Catholicism

The Catholic Church, also referred to as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest denomination of Christianity. For the first thousand years of Christianity there was only one universal church. The term 'Roman Catholic' was only created in the sixteenth century to differentiate those Catholics that were in communion with Pope from the Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians. Like the East Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church still claims to be the one, true, holy, and universal church.

The largest concentration of Catholics are in Latin America, making up almost half of its over one billion followers. Almost a quarter of its followers are in Europe with the rest spread between Africa, Asia, and North America in that order.

 Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants share fundamental beliefs in the Bible, the divinity of Christ, and the Holy Trinity. Their similarities put them under the same religious umbrella of Christianity. However, one key differentiating factor of the Catholic faith is the apostolic succession. It holds that the Pope and his bishops of the Vatican, or Holy See, have been given the spiritual authority Jesus gave to his apostles. Catholics accept as factually true the scriptures of Jesus as determined by the Catholic Church and interpreted by its bishops. Catholics follow the scriptures in the Bible a and uniquely Catholic traditions and sacraments, such as the bread in mass, the Eucharist, becoming the body of Christ after a blessing by the Priest.

Catholics have other unique beliefs and traditions. A Catholic mass is usually more formal and the Eucharist is celebrated more frequently than in Protestant churches. The veneration of saints is another tradition not practised by Protestants, although it is by Eastern Orthodox Christians. In Catholicism, the Pope has the authority to make a deceased Catholic a Saint and Catholics worship saints in prayer. An example of this is the 'Hail Mary', a Catholic prayer to the virgin mother of God. More currently, the Holy See is in the process of possibly making Mother Teresa a saint.