The history of the Catholic Church begins with the teachings of Jesus Christ (c. 4 BC – c. AD 30), who lived in Galilee (later conquered by the Roman Empire).[1] The Catholic Church instructs that it is the continuation of the early Christian community established by Jesus Christ,[2] that its bishops are the successors to Jesus’s apostles, and the Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, is the sole successor to Saint Peter[3] who was appointed by Jesus in the New Testament as head of the church and ministered in Rome.[3] [4] By the end of the 2nd century, bishops began congregating in regional synods to resolve doctrinal and policy issues.[5] By the 3rd century, the bishop of Rome began to act as a court of appeals for problems that other bishops could not resolve.[6]
Christianity spread throughout the early Roman Empire, despite persecutions due to conflicts with the pagan state religion. In 313, the legislation of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine I. lessened the struggles of the Early Church In 380, under Emperor Theodosius I, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire by the decree of the Emperor, which would persist until the fall of the Western Empire, and later, with the Eastern Roman Empire, until the Fall of Constantinople. During this time, the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils) there were considered five primary sees (jurisdictions within the Catholic Church) according to Eusebius: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, known as the Pentarchy.
The whole period of the next five centuries was dominated by the struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The battles of Poitiers, and Toulouse preserved the Catholic west, even though Rome itself was ravaged in 850, and Constantinople besieged. In the 11th century, already strained relations between the primarily Greek church in the East, and the Latin church in the West, developed into the East-West Schism, partially due to conflicts over Papal Authority. The fourth crusade, and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach. In the 16th century, in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Church engaged in a process of substantial reform and renewal known as the Counter-Reformation.[7] In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world despite experiencing a reduction in its hold on European populations due to the growth of Protestantism and because of religious skepticism during and after the Enlightenment. The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent four centuries before.
[1] Smith, David (September 6, 2015). “From Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth, Jesus’s family accepted changes around them”.
[2] “Vatican congregation reaffirms truth, oneness of Catholic Church”, Catholic News Service. Retrieved 17-Mar-2012.
[3] Paragraph 862, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, Liberia Editrice Vaticana 2012.
[4] Hitchcock, Geography of Religion (2004), p. 281, quote “Some (Christian communities) had been founded by Peter, the disciple Jesus designated as the founder of his church.
[5] Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), pp 11, 14, quote: “The Church was founded by Jesus himself in his earthly lifetime”.
[6] Chadwick, Henry, p 37
[7] Duffy p 18
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