Catholicism: A Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself

Peter Stanford

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781473615793
• eBook ISBN: 9781473615809
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CATHOLICISM, ALL IN ONE PLACE
This is your go-to guide to the Catholic faith. It covers the basics and history of Catholicism, the Catholic Church today and teachings and traditions. It is your comprehensive and essential account of Catholic doctrine, faith and history. On the world stage, Catholicism is the largest of the branches of Christianity with over 1.2 billion followers. How has the Catholic Church's message reached into every corner of the globe, and what challenges does it face now and in the future? Catholicism: A Complete Introduction is a thorough and structured overview of the subject, covering the basics of the faith, the history of Catholicism, the role of the papacy, and teachings and traditions within the Church. It includes topics as diverse as the role of women in the Catholic Church, the celebrity of the Pope, and how 2000-year-old traditions still shape what it is to be a Catholic in the 21st century. Broken down into easy-to read parts, it includes insights, topic summaries and case studies to encourage further study and reflection.This edition also examines the 'Francis effect', the extraordinary global impact of the election of Pope Francis in 2013, and the shift his arrival has caused within and outside of the Church. Whether you simply want to expand your knowledge of the Catholic faith, or you're studying for an exam or essay, Catholicism: A Complete Introduction is your essential guide. ABOUT THE SERIES
The Complete Introduction series is the ultimate one-stop guide for anyone wanting a comprehensive and accessible entry point into subjects as diverse as philosophy, mathematics, psychology and practical electronics. Loved by students and perfect for general readers who simply want to learn more about the world around them, these books are your first choice for discovering something new.

Part One

Catholicism – the basics

1

What is Catholicism?

In this chapter you will learn:

• about the key role of the Pope within Catholicism

• why Catholics are different from other Christians

• how today’s Catholic Church regards other faiths.

The oldest institution in the Western world

The Catholic Church is the oldest institution in the Western world. Its history can be traced back over 2,000 years to the life and times of Jesus Christ. From the tiny group of supporters (or disciples) who gathered around him during his lifetime, it developed rapidly after his death and resurrection. Initially Jesus’ followers operated as a group within Judaism, based in Jerusalem, and preached about their crucified leader as the Jewish Messiah who rose from the dead and was the Son of God. However, under the influence of Saint Paul, who had not been among Jesus’ circle, the message was widened to appeal to Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles) alike. Paul is known as the ‘Apostle to the Gentiles’ and his three missionary journeys, around the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, prefaced the spread of Christianity as a distinctive Church throughout the Roman Empire.

‘Paul is the intellectual forebear of anyone who was brought up in the framework of once Christian Europe. He is one of a handful of towering figures who formed our way of thinking, and when you read his letters you are going back to your roots. You may not always like what you find, but you cannot get away from the fact that you have inherited his intellectual genes.’

Broadcaster Edward Stourton in his 2004 book, In the Footsteps of Saint Paul

For its first millennium, the Catholic Church was the only institution in the Christian world, though in that period there were many practical and doctrinal disputes among its leaders as to how best to follow Jesus. Thereafter, successive splits, schisms and divisions, with Orthodox Christians in the East, and then with Lutherans, Protestants, Anglicans and many others in the West, left Christianity divided. Catholicism, however, remains Christianity’s largest single organization and arguably its most influential.

Spotlight

The first communities to embrace the new ‘Christianity’ were overwhelmingly in the Middle East. It was the heartland of the Church before it spread out from Rome and across Europe. Yet, today, the minority Christian communities in countries such as Syria and Iraq have been decimated by recent troubles and persecutions in the region that have prompted wave after wave of emigration.

The scale of world Catholicism (taken from current Vatican statistics):

Number of Catholics worldwide: 1.229 billion at the end of 2012

Growth rate: The figure rose by 14 million, or 1.14 per cent, over the previous year, outpacing global population growth, which stood at 1.09 per cent in the same period

Catholics as a percentage of world population: 17.5 per cent

Highest percentage of Catholics in one country: The Vatican City State 100 per cent (out of just 850 residents)

Highest percentage of Catholics in one continent: The Americas at 63.2 per cent, with Asia the smallest at 3.2 per cent

The five countries with the largest Catholic populations:

1 Brazil 127 million

2 Mexico 98 million

3 Philippines 81 million

4 United States of America 76 million

5 Italy 49 million

An historical overview

The origins of Catholicism – and in particular of the role of the papacy at the head of the Church – are complex and will be examined in greater detail in subsequent chapters. However, in considering a Church that has defied all predictions of its demise and has endured for 2,000 years, it is important at the outset to give a brief historical overview.

Saint Peter, Jesus’ chosen leader for his fledgling Church, worked after Christ’s death with the other Apostles, and especially with Saint Paul, a Greek-speaking convert who joined them, to carry the new faith beyond Jerusalem and Judaism. In AD 64 both Peter and Paul were executed on the orders of the Roman Emperor, Nero. It is said that Peter was crucified upside down and that his body was buried on the spot in Rome where today stands the mother church of world Catholicism, the Basilica of St Peter’s. In 1950 Pope Pius XII announced to the world that archaeologists had found evidence of Peter’s tomb underneath the basilica.

Key idea

The supreme authority of the papacy in Catholicism, and therefore of the current incumbent, Pope Francis, rests on him being in a direct line all the way back to Saint Peter. Jesus himself chose Peter as the leader of his Church.

It was only in the late second century, however, that Peter began to be described as the first Bishop of Rome and as Pope (from papa, the Latin for ‘father’). As the fledgling Church grew in size, despite fierce persecution from the Roman authorities, it started to imitate the hierarchical leadership model of the Roman Empire. Hence the development of the office of the Pope at the head of the Catholic Church and the role given to bishops as leaders of local communities of Christians. Eventually, in 312, the Emperor Constantine attached Christianity’s emblem to the banner of his troops and it became the official religion of the empire.

When the western part of that empire slowly crumbled in the fourth and fifth centuries, the papacy managed to retain its power and influence in the chaos that ensued. Under exceptional leaders like Pope Gregory the Great (590–604; in this book all dates given for popes will signify their periods in office), it successfully evangelized the pagan forces that were destroying the Roman Empire and so laid the basis for a whole new Christian civilization in the West.

‘In the flux of history, the papacy has been, not a mere spectator, but a major player. As the Roman Em...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents 
• Foreword by Cherie Booth, QC
• Introduction
• Part One: Catholicism – the basics
• Part Two: The history of Catholicism
• Part Three: The Catholic Church today
• Part Four: Teachings and traditions
• Conclusion: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
• Glossary
• Answers to fact-checks