Catholic Church

Roman Western branch of Christianity whose head is the Pope

The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see terminology below) is the Christian church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian community founded by Jesus and spread by the Twelve Apostles, in particular Saint Peter.The Catholic Church is the largest Christian church, representing around half of all Christians, and is the largest organized body of any world religion. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Catholic Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000, approximately one-sixth of the world's population.
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Noun
1. any of several churches claiming to have maintained historical continuity with the original Christian Church
(hypernym) church, Christian church
(hyponym) Roman Catholic, Western Church, Roman Catholic Church, Church of Rome, Roman Church
(member-meronym) Catholic

The Catholic Church is the western-most of two churches that were created by the east/west split of Christianity in 1054. (The other was the Eastern Orthodox Church .) Its headquarters is in Rome, in the Vatican. Its leader is the Pope , who occupies the top point of a heirarchy which begins with the laity and the priests and climbs up through bishops , archbishops, and cardinals. Catholics emphasize the importance of the church's teaching authority and the sacraments . The central act of worship is the Mass or Holy Communion. It is from the Catholic Church that the Protestant Churches broke off during the Reformation .

CHIESA CATTOLICA