life of the centuryXVI.

• 

  John of the Cross, co-founder with Teresa of Jesus of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in the centuryXVI, doctor of the Church and mystical master of spiritual life.

• 

  José de Calasanz, founder of the centuryXVII of the Order of the Poor Regular Clergy of the Mother of God of the Pyas or Escolapi Schools).

• 

  Alfonso María de Ligorio, founder of the congregation of the Redemptiveists, doctor of the Church and master of the spiritual life of the centuryXVIII.

• 

  Guillermo José Chaminade was a French Catholic priest founding the Society of Mary and the Marianist Family.

• 

  John the Baptist of Salle was a French priest and pedagogue, founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

• 

  Marcelino Champagnat, a French priest, founder of the Congregation of the Marist Brothers.

• 

  Clara de Assisi, founder in the centuryXIII of the order of the poor sisters of Santa Clara, known as clairs.

• 

  Beatriz de Silva, founder in the centuryXV of the order of the Immaculate Conception, whose members are known as conceptionists.

• 

  Teresa of Jesus, founder of the order of Carmelitas Descalzos, doctor of the Church and summit of the Christian mystique of the centuryXVI.

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  Angela de Mérici, founder of the Ursulins in the centuryXVI.

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  Pedro de San José de Betancur, founder of the betlemites in the centuryXVII.

• 

  Francisca Cabrini, co-founder of the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the centuryXIX; built 69 convents and hospitals.

• 

  María Eufrasia Pelletier, founder of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Charity of the Good Shepherd in the CenturyXIX.

• 

  Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity in the centuryXX..

The fundamental purpose of the members of the orders and congregations is to save their own souls and be a salvific example for the whole society with their poverty, chastity and obedience, lived according to the specific charism of the constitution of each order or congregation.

Eastern Rite Catholic Churches

The division between the Eastern and Western churches gave rise to the existence of communities of Eastern rites that maintained or entered into full communion with the Church of Rome, preserving its liturgy, but which in some cases have been Latinized at some point degree. Some have never been in schism with the Church of Rome (such as the Maronite Church and the Italo-Albanian Church) and others have arisen from divisions of the Orthodox churches or the former national churches of the East.

In the past they were also called Uniates but today the term is considered derogatory and inaccurate. They regularly constitute minorities in countries where their Orthodox counterpart predominates (as in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Armenia and Russia), others are minorities along with their Orthodox counterparts in countries where another religion predominates (Melkites in Syria, Chaldeans in Iraq, Malankaras in the India, etc.) and others do not have a counterpart in schism with Rome (Maronites and Italo-Albanians), also due to migration many Eastern Catholics today live in Western countries (Australia, North America, Argentina, Brazil, France, etc.).

They are considered sui iuris churches and are on an equal footing with the Latin rite, as stated by the Second Vatican Council through the document Orientalium Ecclesiarum. The faithful of these churches are outside the jurisdictions of the Latin bishops, except in cases in which they do not have their own jurisdiction. In the same way, Latin Catholics are outside the jurisdictions of the Eastern bishops, except in Eritrea, a country where there is no Latin hierarchy, in part of Ethiopia, in the Syro-Malabar dioceses that are outside the state of Kerala in India and in some parishes of the Italo-Albanian eparchies of Italy.

The ecclesial organization of the Eastern Catholic Churches is governed by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, promulgated by Pope John Paul II on October 18, 1990, which entered into force on October 1, 1991.

The patriarchal Churches elect their own patriarch through their patriarchal Synod, who after being elected is immediately proclaimed and enthroned without the intervention of the pope, to whom he then sends the ecclesial communion. In its own canonical territory its bishops are chosen by the Patriarchal Synod taking them from a list of candidates previously approved by the Holy See. The holy Synods can also establish dioceses within their canonical territory, but not in areas of the Latin rite.

In the case of the Russian Greek-Catholic Church, the two apostolic exarchates that existed in Russia and China before the Marxist revolutions have not yet been reactivated by the Holy See, the faithful in Russia depending on the Latin and Ukrainian bishops. In China the Church continues in the "catacombs"; the few existing parishes depend on Latin bishops.

The Byzantine Catholic Church in America (although it is part of the Ruthenian Catholic Church, as well as the exarchate of the Czech Republic and the Eparchy of Mukachevo, constitutes an independent jurisdiction, and in practice there is no body that brings together these Ruthenian jurisdictions, nor does it exist for jurisdictions constituting, for example, the Byzantine Greek Catholic Church or the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church).

In the case of the Albanian Church, the Holy See has reactivated the apostolic administration of Southern Albania which, despite being classified as of the Eastern rite, has a Latin bishop and the majority of its few faithful are also of this rite. For this reason, as of the 2020 Pontifical Yearbook, it is no longer classified as a sui iuris particular Church.

The Belarusian church is the most flourishing of the three, but due to differences with the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate, the Holy See has not yet named it a hierarchy, its faithful reporting directly to the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

A small Georgian Byzantine Catholic community existed, but it was never erected as a church or included in the official list of Eastern rites published in the Annuario Pontificio.

The Holy See has also erected six ordinariates for the faithful of the Eastern rite without an ordinariate of their own rite; These ordinariates are in charge of the spiritual care of Eastern Catholics of rites without organized hierarchy in Argentina, France, Austria, Poland, Brazil and Spain, depending on the Latin archbishops of Buenos Aires, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. respectively.

History

Old Age

Christ handing over the keys to Saint Peter, fresco of the Sistine Chapel made by Pietro Perugino.

In the context of primitive Christianity, after the death of Stephen (the first Christian martyr) and even more so after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70 by the Romans, two processes began: the progressive separation of the early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism and that of the spread of Christianity, as can be seen in the early centers of Christianity. The followers of Jesus were first given the name "Christians" in Antioch, a place where through the preaching of various disciples (such as Paul and Barnabas) there were many new followers.

Catholic doctrine affirms that Jesus founded a hierarchically organized and authoritative Christian community, led by the apostles (the first of whom was Simon Peter). Later (according to the Acts of the Apostles), the apostles and the first followers of Jesus structured an organized church. A letter written shortly after the year 100 by Ignatius of Antioch to those of Smyrna (chapter 8) is the oldest surviving text in which the term ἡ καθολική ἐκκλησία (the Catholic Church or universal):

"Wherever the bishop appears, there must be the people; just as there is Jesus, there is the Catholic Church."

Ignatius of Antioch himself testifies to the existence of a clergy in three degrees consisting of bishops, priests and deacons. In the century III, Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, speaks of a monarchical hierarchy of seven degrees, in which the supreme position was occupied by the bishop. In this hierarchy the Bishop of Rome occupied a special place, as the successor of Saint Peter.

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons says that the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, having founded and built the Church of Rome, entrusted the office of episcopate to Linus.

In addition, the fact that the Bishop of Rome became particularly important was, according to some, for political reasons: Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire until Emperor Constantine I the Great made Constantinople the new capital, on May 11, 330. Others attribute this importance to the fact, then recognized by all^{[citation needed]}, that the Bishop of Rome was the successor of Saint Peter, to whom Jesus said, according to the Gospel of Luke:

"but I have prayed for you, that you may not lack faith. And you, when you have returned to me, help your brothers stay firm. ".

Luke 22: 32

Furthermore, around the year 95, Clement of Rome (bishop of the Church of Rome between 89 and 97) wrote a letter to the Christian community of Corinth to resolve an internal problem, suggesting its primacy over the particular Churches. Indeed, uprisings had broken out against the presbyters-episcopes in Corinth and Clemente, as bishop of the Church of Rome, called them to order and obedience to their respective pastors, evoking the memory of the apostles Peter and Paul. This letter is the first work of Christian literature outside the New Testament of which the name of its author, the situation and the time in which it was written is historically recorded, and whose words manifest a harshness typical of the language of that that he is aware of his authority.

Some authors have stated that there are insufficient arguments to confirm that Peter was a bishop in Rome. The tradition that states that Peter went to Rome and died a martyr there is also based on this letter from Saint Clement, which mentions his martyrdom (chapter 5), in the Letter of Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans ("I command you nothing, which Peter and Paul did." – chapter 4), and in the work of ca. 175-185 Against the heresies of Irenaeus of Lyons, where he says:

As it would be too long to enumerate the successions of all the Churches in this volume, we will indicate above all the oldest and most well-known ones, that of the Church founded and constituted in Rome by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul, which from the Apostles preserves the Tradition and "the proclaimed faith" (cf.Romans 1: 8...to men by the successors of the Apostles who come to us.

Ireneo de Lyon, Adversus haeres, Book III, 1.3.1

The Council of Nicaea I in the year 325 condemned Arianism, excluding the followers of this theological opinion from the Church. Other councils also defined the Catholic faith more precisely and declared other doctrines (Nestorianism, Eutychianism) heretical, notably at the Councils of Ephesus I (431) and Chalcedon (451). The Church officially ceased to suffer persecution in both parts of the world. Roman Empire (already under the Fourth Tetrarchy) from 313, in which Emperor Constantine and Emperor Licinius jointly established freedom of worship for all religions with the Edict of Milan. Christianity became the official religion of the State in 380, when Theodosius I the Great, decreed the Edict of Thessalonica.

Middle Ages

The Catholic Church, in the V century, had spread over almost the entire territory of the Roman Empire (from Hispania to Syria, with the coastal areas of North Africa). Subsequently, missions were carried out to areas of northern Europe, which reached Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, and later areas of Scandinavia, Central Europe and the Eastern Slavic populations. This long process spans from the centuries V to the XI. A good part of these missions, as well as the work of re-Christianizing the territories of the former Western Roman Empire, was possible thanks to the monasteries, especially the Benedictines.

The expansion of populations converted to Islam led to a progressive decline of the Catholic populations of North Africa, which would become almost complete in the modern world.

A later event meant the division between numerous Churches: the Great Schism between its Western and Eastern portions (whose Church, still called "orthodox Catholic", would come to be known only by this last word) occurred in the year 1054 because of the rivalries between the patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople and, theologically, around the Filioque clause.

During the 11th and XIV a great cultural development takes place thanks to the institution of new ecclesiastical universities, focused mainly on theology, but also with faculties of arts, law and, in some places, medicine.

In the XIII century the mendicant orders were founded and began to develop, which had a great influence on religious life of the society.

Towards the end of the XIV century there was a schism, known as the Western Schism, which affected the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417, and which caused strong tensions and the emergence of conciliarist-type ideas, according to which a council could have more authority than the pope on some points. Conciliarism was condemned at the V Lateran Council in 1516.

The Inquisition

The term Inquisition (Latin: Inquisitio haereticae Pravitatis Sanctum Officium) refers to various institutions dedicated to the suppression of heresy within the Catholic Church. The medieval Inquisition, from which all the others derive, was founded in 1184 in the Languedoc area (in the south of France) to combat the heresies of the Cathars or Albigensians and Waldensians. In 1249, it was also established in the kingdom of Aragon (it was the first state Inquisition). In the Modern Age, with the union of Aragon with Castile, it was extended to Castile under the name of the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1821), under the direct control of the Hispanic monarchy, whose scope of action was later extended to America. The Portuguese Inquisition (1536-1821) and the Roman Inquisition (1542-1965), also known as the Holy Office, were also important. The number of those executed by civil authorities after being sentenced cannot be determined with certainty, due to the existence of numerous gaps in the documentary evidence. Extrapolating from detailed studies, Pérez estimates fewer than 10,000 death sentences carried out in Spain; the number of deaths caused by torture or by conditions of imprisonment.

Modern Age

The Catholic Church faces profound changes in the Modern Age. On the one hand, an expansion of the missions began towards some areas of Africa and Asia and towards America from the trips and conquests of the Spanish and Portuguese. On the other hand, there are strong internal tensions and a deep desire for reform.

The invention of the printing press allowed for greater dissemination of the Bible and its translations, which began to circulate among Catholics in various places.

Rejection of papal authority for reasons of political and economic independence, and Martin Luther's rejection of charging money for indulgences, led to the rise of Protestantism in 1517. In the same century XVI, Calvinism began to develop in Switzerland, and then spread rapidly to other European countries. A major schism followed with the rise of the Anglican Church (born of the English Act of Supremacy in 1534).

Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation was a response to Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation, which had weakened the Catholic Church. It denotes the period of Catholic revival from the pontificate of Pope Pius IV in 1560 until the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Its objectives were to renew the Catholic Church and prevent the advance of Protestant doctrines.

Between the years 1545 and 1563 the Council of Trent took place, with various stages. Before and after the Council of Trent, various religious congregations were founded that sought to promote a profound renewal among Catholics. One of those congregations, which later acquired great development, was the Society of Jesus.

Contemporary Age

French Revolution and Secularization

Although in principle the French Revolution was not hostile towards the Church, it was more radical on the issue of ecclesiastical property. The National Constituent Assembly decided to expropriate all Church property, which worsened relations until in 1790 all monastic orders and a large part of the religious ones (with the exception of those dedicated to works of charity) were suppressed. Two months later, the entire patrimony of the Church was expropriated and secularized, and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was approved and the clergy were forced to swear an oath to it, with which they wanted to remove allegiance to Rome from the French Church. The refusal of two-thirds of the clergy was followed by bloody persecutions in which 40,000 priests were imprisoned, deported or executed, as part of a series of policies to dechristianize France. The murders of September 1792 began the Government of Terror, and in 1793 Christianity was outlawed, establishing the "cult of Reason" in its place while persecutions against monarchists and ecclesiastical continued. This harassment ended after the coup d'état of Napoleon Bonaparte, on November 9, 1799, in which he overthrew the government of the Directory. During his tenure, the Catholic religion was reestablished and it was recognized by concordat that this was the faith of the majority of the French. In 1808 Napoleon, already emperor, he occupied Rome and the Papal States; in 1809 he arrested Pope Pius VII and took him to Fontainebleau, where he unsuccessfully tried to force him to renounce the Papal State.

The expansion of the French Empire also led to the spread of revolutionary ideas, and secularization had consequences in Germany, where the Church also suffered expropriation of its assets. However, the loss of influence and the impoverishment of the Church it fostered both the material reorganization and an interior renewal of ecclesial life, with a greater union between bishops, priests and lay faithful. Thus arose a Catholic movement that spread to other European countries, supported by Romanticism and its interest in the medieval art and literature, which brought with them a greater esteem for the Church and conversions to Catholicism. Numerous Catholic organizations arose, popular missions, new forms of piety; religious orders received a new impulse and little by little a Catholic press appeared. Industrialization was an occasion for the Church to deal with the social question, an important fact at a time when legislation ignored many social problems, generally entrusted to Christian charity. In this sense, the new charitable and educational activities of religious congregations were relevant, as well as the orders dedicated to caring for the sick.

Vatican Council I

By defining the ancient doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which asserted that Mary was conceived without original sin, as dogma on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX ended a centuries-long controversy between theological schools. The dogma was accepted and no voice was raised in the Church against it, but given that the pope acted ex cathedra, and that the decision had not come from a council, the dogmatic definition once again raised the question as to whether the pope could single-handedly proclaim infallible truths of faith.

When Pius IX convened a council that would begin at the end of 1869, the question of infallibility was on the table. The existing general tension and the division between supporters and detractors of infallibility made, however, the pope withdraw this question from among the matters to be dealt with. However, in the conciliar assembly, from the beginning there was a majority bloc in favor of the dogmatic definition of infallibility, which introduced the question. The minority that opposed it did not both because they were opposed to infallibility, but because such a definition seemed inappropriate to them at the time. Finally, the constitution Pastor Aeternus (with the doctrine of the primacy of the pope and its infallibility) was approved. Immediately the council had to be interrupted after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war and the occupation of Rome that would put an end to the Papal States.

A group of professors from German theological faculties refused to accept the dogma and were excommunicated, separating from the Catholic Church and founding the so-called Old-Catholic Church. Despite the fact that the number of followers was reduced, Bismarck offered them help with the aim of submitting the Church to the State, as it had achieved with the Protestant territorial Church. The fight against the Church was called the Kulturkampf and despite great damage to the German Church, the Catholics joined and in the 1874 elections the Center Party would obtain 91 seats in the Reichstag. After the failure, the Kulturkampf would finally be dismantled and Pope Leo XIII collaborated with Bismarck in it.

End of the Papal States

In June 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, the Church saw its sovereignty over the Papal States restored at the Congress of Vienna. Even so, Italy was in the midst of the process of national unification, which the different popes opposed, and the new kingdom gradually conquered the different papal territories until it reached Rome. Its final conquest of the city occurred when French troops, who had been protecting it, had to march to France in the framework of the Franco-Prussian War. The Papal States come to an end with the capture of Rome, on September 20, 1870. The ensuing dispute between the Pope and Italy, known as the "Roman question", would only end after the signing of the Lateran Pacts, in 1929, in which the Pope renounced the former Papal States in exchange for recognition of the sovereignty and independence of the Holy See, creating for this purpose the State of Vatican City under papal power.

To the present day

Pope John Paul II highlighted for his opening to interreligious dialogue and his charism among Catholic youth.

Benedict XVI was the visible head of the Catholic Church until its resignation on 28 February 2013, and is considered a prominent theologian.

Francis, 266.o Pope of the Catholic Church, in March 2013.

• 1933: Condemnatory Encyclical of the Principles of the Lay State and the Church-State Separation established in the Constitution and the Law on Religious Confessions and Congregations during the Second Spanish Republic.
• 1937: Condemnative encyclicals of racist National Socialism and Atheist Communism.
• 1939: beginning of the pontificate of Pius XII.
• 1948: last edition Index bookrum prohibitorumfinally suppressed in 1966.
• 1958: beginning of the pontificate of John XXIII.
• 1962-1965: Second Vatican Council.
• 1963: beginning of the Pontificate of Paul VI, who continues with the Council and the work of John XXIII.
• 1978: Year of the three Popes dies Paul VI (6 August); the pontificate of John Paul I begins to last only 33 days (26 August-28 September); after his death a second conclave is celebrated, which elects John Paul II on 16 October. His pontificate is especially aimed at the implementation of the conclusions of the Second Vatican Council and the travel of many countries.
• 1981: On May 13, Pope John Paul II suffered an attack on St. Peter's Square.
• 1983: promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law with updates arising from the Second Vatican Council.
• 1992: The Catechism of the Catholic Church is published (the final version is 1997).
• 2000: Jubilee of the new millennium, decreed and celebrated by John Paul II.
• 2005: beginning of the pontificate of Benedict XVI.
• 2013: Benedict XVI renounces the papacy; Pope Francis happens.

Number of Catholics

Current situation

Catholic lay people in St. Peter's Square. The laity constitute the vast majority of the Catholic Church. In the words of Pius XII, reiterated by John Paul II: “They are the Church» (Christifideles laici 9).

According to data from the Pontifical Yearbook and the Statistical Yearbook of the Church for the year 2020, there would be 1,360 million baptized in the world, 18% of the world population.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of Catholics in Asia and Africa, exceeding the growth of the population.

In Spain, a traditionally Catholic country, it can be seen from the survey carried out by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) in May 2010 that the number of people who declared themselves Catholic was 73.7%; however, of this percentage, 56.8% state that they do not attend religious celebrations.

The Catholic Church counts as Catholics all those baptized in the Church (or admitted to it if they request it and had previously been baptized in other Christian groups) with their rights and duties, and who have not made a formal act of defection her. For the Catholic Church, those who do not practice as a Catholic continue to be part of it. But celebrating other sacraments is not what makes them Catholic, but baptism. He also considers those who live imperfectly as Catholics, as sinners with the possibility of conversion:

Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to become."

Luke 5: 31-32.

It is possible to leave the Church through "a formal act" of defection called Apostasy, complying with the formal manifestation of the will to carry out such an act before the competent ecclesiastical authority. Even having made a declaration of apostasy, in accordance with canon law, the sacramental bond of belonging to the Church given by baptism remains, given the sacramental character of baptism, which for Catholics is indelible in the sense that their union with Christ.

Those who have left the Catholic faith can return to the Church if they wish, and there are programs and groups that seek to facilitate a return to Catholicism.

Excommunication is a medicinal penalty, a measure aimed at conversion, not expulsion. For this reason, it only disqualifies them from taking full part in the activities of the community, but the excommunicated person continues to be considered a member of the Catholic Church.

The doctrine of the Catholic Church requires the faithful to accept its magisterium, being heresy "the persistent denial, after receiving baptism, of a truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or the stubborn doubt about it". Currently, only disciplinary actions are initiated against Catholic theologians who defend, with some influence, alternative ideas in these areas, depriving them of the authority to teach with the title of professors of Catholic theology, but not with respect to the common faithful, no matter how great their public relevance, against whom they can apply only spiritual penalties.

In Germany 1.78 million Catholics, with a declaration made before the civil authority and recognized by the bishops, have "left the Catholic Church" since 1990 to avoid church tax (which on average rises to 9 % of taxable income): 143,500 in 1990, 192,766 in 1992, 168,244 in 1995, 101,252 in 2004, the year in which 141,567 Protestants made the same step.

In other countries, while people generally distance themselves from the Catholic Church without wishing to formally cut their connection with it, some atheist or skeptical associations and some Protestant groups encourage the submission of declarations of apostasy or heresy. Only with the circular letter of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts of March 13, 2006, did the ecclesiastical procedure to follow in these cases become completely clear.

Distribution in the world

Map showing the percentage of Catholics in different countries (approximate colors).

In Europe, those baptized as Catholics are the majority in the population of the following countries: Germany, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, San Marino. In the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Northern Ireland, they are represented by numbers similar to those of Protestants.

Most of the population of Latin America considers itself Catholic to a greater or lesser degree. The country with the largest number of Catholics in the world is Brazil (172.2 million).

The countries with the largest number of Catholics in Latin America, from highest to lowest percentage, are the following: Colombia, Paraguay, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Uruguay.

In English-speaking countries and in general in the British Commonwealth of Nations (in English, Commonwealth of Nations) Catholicism has not prospered as a result of Henry VIII's historical disagreement with spiritual authority of the Holy See.

In Asia, Catholic countries like the Philippines (a former Spanish colony) and East Timor (a former Portuguese colony) are surrounded by Muslim countries; in others, such as Lebanon, they are only half the population, and in Palestine and Syria, there are small notable minorities, and somewhat smaller ones in Korea, China, India, Japan, and Vietnam.

In Africa, the number of Catholics exceeds 50% of the population in the following countries: Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Reunion, Sao Tome and Principe, and Seychelles. The total number of African Catholics, according to the Pontifical Yearbook 2017, with data referring to 2015, would be 222.3 million.

Social commitment

History and miscellaneous data

Under the auspices of the medieval Catholic Church, the first universities were born today.

Since the days of the early Church, the Christian community has sought to engage socially, giving preference to those most in need. This was recognized by Emperor Julian the Apostate (332-363), who was a strong opponent of the Church. The Catholic Church was the founder of the first hospitals, asylums and orphanages in the history of the West from the early Middle Ages. The first European schools were born from the work of the Religious Orders, the most famous universities being those founded by bishops or popes.. In Europe, of the 52 universities before the year 1400, several were founded or confirmed by the popes, including: University of Paris (The Sorbonne), University of Coimbra, University of Montpellier, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Cologne, Jagiellonian University, University of Leuven, University of Rome "La Sapienza", University of Lleida, University of Orleans, University of Avignon, University of Bologna, University of Pisa, University of Ferrara, University of Salamanca and University of Valladolid. Others that were founded later are: University of Basel, University of Upsala and University of Alcalá.

The Catholic Church currently has religious and lay missionaries of both sexes who regularly carry out social works, both material and moral and spiritual support. In 1996, the Holy See dedicated some 5.2 million dollars to aid without counting the contributions made privately by the laity and the Religious Orders.

In almost all the dioceses of the world, in the countries where it is allowed, the Catholic Church carries out some type of social work. It has numerous foundations or parish pastoral care such as schools, dispensaries, shelters for children and the elderly, hospitals, rehabilitation centers of all kinds, leper colonies, etc.

Recent popes have shown a marked interest in growing social problems. Thus, John Paul II on one occasion allocated 1.72 million dollars to populations affected by calamities and for Christian promotion projects; 1.3 million to indigenous, mestizo, Afro-American and poor peasant communities in Latin America; 1.8 million for the fight against desertification and lack of water in the Sahel. This among other lesser aid of hundreds of thousands of dollars aimed at solving critical human situations and stimulating solidarity.

The Holy See has distributed, at the request of the Supreme Pontiff, 5 million dollars in 1997; 7 million in 1998 and 9 million in 1999, etc. These figures have been destined to help the populations affected by natural or human catastrophes. And in 1999 the amount allocated by the Holy See to aid in general amounted to a total of 30 million.

Catholic Organizations

According to data from the Pontifical Yearbook published in 2008, «there are more than 114,738 institutions of assistance and charities with a Catholic identity throughout the world; of these, 5,246 are hospitals; 17,530 are dispensaries; 577 are leper colonies; 15,208 are homes for the elderly, the incurably ill and the disabled."

The Catholic group with the greatest global presence, with the largest number of works, is Cáritas, which carries out humanitarian work and guides human projects, with a presence on the 5 continents. Cáritas Española, for example, invested in 1999 more than 19,000 million pesetas (114.2 million euros) in the fight against poverty. In 2009, and despite the economic crisis that the country experienced that year, Cáritas Española allocated 230 million euros for social assistance.

At the wish of John Paul II, since 1984 there has been a Foundation to help the Sahel, which promotes development projects in North African countries affected by desertification. Between 2001 and 2004, the Foundation had invested more than 9 million euros in different projects.

In the United States, Catholic charitable assistance finds a corporate organization in Catholic Charities USA, which brings together more than 1,700 associations working in dioceses and supporting more than 9 million people, as reported in 2010.

The Catholic NGO Manos Unidas has invested (between 2007 and 2009) 2.37 million euros in 68 projects aimed at the development of Haiti.

Education

Towards the end of the XX century, the Catholic Church educated one million university students in the Third World, 96 million in secondary education and 15 million in primary education.^{[citation required]} The Society of Jesus educates in Latin America more than a million children in the Free Schools of Popular Promotion "Fe y Alegría".

In 1985 the Church had 45,562 kindergartens around the world, with 3,786,723 children in them. Of these centers, 3,835 were in Africa, 5,331 in North America, 5,857 in Spanish America, 6,654 in Asia, 23,566 in Europe, and 319 in Oceania. This same year, it directed 78,160 primary and elementary schools with 22,390,309 students; It served 6,056 hospitals, 12,578 outpatient clinics, 781 leper colonies, 10,467 homes for the elderly, chronically ill, invalids and handicapped, 6,351 family clinics, 6,583 childcare centers, 7,187 special education or social re-education centers and another 23,003 care centers.

By the year 2000, the Church administered 408,637 parishes and missions, 125,016 primary and secondary schools, 1,046 universities, 5,853 hospitals, 13,933 shelters for the elderly and disabled, 74,936 dispensaries, leper colonies, infirmaries, and other institutions. In total, the Church is responsible for the education of 55,440,887 children and youth, and has 687,282 social centers around the world.

Health

According to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health, the Catholic Church administers and serves 26% of hospitals and healthcare centers in the world. It has 117,000 health centers (hospitals, clinics, lodging houses for orphans), 18,000 dispensaries and 512 centers for the care of people with leprosy. In the Holy See there are more than 100 organizations that are dedicated to distributing alms to the poor around the world.

The Catholic Church operates numerous care facilities for victims of the AIDS epidemic around the world. He has spoken to the effect that those who are HIV positive deserve support, understanding and compassion. In 2010, the use of 1.2 million euros by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (of the Holy See) to support the work of 131 AIDS prevention and treatment centers in 41 countries was disclosed. The church acknowledges that the AIDS epidemic is serious, but is critical of the strategies adopted in various countries. For example, it rejects the "biological-hygienist" adopted in sex education and HIV infection prevention strategies that include condom use. From the point of view of the Catholic Church, condom promotion is deceptive because it does not provide full protection and encourages the advancement of the age of sexual initiation. As a strategy to stop the epidemic, the church proposes the promotion of a "moral condom", based on the promotion of fidelity and family sexual education.

Funding

In economic matters, the Catholic Church is not a centralized entity, but the different canonical legal entities (ecclesiastical provinces, episcopal conferences, dioceses, parishes, associations of the faithful, etc.) are holders of its patrimony and manage it autonomously, obtaining the resources as established in canon law and civil laws. In general, the Catholic Church and its institutions are financed in several ways, among which we can distinguish:

1. Contributions from own institutions or linked to the Catholic Church itself.
2. Economic surrenders received in the form of profits from companies and institutions where it has invested capital.
3. Contributions and direct or indirect collections, both public and private.
4. Funding from the public arks of many of the countries where it has a presence.
5. Other sources.

The contribution of States to the economic support of the Catholic Church is different in each case. In some countries, such as Spain, Italy, Portugal or Hungary, the State does not directly finance the religious activities of the Church, but citizens can choose to deduct a percentage of their taxes for this cause. A similar system occurs in Germany or Austria., although there an ecclesiastical tax is imposed on anyone who declares himself a Catholic to contribute to the maintenance of the Church.

However, in countries such as Argentina, Belgium or Luxembourg, it is the State that is responsible for the salaries and pensions of the holders of ecclesiastical offices through a part of their budgets. The opposite occurs in other countries such as France, where no subsidy with public funds is allowed, although the State does take charge of the maintenance of the temples that are owned by it (those built before 1905) and also pays the chaplains of the armed forces, public hospitals and prisons.

Countries may also exempt the Church from paying certain types of taxes or fees, as well as grant subsidies to restore or maintain artistic heritage, to encourage patronage, or to finance Catholic charitable institutions, teaching or assistance; among others.

Criticism

The Catholic Church has received much criticism throughout its history, from within as well as from without. The criticisms are mainly divided into two groups: those that refer to doctrinal aspects, and those that censure the behavior (real or supposed) of Catholics as a whole or in percentages of a certain relevance (whether they live in accordance with the teachings of the Church, whether they act against them).

Criticism of the behavior of members of the Church

The Catholic Church has been criticized for the violent suppression of other cults and of heresy throughout the Middle and Modern Ages, particularly by the Inquisition. It has also been criticized for the active support that some members Prominent members of the Catholic hierarchy gave to dictatorial regimes (military dictatorships in Latin America), or the denialist position of certain clergymen and bishops.

Starting especially from the last decade of the XX century, there have been known various cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church that have resulted in criminal and civil convictions, as well as ecclesiastical convictions, in several countries. The permanent representative of the Holy See to the UN, Silvano Tomasi, appeared before the Committee against torture and reported that over ten years, 3,420 cases of abuse of minors had been investigated, resulting in the dismissal of 884 priests.

Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter addressed to the episcopate, the clergy and the faithful in preparation for the Jubilee of the year 2000 (11-10-1994), stressed:

Thus it is just that, while the second Millennium of Christianity comes to an end, the Church assumes with a more living consciousness the sin of her children by remembering all the circumstances in which, throughout history, they have moved away from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel, offering the world, instead of the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, the spectacle of ways of thinking and acting that were true forms of antithestilization and scandal [...] It is good that the Church takes this step with the clear awareness of what she has lived in the course of the last ten centuries. He cannot cross the threshold of the new millennium without encouraging his children to purify himself, in repentance, of errors, infidelities, inconsistencies and slowness. Recognizing the failures of yesterday is an act of loyalty and courage that helps us to strengthen our faith, making us capable and willing to face the temptations and difficulties of today.

John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente 33

Criticism in doctrinal matters

Criticism regarding the doctrine has often been based on the fact that the Catholic Church exposes beliefs, doctrines and concepts that some think are not present in the Bible, while the Catholic Church also considers the word of God to be it is transmitted through the apostolic tradition. In addition, the controversy with Protestantism regarding some biblical books, considered apocryphal by Protestants (among them, the book of Ecclesiasticus and Tobit), which are defined as part of the biblical canon, stands out. of the Catholic Church forming the group of biblical books known as deuterocanonical.