The Catholic Church 's Belief System

Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction written by Gerald O’Collins is a short read that gives an insight to the Catholic church without getting confusing to the reader. It touches on the basics of Catholicism such as the history, practices, and core beliefs. Through each chapter Gerald O’Collins a research professor in the field of Theology at St. Mary’s University College and Twickenham, as well as formally Dean in Gregorian University for the faculty of Theology, shares his knowledge on the Catholic religion one question at a time.

The biggest living figure in the Catholic Faith is the Pope, who leads us everyday by spreading and giving God’s word. The Pope brings us closer to God in many different spiritual ways. The topic I have chosen to pursue is, how someone can become the Pope. One of the main reasons I have chosen this topic is because I am a very dedicated catholic and have been practicing my religion since I could ever remember. Our current Pope right now is a inspiration to me and it really makes me interested in what it takes to become Pope because when I listen to him speak I can see how confident he is and how much courage he has, and that is what strong leaders are made of. My main motivation

Furthermore, The Protestant Reformation saw a major European movement that challenged the religious practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. With the rise of religion attracting many individuals, intellectuals began to challenge religious teachings and expose the corruption of the Church. Rather than offering salvation, the Church became corrupt and stingy for control, power, and money, in which German theologian Martin Luther, highlighted. Luther argued that people only achieve salvation by God through faith alone and criticized the use of indulgences, wealth, corruption, and other religious practices within the Catholic Church in his 95 Theses. For example, one of Luther’s theses says, “Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those priests who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penances for purgatory.” Luther believed papal authorities utilized the people to their own advantage in gaining wealth by fostering beliefs that indulgences relinquished sins. The immorality surrounding the Church made it unfair to people of all social groups who “devoted an enormous amount of their time and income to religious causes and foundations” – only finding themselves fooled into bribery (A History of Western Society 402). Luther’s arguments served a pivotal role in influencing others to fight for their own beliefs and redefine the meaning of religion. The common good of the people and their opinions mattered as Protestant thought grew. In the “big picture” of European

Our society has undoubtedly turned itself from religion. This is because the Catholic Church teaches us values that we do not want to accept. The Church tells us to wait, but we do not want to wait. We want everything right now. We can have anything right now.

Roman Catholicism is headed by the pope. For the first 1,500 years of Christianity, there wasn’t any type of Catholicism. Common traditions, beliefs, and worship were the body of Christian believers around the world which is how they were all united; if you were a Christian, you belonged to a catholic church. Any other type of beliefs was considered treachery to the Christianity belief. In our time, there are multiple forms of Christianity besides Roman Catholicism. Being a catholic in this time means that one has certain beliefs, practices, and traditions compared to those of Protestantism, Anglicanism, Greek Orthodox, and all the other various types of Christianity. Roman Catholicism is considered to be the largest group out of them all.

Being some of the biggest religions in the world today, Christianity and Catholicism are considered to be symbols of stability, comfort, and security because of its strong faith. This, however, has not always been true. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, Christianity and Catholicism have gone through tremendous changes through different major events in history. Ranging from the Council of Nicaea—the early church community prior to 1054—to the Spanish Colonization of the New World—prior to 1900—to the Second Vatican Council—after 1900—all of these events created waves of change in these religions and helped form them into what they are today.

The two big splits in 1054, resulted in the Roman catholic church breaking into separate branches. One being the Eastern Orthodox Catholics, and the other being the Roman Catholics who belong in the West. The separation had been influenced by Germanic tribes invading across Europe and the effect plunged the whole of Europe in the “Dark Ages”. A mixture of many political, social, cultural, economic, theological, linguistic differences caused a split in the Roman church.

The way of life can be broken down into nine principles govern by the Catholic Social Thought (CST), covering all five aspects of humanity. The aspects include; social, spiritual, personal, economic and political, all five create a holistic approach to optimize a sense of humanity for self and the community. The nine principles of CST are as follows:

Modern Christianity has many unique practices. Looking at all the practices of modern Christianity, I believe that one practice that is more unique and important is baptism. Baptism, “at its most basic, it involves application of or immersion in water, a blessing, and the pronouncement, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." (Religion Facts, 2016). Baptism can also be performed on infants, as it involves sprinkling water over the infant’s head and giving it the same blessing. Religions that perform infant baptisms are Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran churches. Some religions will not baptize a child until a certain age (8 years old) at which that child can be held accountable for their

There are many organizations or careers what could surprise any person that wants to know the primary role of them. One of these organizations is the Catholic Church that is considered the oldest one. After Jesus Christ, the church continued with a new leader, Saint Peter, who became the first Pope of the Catholic Church. Since the first century till these present days, the Catholic Church has continued its mission and expanded where it almost shows in every country in the world. Its mission has varied among the priests’ missionaries, volunteer works and the humanitarian aids. To understand the Catholic Church mission and its continuity for two thousand years, it must highlight some individual characteristics like its cultural function, the

Catholics believe that there is Heaven, Purgatory and Hell awaiting us after death, and have been taught since a young age that where we go is based upon how we have lived our lives and which path we chose to take during our life on earth.

The Principles of Catholic Social Thought create a connection between one’s self and the community. This is through the way it creates a positive growth. What does it mean to truly be hujman, to be characterised with human traits? The core values of being human is seen in the principles of Catholic Social Those. These nine different ways of being reflect the core value of what it meant to be a human in society, The idea of being dependable for those in your community and you, yourself, depending on those within corresponds that this is the way humans are. Humans are seen to be like this because through Darwin’s theory of evolution our ancestors would hunt in packs, meaning that each would strategies, hunt together and rely on one another in

Charlemagne, was a man raised on Christian beliefs who spent his life waging war on those who were not Christian. Conquered peoples were forced to accept Christianity as their fate or face exile and/or death. This manner of conversion to Christian beliefs completely goes against the teachings of his beloved bible. The hypocrisy of these acts bring one to question his true motivations. Was he really trying to spread Christianity or was he simply using his Christian crusade as a means to expand his territories using the support of the pope and the Papal States claiming protector?

The world has more than one billion Catholics and with the ever growing population, it will only get larger in number. To be a Catholic means to have complete faith in God and his divine grace. Having God's divine grace means to obey it and keep it holy as it was created by God and given to his people. The religion itself is based on this and the people take it very seriously. Catholics believe that all people are of good nature but when one commits a sin it not only hurts that one person but the people and the Church.

There are going to be times in our lives when we disagree with what someone says or another person’s opinions on a particular matter. It’s unlikely that we will agree and be content with everything that happens in our lives as we do not live in a utopian world. It is also inevitable at one time or another that we will disagree with what the Church is teaching us especially when it comes to moral issues such as divorce, birth control, and abortion. This is called non-reception. When non-reception ensues in the Church, the teaching in question is ineffectively expressed or judged to be unbelievable by a large population of good, faithful Catholics (Kennedy).