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Catholicism began
in Rome at the beginning of the fourth century. At this time efforts were
underway to hold the Empire together by to uniting allthe religions
in the Roman Empire.
April 311 the Emperor Galerius issued an edict of toleration for all
religious creeds, including Christianity. Both toleration and
restitution had already been granted by Constantine in Gaul, Spain
and Britain in 306, and by Maxentius in Italy and Africa in 306 and
310. The Edict, in the form of a joint letter circulated among the
governors of the East where various forms of Christianity held sway,
declared that the Empire would be neutral with regard to religious
worship, officially removing all obstacles to the practice of any
religion. It declared unequivocally that the co-authors of the
regulations wanted no action taken against the non-Christian groups.
The Emperor Constantine was sympathetic to the religion of his
Christian mother, Helena, But like most Roman emperors, Constantine
was a henotheist. Henotheist is devoted to a single God but accepts
the existence of other gods. Constantine envisioned a Catholic
(universal) church which would reflect these ideas and which would
unify the entire empire, which at that time was beginning to
fragment and divide.
Somewhere between 313AD and 325 AD, most of the Christians accepted
Constantine's supremacy and accepted his invitation to the Council
of Nicea. At this council 50 bishops of the major churches of the
Empire began the process of unification. Constantine's financial
support of those who worked with him made compromise possible. There
were some hard-noses who would not compromise, and they were exiled
and their writings burned.
From this and subsequent councils Constantine's Roman Catholic
Church began to emerge. It was a Catholic Church and was never
referred to as Christian until many decades later.
To please all the factions of the empire and to be a truly
"catholic" church elements of all the major religions were combined
in its creation. One might say that the Roman Catholic Church
“christianized” the Pagan religions, and “paganized” the Christians.
By blurring the differences and erasing the distinctions, the
Roman Catholic Church succeeded in becoming the official religion of
the empire.
Some of the religions that contributed most to the Catholic Church
were:
(1) The Jewish Zealot movement which provided the historical
framework for the story.
(2) Mithraism, a prominent religion in the Roman
Empire. ItIt was very popular among the Romans, especially among
Roman soldiers, and was possibly the religion of several Roman
emperors. Never given “official” status in the Roman empire,
Mithraism was the de-facto official religion. One of the key
features of Mithraism was a sacramental meal, which involved eating
the flesh and drinking the blood of the sacred bull. the god Mithras
was “present” in the flesh and blood, and when consumed, granted
salvation to those who partook of it. It was called Mazd, which
became Mass and was became part of the Church. Mithraism had the
original seven “sacraments,” of Roman Catholicism: Anointing of the
Sick, Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, Eucharist, the Holy Orders,
and Marriage.
(3) The religion of Isis, an Egyptian mother-goddess religion, was
absorbed into Catholicism. Isis has many titles, such as “Queen of
Heaven,” “Mother of God,” and “theotokos” (God-bearer). She was
given the name Mary out of respect to the ancient Sea Goddess.
Her priestesses were taken from the worship of Juno or Vesta, where
they were known as Vestal Virgins. The first clear hints of this
comnpromise occur in the writings of Origen, who lived in
Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be the focal point of Isis
worship.
Most Roman emperors (and citizens) worshipped
a single primary god while accepting the existence of other deities. Thus the Roman
god Jupiter was supreme over the Roman pantheon of gods. Roman
sailors were often worshippers of Neptune, the god of the oceans.
These secondary gods were later known as saints. There was a Saint
Venus, a Saint Mercury and so on. Which is why the Catholic Church
has a saint who is “in charge” of these various attributes. The
ancient practice of having a god specific to a particular city has
continued un the Catholic Church. Only these gods are now known as
“patron saints.” Jupiter the god of Rome, adopted his nick-name of
Peter and became the patron saint of Rome and the father of the
Roman Church.
The supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope)
was based on the idea that, since the Bishop of Rome attended
to the Emperor, he was greater than the other bishops. When the
Emperor moved his headquarters to Constantinople, the Patriarch of
that city made the same claim to eminence. This led to a conflict
between the two leaders and eventually into the division of the
Catholic church into two: Roman and Greek.
The Bishop of Rome acquired more and more power and influence. When
the Roman empire collapsed, the Pope assumed the spiritual title
that had previously belonged to the Roman emperors – Pontificus
Maximus.
Beliefs, Doctrines, and Practices
The
Catholic Church accepts as fact the gospel of Jesus as handed down in
tradition and as interpreted by the bishops and the pope. Basic to
this tradition is the Bible,
with it's text determined by the Church. It is also doctrine that
the Church possesses the fullness of revelation, and is the
only Christian body that is one,
holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic. By apostolic is meant
that the Pope (the vicar of
Christ)
is the chosen successor of the apostles and thereby enjoys the same
authority, power, and responsibility as was given to the apostles by
Jesus.
The bishops have in varying degrees a similar spiritual authority.
The pope, either alone or with his bishops in council, is regarded
as infallible in all matters of faith and morals taught in common
with the bishops.
The primary doctines of the Catholic church include: the reality of
God's existence; God's love for individual human beings, who can
enjoy a relationship with God through prayer; the Trinity;
the divinity of Jesus; the immortality of the soul, everyone is
accountable at death for his or her actions in life, with the award
being
heaven or hell;
the resurrection of
the dead; and the historicity of the Gospels. In addition,there are
the Virgin Mary and
the other saints and the dead in purgatory.
The individual Catholic required (at least once a year) to
participate in the sacraments of penance and
the Eucharist (required
once every Easter). The Eucharist is the center of public worship,
often embellished with solemn ceremony.
Private prayer is also regarded as essentia and all believers
are expected to devote time to prayer that is more than requesting
favors. Different methods of prayer are Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory
Be, the Apostles Creed, the Guardian Angel Prayer and prayers to St.
Michael the Archangel and the rosary;
making the sign of the cross.
The church teaches that the main motive for ethical behavior is the
love of God. Nothing that God has created is evil in itself, but
evil use may be made of it. The doctrine concerning persons not
Catholic is that since God affords each human being light sufficient
to attain salvation, all will be saved who persevere in what they
believe to be good, regardless of ignorance. Only those will be
damned who persist in what they know to be wrong; among these are
persons who resist the church when they know it to be the one, true
church.
Additional Catholic Churches
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