How Did St. Ignatius Loyola's Impact On The Catholic Church

Ignatius of Loyola: Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a local noble family , hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and on April 19, 1541 became the first Superior General.

Throughout time, Christianity has changed constantly. In order to survive, Christianity has had to evolve and split. It has split into many denominations, some of which have become extinct over the centuries. The religion has changed and divided due to influential people and events in time.

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

As a religious/philosophical system, Christianity is one of the most prominent on Earth today. From 30A.D. to 1000A.D., Christianity had undergone some of its most vigorous changes while maintaining its core qualities through the Apostolic/Ante-Nicene Period, the First Seven Ecumenical Councils, and the Middle Ages.

Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ approximately 2,000 years ago; Christianity is one of the most influential religions in world history. Christianity developed out of Judaism in the first century C.E. Christianity is the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the followers "Christians." Without Jesus, there is no Christianity The Prophets of God spoke

Pope John XXIII played a vital role in shaping Christianity as we know it today. He contributed socially, politically and liturgically and was a major influence in the establishment of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue between other churches and religions. He advocated Christian unity, social justice, human rights and the promotion of world peace, and his openness to all people led to him obtaining the name “Good Pope John”.

How did Christianity become a major world religion? Saint Paul had a huge impact on the development of Christianity. He spread the word of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire by visiting synagogues, preaching, and writing letters. Without Saint Paul, Christianity would not have been a major religion of the world, instead, another would have likely taken its place.

While I was at my last job for a Jesuit University, I was introduced to Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his Ignatian

Martin Luther was arguably one of the most important figures in the entire history of Christianity. If the creation of the Lutheran Church was not enough of an accomplishment, he can also be credited with orchestrating the division of the Catholic and Protestant churches. Even as a young Augustinian Monk Martin Luther was convinced the Catholic Church had lost its way. He obsessed over his purity and relationship with God, and strongly believed the Catholic Church had lost its way over the selling of “Indulgences”. Essentially, how the Church misinterpreted and taught the concepts of sin relative to temporal and eternal punishment. He was destined to confront the Catholic Church which he did and ultimately led to the separation events that are still highly relevant to this day. This was the primary driver for the first phase of his rebellion. The second was his German translation of the New Testament, which he used to both teach anyone to read and learn the holy book.

Giovanni Bernardone, more widely known as Francis of Assisi, was a Catholic friar that founded the Franciscan Order in the early thirteenth century. The Franciscan Order, under the spiritual guidance and teachings of Francis and his disciples, became one of the largest sects of the Catholic church today. Francis’ teachings brought about a reform in the Catholic church that changed ideas on grace and salvation of the Christian

In my opinion, as Christianity started spreading people started to be more accepted about the faith. In addition, people started to recognize god figures as

The order was different in that the priests did not wear a habit, they did not pray the Office (daily prayers said by priests and monks), there was no hierarchical structure, and they did the work that the pope ordered them to do (Cunningham 205). The order believed that the problems of the Church were more of a people’s problem than a doctrine problem (Lindberg 335). They thought that if a believer masters his will and follows God freely, then there would be no need for reform (Lindberg 335). According to the Jesuits, “Catholics had fallen away from pure faith by not participating in pure obedience to the hierarchical Church,” (Holder 197). The priests went all over the world, spreading the word of God in places like India, South America, and China (Holder 198). The order also established many colleges as well to teach their ways (Holder 199). They practised an untraditional type of prayer called “interior prayer” (Holder 197). It was a “form of silent prayer that sought out God in the inner recesses of the believer’s soul” (Holder 197). Loyola wrote a book called the Spiritual Exercises which “was to be used as a handbook designed to help somebody guide another through a program of reflections and meditations that would lead to a deeper sense of purpose in life and to a deeper commitment to the ideal of Jesus” (qtd. in Holder 199). The idea of this order is similar to another order in Spain, who saw that self-reform, and not conflict, was the

Of the many Christians at work during the 20th century, the three most influential people that I believe will be remembered the most throughout the history of Christianity are Pope John Paul II, Karl Rahner, and Karl Barth. During Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, he had to deal with issues that connected the church to views in the outside world. His first challenge was communism in the Soviet Empire. The communist government of Poland had begun to cause tension between the Catholic Church during an election which led to Poland independence from the Soviet Empire (pg. 448). Several other countries followed this victory in Poland and they eventually overthrew the communism government of the Soviet Empire (pg. 448). John Paul II also had to deal

St Paul of Tarsus is a significant figure in Christianity due to his major contributions of writings and letters which form a significant amount of the New Testament. St Paul is considered to be the forefather of Christianity after Jesus. Paul had a major impact on these spread of Christianity through his mission journeys, contributing to the religious traditions and helping expand Jesus’ original teachings. The reason behind Paul being a significant person in Christianity is because he contributed to the development of Christianity.

St Francis has grown from the son of a silk merchant into one of the most influential patron saints in history. Following the scripture “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—” ( Deuteronomy 11: 13) St Francis has dedicated his life to God and has led an intimate life to carry out the teachings of Jesus Christ.