Roman Catholic

Grew from: The apostolic communities
Origin: Rome
Confession: Council of Trent 1563 AD

The western church of the Roman patriarchate, which after 1054 continued as a communion under the bishop of Rome. Defined its position against the Reformation at Trent, and reshaped its practice at the Second Vatican Council.

What marks it out

Seven sacraments, and the mass understood as the same sacrifice as Calvary made present rather than repeated. The bishop of Rome as successor to Peter with jurisdiction over the whole church — the claim that divides it from the east. Scripture and apostolic tradition together as the deposit of faith, read through the church's teaching office. A canon of seventy-three books, including the deuterocanon Protestants set aside. Priestly celibacy in the Latin rite, though not in the eastern ones.

Bodies that grew from it

Figures

Anselm of Canterbury 1033–1109
Faith seeking understanding
Bernard of Clairvaux 1090–1153
The Cistercian reform, and the Second Crusade
Hildegard of Bingen 1098–1179
Visions, medicine, and music unlike anyone else's
Dominic de Guzmán c. 1170–1221
Preachers trained to argue
Francis of Assisi c. 1181–1226
Poverty taken literally
Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
The Summa Theologiae
John Wycliffe c. 1328–1384
Scripture in English, a century early
Julian of Norwich c. 1343–c. 1416
Revelations of Divine Love
Catherine of Siena 1347–1380
Telling the pope to go back to Rome
Bartolomé de las Casas 1484–1566
Arguing that the peoples of the Americas were being destroyed
Ignatius of Loyola 1491–1556
The Jesuits, and the Spiritual Exercises
Teresa of Ávila 1515–1582
The Interior Castle, and a reformed Carmelite order
John of the Cross 1542–1591
The dark night of the soul
Thérèse of Lisieux 1873–1897
The little way
Dorothy Day 1897–1980
The Catholic Worker
Mother Teresa 1910–1997
The Missionaries of Charity
Óscar Romero 1917–1980
Shot at the altar for naming what was happening
John Paul II 1920–2005
The first non-Italian pope in 455 years

Alongside it

Also from The apostolic communities.

In the record

325 AD Council

Council of Nicaea

Called by Constantine, it affirmed the Son as of one substance with the Father against Arius, and produced the first form of the Nicene Creed.
381 AD Council

Council of Constantinople

Completed the creed's article on the Holy Spirit; the form still recited today.
680–681 AD Council

Third Council of Constantinople

Defined that Christ has two wills, human and divine, against the compromise that he has only one.
787 AD Council

Second Council of Nicaea

Restored the veneration of icons after half a century of imperial iconoclasm, and is the last council the Orthodox count as ecumenical.
1054 AD Division

The Great Schism

Mutual excommunications formalised centuries of estrangement over papal authority and the filioque clause. Each side has given a different account of it ever since.
1215 AD Council

Fourth Lateran Council

The high point of medieval papal authority: it defined transubstantiation, required annual confession, and imposed distinguishing dress on Jews and Muslims.
1378–1417 AD Division

The Western Schism

Two and then three men each claimed to be pope, with kingdoms and saints divided among them for forty years.
1414–1418 AD Council

Council of Constance

Ended the Western Schism and burned Jan Hus, who had come under an imperial safe-conduct.
1438–1445 AD Rapprochement

Council of Florence

Signed a reunion of the eastern and western churches that the eastern churches went home and repudiated.
1545–1563 AD Council

Council of Trent

Rome's answer to the Reformation: it defined justification, the sacraments and the canon, and reformed clerical discipline.
1962–1965 AD Council

Second Vatican Council

Reformed Catholic liturgy and opened formal dialogue with other churches, ending the mutual excommunications of 1054 by a joint declaration in 1965.

What it holds

Each position in the terms this tradition itself uses, with its confessional source.

Baptism Church-dividing: Baptism truly removes original sin and incorporates the baptised into Christ. Infants are baptised, since the grace given does not depend on the recipient's understanding. Trent, Decree on Baptism (1547)
Church authority Church-dividing: Christ founded the church on Peter, whose office continues in the bishop of Rome; the pope holds universal primacy and, defining doctrine ex cathedra, teaches without error. Trent (1563); First Vatican Council (1870)
Justification Church-dividing: Justification is not only the remission of sins but the sanctification and renewal of the inner person; grace is truly infused, and faith working through love is not without merit. Trent, Session VI (1547)
Mary Church-dividing: Mary is honoured above all saints, her intercession is asked, and she is held to be immaculately conceived and assumed bodily into heaven. Trent (1563); later Marian definitions of 1854 and 1950
Scripture and tradition Church-dividing: Scripture and apostolic tradition are received with equal reverence, and their authentic interpretation belongs to the church's teaching office. Trent, Session IV (1546)
The Lord's Supper Church-dividing: The whole substance of bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ, the appearances alone remaining -- transubstantiation. Trent, Session XIII (1551)
The saints and intercession Church-dividing: The saints in heaven pray for those on earth, and asking their prayers is good and useful. Trent, Session XXV (1563)
The state after death Church-dividing: Those who die in grace but imperfectly purified undergo purification before entering glory, and are helped by the prayers of the living. Trent, Session XXV (1563)
How many sacraments Genuine disagreement: Seven: baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, orders and matrimony. Trent, Session VII (1547)
Icons and images Genuine disagreement: Images of Christ and the saints are retained and given due honour, which passes to the one represented. Second Council of Nicaea (787); Trent, Session XXV
Ordination of women Genuine disagreement: Ordination to the priesthood is reserved to men, a position the church teaches it has no authority to change. Catholic teaching, summarised
Perseverance of the saints Genuine disagreement: Grace can be lost through mortal sin and restored through repentance; no one may claim absolute certainty of final perseverance. Trent, Session VI, ch. 13 (1547)
Predestination and free will Genuine disagreement: God predestines none to evil, and grace is genuinely offered to all; human freedom cooperates with grace rather than being overridden by it. Trent, Session VI, canons 4-6 (1547)
How the cross saves Difference of emphasis: Draws on satisfaction as developed by Anselm, without making any single theory binding. Held across the confessional standards; no tradition makes one theory a test of communion.
Spiritual gifts Difference of emphasis: Charisms continue in the church and are discerned by its pastors; miracles are affirmed but tested. Catholic teaching, summarised
The millennium Difference of emphasis: Amillennial: the reign is the present age of the church. A literal earthly millennium before judgement is rejected. Augsburg Confession, XVII (1530) for the Lutheran position; otherwise contemporary practice, summarised.
Inspiration of scripture Broad agreement: Held in common with all the traditions listed here; not a point of division. Held across all confessional standards
Salvation originates in grace Broad agreement: Held in common with all the traditions listed here; not a point of division. Second Council of Orange (529)
The Incarnation Broad agreement: Held in common with all the traditions listed here; not a point of division. Nicene Creed (381); Chalcedon (451)
The Resurrection Broad agreement: Held in common with all the traditions listed here; not a point of division. Nicene Creed (381); Chalcedon (451)
The Trinity Broad agreement: Held in common with all the traditions listed here; not a point of division. Nicene Creed (381); Chalcedon (451)

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