Thehistory of the Catholic Church is integral to thehistory of Christianity as a whole. It is also, according to church historianMark A. Noll, the "world's oldest continuously functioning international institution."[1] This article covers a period of just under two thousand years.
Over time,schisms have disrupted the unity of Christianity. The Catholic Church considers that major divisions occurred in c. 144 withMarcionism,[2] 318 withArianism, 451 with theOriental Orthodox, 1054 to 1449 (seeEast–West Schism) during which time the Orthodox Churches of the East parted ways with the Western Church over doctrinal issues (see thefilioque) andpapal primacy, and in 1517 with theProtestant Reformation, of which there were many divisions, resulting in over 200 denominations.
The calculations ofDionysius Exiguus put the birth of Jesus in the year that in consequence is called 1 BC; most historians place his birth between 6 and 4 BC.
28–29 AD: Jesus' baptism, start of ministry, and selection of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke indicates that Jesus was baptized during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar which is dated in 28 AD (found in Luke 3:1,21,22). Christian Gospels strongly suggest Peter as leader and spokesman of the Apostles of Jesus, being mentioned the most number of times in the Gospels. Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, constitute the inner circle of the Apostles of Jesus, being witnesses to specific important events of the life of Jesus: preachings of Jesus such as theSermon on the Mount and performance of miracles mainly involving cures and driving out demons, inaugurating theMessianic Age.
30-33 AD: Peter declares and other followers believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Jewish Messiah promised by Yahweh according to the Jewish Scriptures and the predictions of the Hebrew prophets. Entry into Jerusalem, start of Passion of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth iscrucified inJerusalem underPontius Pilate,procurator ofJudea during the reign ofTiberius andHerod Antipas, after theSanhedrin, under the High PriestCaiaphas, accuse Jesus of blasphemy. He was then crucified under Pontius Pilate. According to his followers, three days later, He rose from the dead. Forty days after hisresurrection (Ascension), the Christian Gospels narrate thatJesus instructed his disciples thus: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of time." (Matthew 28:18–20). Ten days later (Pentecost) Peter makes the first sermon, converting 3,000 to be baptized.
46: Paul begin his missionary journeys, withBarnabas.
50:Council of Jerusalem determines thatGentile converts to Christianity do not have to abide byMosaic Laws. This will gradually lead to the separation of Christianity from Judaism.[4]
64: The Neronian Persecution begins underNero after theGreat Fire of Rome. Martyrdom of Peter. Persecution of Christians continues intermittently until 313 AD.
67: Martyrdom of Paul outside of Rome.Pope Linus, according to Catholic tradition, becomes the next pope.
68: Neronian Persecution ends with the suicide ofNero.
70: Fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of theTemple.
70: Earliest possible date for the completion of theGospel of Mark
100:John, the last of the apostles, dies in Ephesus.[7][8]
110:Ignatius of Antioch uses the termCatholic Church in a letter to the church atSmyrna, in one of the letters of undisputed authenticity attributed to him. In this and other genuine letters he insists on the importance of thebishops in the church and speaks harshly aboutheretics andJudaizers.
150:Latin translations (theVetus Latina) from the Greek texts of theScriptures are circulated among non-Greek-speaking Christian communities.
180: Irenaeus'sAdversus Haereses brings the concept of "heresy" to the fore in the first systematic attempt to counterGnostic and other aberrant teachings. In the same work, he taught that the most reliable source of apostolic guidance was the episcopacy of Rome.
250: EmperorDecius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.Pope Fabian is martyred. Afterwards theDonatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
312:Emperor Constantine leads the forces of the Roman Empire to victory at theBattle of the Milvian Bridge. Tradition has it that, the night before the battle, Constantine had a vision that he would achieve victory if he fought under the symbol of Christ; accordingly, his soldiers bore on their shields theChi-Rho sign composed of the first two letters of the Greek word for "Christ" (ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ).
321: Granting the church the right to hold property, Constantine donates the palace of the Laterani toPope Miltiades. TheLateran Basilica (Basilica of Our Savior) becomes the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Rome.
November 3, 324: Constantine lays the foundations of the new capital of the Roman Empire inByzantium, later to be known asConstantinople.
323Pope Sylvester I in his calendar lists Sunday (rather than the Jewish Saturday) as the first day of the week, names it "the Lord's day", and commands church members to keep it as a holy day.[15]
325: TheArian controversy erupts in Alexandria, causing widespread violence and disruptions among Christians.
February, 380: EmperorTheodosius I issues an edict,De Fide Catolica, in Thessalonica, published in Constantinople, declaring Catholic Christianity as thestate religion of the Roman Empire.[18]
August 24, 410: Sack of Rome.Alaric and hisVisigoths burst in by the Porta Salaria on the northeast of the city of Rome.
431: The EcumenicalCouncil of Ephesus declares that Jesus existed both as Man and God simultaneously, clarifying his status in the Holy Trinity. The meaning of the Nicene Creed is also declared a permanent holy text of the church.
November 1, 451: The Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, closes. TheChalcedonian Creed is issued, which re-asserts Jesus as True God and True Man and the dogma of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. The councilexcommunicatesEutyches, leading to the schism withOriental Orthodoxy.
September 4, 476: EmperorRomulus Augustus is deposed in Rome, marked by many as the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The focus of the early Church switches to expanding in the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as theByzantine Empire, with its capital atConstantinople.
Justinian I depicted on amosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
480: Traditional birth ofBenedict, author of amonastic rule, setting out regulations for the establishment of monasteries.
496:Clovis I, pagan king of theFranks, converts to the Catholic faith.
502:Pope Symmachus ruled that laymen should no longer vote for the popes and that only higher clergy should be considered eligible.
529: The Codex Justinianus (Code of Justinian) completed. First part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law).
January 2, 533: Mercurius becomesPope John II. He becomes the first Successor of Peter to take a new name as pope. John II obtains valuable gifts as well as a profession of orthodox faith from the Byzantine emperorJustinian.
533: The Digest, or Pandects, was issued; second part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law). The Institutes, third part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), comes into force of law.
595: In a deed of manumission that freed two Roman slaves,Pope Gregory I declared that no heathen who wished to become a Christian should continue to be held a slave.[20]
685: The Maradites used their power and importance to chooseJohn Maron, one of their own, as Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. John received the approval ofPope Sergius I, and became the firstMaronite patriarch.
698:Willibrord commissioned byPope Sergius I as bishop of the Frisians (Netherlands). Willibrord establishes a church inUtrecht.
1098: Foundation of the reforming monastery ofCîteaux, leads to the growth of theCistercian order.
1099:Retaking of Jerusalem by the 1st Crusade, followed by a massacre of the remaining non-Christian inhabitants, and the establishment of theCrusader kingdoms; Latin bishops are appointed to dioceses still largely populated by the Orthodox.
Notre-Dame Cathedral – designed in the Gothic architectural style.
1123:First Ecumenical Lateran Council. Among other internal issues it tackled, Canon 3 of the council (in response to widespread abuse among the clergy) forbade priests, deacons, and sub-deacons to associate with concubines or women in general other than with female family members.
1188:Pope Innocent III issued a bull that proclaimed the emancipation of all slaves.[24]
January 8, 1198: Lotario de' Conti di Segni electedPope Innocent III. His pontificate is often considered the height of the temporal power of the papacy.
November 30, 1215: Fourth Ecumenical Lateran Council is closed by Pope Innocent III. Seventy decrees were approved, thepre-Thomistic definition oftransubstantiation being among them.
1216: TheOrder of Preachers (Dominican Order) founded byDominic is approved as a body of Canons Regular byPope Honorius III on December 22 (Pope Innocent III having died in July).
1233: In a papal bull or charter,Pope Gregory IX gave graduates ofCambridge University the right to teach "everywhere in Christendom". Other popes encouraged researchers and scholars from other universities to visit Cambridge, study there, and give lecture courses.
1241: The death ofÖgedei Khan, the Great Khan of theMongols, prevented the Mongols from further advancing into Europe after their easy victories over the combined Christian armies in theBattle of Liegnitz (in present-day Poland) andBattle of Mohi (in present-day Hungary).
November 18, 1302: Pope Boniface VIII issues the papal bullUnam sanctam.
1305: French influence causes the Pope to move from Rome toAvignon.
August 12, 1308: Pope Clement V issues the BullRegnans in coelis calling a general council to meet on October 1, 1310, at Vienne in France for the purpose "of making provision in regard to the Order of Knights Templar, both the individual members and its lands, and in regard to other things in reference to the Catholic Faith, the Holy Land, and the improvement of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons".
1308:Meister Eckhart, Dominican mystic, composes hisBook of Spiritual Consolations for Agnes, Queen of Hungary.[25]
August 17–20, 1308: The leaders of theKnights Templar aresecretly absolved by Pope Clement V after their interrogation was carried out by papal agents to verify claims against the accused in the castle of Chinon in thediocese of Tours.
c. 1412–1431:Joan of Arc, a peasant girl from France, has visions from God telling her to lead her countrymen to reclaim their land from the English. After success in battle, she is captured by the English in 1431 and is condemned as a heretic and executed by burning, at the age of 19. Later investigation authorized by Pope Callixtus III would conclude she was innocent and a martyr.
1440:Johannes Gutenberg completes his woodenprinting press using movable metal type, revolutionizing the spread of knowledge by cheaper and faster means of reproduction. This soon leads to the large-scale production of religious books including Bibles, more accessible now to the laity.
Michelangelo'sPietà in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
1462:Pope Pius II issued a bill in which he declared the Catholic Church's opposition to the slave trade. The pope's primary concern was that prisoners captured during the European wars should not be enslaved by the victorious powers.[26]
January 22, 1506: Kaspar von Silenen and first contingent of Swiss mercenaries enter the Vatican during the reign of Pope Julius II. Traditional date of founding of theSwiss Guards.
April 18, 1506:Pope Julius II lays cornerstone of New Basilica of St. Peter.
1520: Pope Leo X releases a papal bull, "Debitum Pastoralis", which conceded that neither the Bishop of Utrecht nor any of his successors, nor any of their clergy or laity, should ever have his cause taken to an external tribunal (Rome or anywhere else) for any reason. Any such proceeding would be null and void.
March 31, 1521: Baptism of the first Catholics in the Philippines, the first Christian nation in Southeast Asia. This event is commemorated with the feast of theSanto Niño de Cebú.
1534: TheDiocese of Goa is created by Portuguese missionaries to serve the Western Coast of India.
October 30, 1534:English Parliament passesAct of Supremacy making the King of EnglandSupreme Head of the Church of England, a national church canonically alienated from the bishop of Rome, the pope. The hegemony of one form of liturgy and order within the pre-Reformation English church is eventually broken or altered among ecclesial fractions, notably Dissenters, Anglicans (Church of England) and Catholics.
1537:Pope Paul III issues a bull in which he declared the Catholic Church's opposition to the slave trade. The pope's concern was similar to the concerns of his predecessor, Pius II, that prisoners captured during European wars should not be enslaved by victorious powers. He also issues the bullVeritas Ipsa, which decreed that indigenous people in the Americas were not to be enslaved.[28]
1543:Polish scientist-clericNicolaus Copernicus publishes a full account of the heliocentricCopernican theory, titled "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium). Considered as the start of the scientific revolution.
December 13, 1545: EcumenicalCouncil of Trent convened during the pontificate of Paul III, to prepare the Catholic response to theProtestant Reformation. Its rulings set the Counter-Reformation tone of Catholic Church for four centuries until theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965).
October 7, 1571: Christian fleet of the Holy League defeats the Ottoman Turks in theBattle of Lepanto.
1571: French government ofKing Charles IX decrees that "all prisoners are free in this kingdom, as soon as a slave has reached these frontiers and becomes baptized, he is free."[29]
October 15, 1582: TheGregorian calendar is first adopted by Italy, Spain, Poland and Portugal. October 4 (Julian) is followed by October 15 (Gregorian) – ten days are removed.
1582:Matteo Ricci arrives atMacau to begin his missionary work in China.
September 28, 1586: Domenico Fontana successfully finished re-erecting the Vatican Obelisk at its present site in St. Peter's Square. Hailed as a great technical achievement of its time.
1589–91:William Byrd composes hisCantiones sacrae. His music, according to theEncyclopedia Britannica, has "an intensity unrivaled in England and a breadth of scale unknown on the Continent." Byrd and his teacher,Thomas Tallis, though both Catholic, were allowed to compose and perform music during the reign ofElizabeth I.
1593:Robert Bellarmine finishes hisDisputationes de controversiis christianae fidei.
1600:Pope Clement VIII sanctions use of coffee despite petition by priests to ban the Muslim drink as "the devil's drink".[30] The Pope tried a cup and declared it "so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it."[31]
April 19, 1622:Pope Gregory XV makes Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu a cardinal upon the nomination of KingLouis XIII of France – becomingCardinal Richelieu. His influence and policies greatly impact the course of European politics.
November 18, 1626:Pope Urban VIII solemnly dedicates the New Basilica of St. Peter 1,300 years after the first Constantinian basilica was consecrated byPope Sylvester I.
1674:Quebec City, Canada, is elevated to a diocese with its own bishop,Francois de Montmorency-Laval. At one time (1712), the Quebec diocese covered most of the American continent (French, English and Native American territories/colonies) to theGulf of Mexico. No other Christian community, Catholic or otherwise, had a bishop in those territories at the time.
September 12, 1683:Battle of Vienna. Decisive victory of the army of theHoly League, under KingJohn III Sobieski of Poland, over the Ottoman Turks, under Grand Vizier MerzifonluKara Mustafa Pasha. The Turks do not threaten Western Europe militarily again.
1687:John Dryden, dominant English literary figure and influence of his age, publishesThe Hind and the Panther to celebrate his conversion to Catholicism.
1736: TheSynod of Mount Lebanon takes place in which the Maronite Church reforms itself and aligns closer with the Latin Church.[34]
1737:Vincent de Paul, French priest who dedicated his life and ministry to serving the poor, is canonized by Pope Clement XII.
April 28, 1738:Pope Clement XII publishes the bullIn Eminenti forbidding Catholics from joining, aiding, socializing or otherwise directly or indirectly helping the organizations ofFreemasonry and Freemasons under pain of excommunication. Membership to any secret society would also incur the penalty of excommunication.
1740–1758:Pope Benedict XIV appointed first women as professors to Papal Universities in Bologna, reformed canonization procedures: an intellectual open to all sciences;
1789:Georgetown University is founded as Georgetown College. It is the oldest Catholic university in the United States and the first of 28 colleges and universities founded by the Jesuits in the US.
1829: TheRoman Catholic Relief Act 1829, also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, is passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
1830: the Chaldean Church leaves theChurch of the East to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church
1837: Arrival of the French Catholic Missionaries in Korea.
1839: In a papal letter,Pope Gregory XVI declared the official opposition of the Catholic Church to the slave trade and to slavery. In the United States, Catholic slaveholders generally ignored the papal pronouncement and continued to participate in the institution of slavery.[36]
1846:Pope Pius IX begins his reign. During his reign he asks that an anti-Catholic document written by Freemasons known as theAlta Vendita be distributed to alert Catholic officials of possible Masonic infiltration.
1848:John Bosco, priest, writer and educator, founds theSalesians, a religious community based on the spirituality and the philosophy ofFrancis de Sales, a Catholic bishop ofGeneva
1850: TheArchdiocese of Westminster and twelve other dioceses are set up, re-establishing a Catholic hierarchy for the Catholic public in the United Kingdom against intense political opposition.Westminster Cathedral is formally consecrated 53 years later, in 1903.
July 18, 1870 – The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ from the fourth session of Vatican I,Pastor Aeternus, issues the dogma ofpapal infallibility among other issues before the fall of Rome in theFranco-Prussian War causes it to end prematurely and brings an end to thePapal States. Controversy over several issues leads to the formation of theOld Catholic Church. This council was not formally closed until 1960 by Pope John XXIII in preparation for the Second Vatican Council.
1873–75: The enactment of theFalk Laws, legislation in Germany during theKulturkampf conflict with the Church which led to the expulsion of some religious orders from Germany. English poet and Jesuit,Gerard Manley Hopkins, dedicated his famous poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" to five nuns who were forced to flee Germany because of the Laws and later drowned in a shipwreck.
November 30, 1894: Pope Leo XIII publishes theEncyclicalOrientalium Dignitas (On the Churches of the East) safeguarding the importance and continuance of the Eastern traditions for the whole church.
1895:Mark Twain'sPersonal Reflections of Joan of Arc is published by Harper's Magazine.
1914–1918:Pope Benedict XV declares neutrality during World War I. His peace initiatives are rejected by both sides as favoring the other. Massive papal charity in Europe.
1916:Charles I of Austria is crowned Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Charles attempted to negotiate peace between the warring nations during World War I. His attempts at peace are largely ignored.
1927:Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest scientist, first proposed on theoretical grounds that the universe was expanding. In addition, he was first to ascertain what is now known asHubble's law. He also proposed what became known as theBig Bang.
October 2, 1928:Josemaría Escrivá foundedOpus Dei, a worldwide organization of lay members of the Catholic Church.
1928:Sigrid Undset wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
February 12, 1931:Vatican Radio is set up byGuglielmo Marconi and inaugurated by PopePius XI. First signal broadcast is in Morse code:In nomine Domini, amen.
1931–1936: Persecution of the Church in Spain. It is estimated that in the course of theRed Terror (Spain), 6,832 members of the Catholic clergy were killed.[38]
September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland, start of the Second World War. The Vatican, after trying to avoid the war, declares neutrality to avoid being drawn into the conflict. Massive Vatican relief intervention for displaced persons, prisoners of war and needy civilians in Europe.
1940:Graham Greene publishesThe Power and the Glory.
During World War II: Convents, monasteries, and the Vatican are used to hide Jews and others targeted by the Nazis for extermination (seeThe Myth of Hitler's Pope).Maximilian Kolbe is martyred in Auschwitz concentration camp after volunteering to die in place of a stranger. The Nazis imprison and at times execute Catholic clergy, monks and nuns who criticize Nazi ideology.
1943: Year of the founding of the lay associationFocolare Movement byChiara Lubich. The Movement promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.
1944: The German Army occupies Rome.Adolf Hitler proclaims he will respect Vatican neutrality; however several incidents, such as giving aid to downed Allied airmen, nearly causeNazi Germany to invade the Vatican. Rome is liberated by the Allies after only a few weeks of occupation.
1950:Holy Year declared byPope Pius XII, who announced on December 25, 1950, that the Tomb of Saint Peter had been identified by archeologists underneath Saint Peter Basilica; canonization ofPope Pius X andMaria Goretti; encyclicalHumani generis
1952:Francois Mauriac wins Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote the foreword toElie Wiesel's bookNight, having encouraged Wiesel earlier to write about his experiences as a Jew during theHolocaust.
January 7–29, 1953: First Plenary Council of the Philippines.
October 11, 1962:Pope John XXIII opens theSecond Ecumenical Vatican Council. The 21stecumenical council of the Catholic Church emphasized theuniversal call to holiness and brought many changes in practices, including an increased emphasis onecumenism; fewer rules on penances, fasting and other devotional practices; and initiating a revision of the Mass, which was made more accessible by allowing the use of native languages instead ofLatin. Opposition to changes inspired by the Council gives rise to the movement ofTraditionalist Catholics who disagree with changing the old forms of worship and disagree with the rise of previously condemned philosophies. End ofOath against modernism.
1964: Year of the founding of the lay movementNeocatechumenal Way by Kiko Argnello and Carmen Hernandez.
December 7, 1965: Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration ofPope Paul VI and the Ecumenical PatriarchAthenagoras I. Mutual excommunication of the Great Schism of 1054 against Catholic and Orthodox is lifted by both parties.
December 8, 1965:Pope Paul VI solemnly closes the Second Vatican Council.
1973:Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan, reports seeing a number of apparitions now known asOur Lady of Akita.
1973:Gustavo Gutierrez, Peruvian theologian, Dominican priest, and founder ofLiberation Theology, publishes a pivotal book,A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation.
1973: Year of the founding of theChemin Neuf Community by Jesuit priest, Laurent Fabre.
August 26, 1978:Pope John Paul I becomes the first pope to use a double regnal name. He reigns for only 33 days.
October 16, 1978: Pope John Paul II becomes the first Polish pope and first non-Italian pope elected in 450 years; influential in overthrowing communism in Poland.
1979: Third Episcopal Conference of Latin America, atPuebla, Mexico, confirms option for the poor and asks affluent nations “not to put obstacles in our way to progress.”[39]
June 30, 1988: ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre of theSociety of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrates four men as bishops atÉcône, Switzerland, without the express permission of the Pope. Lefebvre et al. automatically incur excommunication. Traditionalist bishops of the SSPX continue to be suspendeda divinis.[40]
January 1991: Australian Catholic University opens.[41]
January 20 – February 17, 1991: Second Plenary Council in the Philippines.
1991: The Soviet Union is officially dissolved. Persecuted Catholic Church re-emerges from hiding, especially inUkraine andLithuania.
Fourth Episcopal Conference of Latin America, atSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic, showed a discontinuity with other conferences, as it was heavily controlled by conservative elements and byRome.[42]
April 30, 2000: Pope John Paul II canonizesFaustina Kowalska and designates the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the General Roman Calendar, with effect from the following year.
January 1, 2001: The 21st century and the new millennium begin. The church solemnizes the start of the third Christian millennium by extending into part of the year 2001 the jubilee year that it observes at 25-year intervals and that, in the case of the year 2000, is called the Great Jubilee.
January 6, 2001: John Paul II issuesNovo Millennio Ineunte, a program for the church in the new millennium, wherein he placed sanctity through a training in prayer as the most important priority of the Catholic Church in consonance with its purpose.
September 12, 2006:Pope Benedict XVI delivers address onFaith, Reason and the University at theUniversity of Regensburg, decrying the emphasis in the Western world onpositivistic reason and philosophy, excluding the divine and dialogue with cultures.[43] He quotes negative views of EmperorManuel II Paleologus regarding Islam, creating violent reactions among Muslims in several parts of the world.[44][45][46][47][48]
June 11, 2007:Pope Benedict XVI reverted the decision of his predecessor regarding papal elections, and restored the traditional two-thirds majority required.[49]
July 7, 2007: With hismotu proprioSummorum Pontificum Pope Benedict XVI explicitly allows all priests of theLatin Church to use the1962 Roman Missal when celebratingMass privately and, under certain conditions, publicly instead of the post-Vatican II Mass, and expressed the wish that this measure would lead to healing the division between theSociety of Saint Pius X and the Catholic Church.
October 28, 2007: Pope Benedict XVI authorizes the largest beatification ceremony in church history involving498 Spanish Martyrs who were killed during the Civil War in Spain.
2007:Fifth Episcopal Conference of Latin America atAparecida, Brazil. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – later Pope Francis – served as secretary and helped draft the final document which emphasized what would also be a theme of his pontificate: serving the poor in the peripheries of society.[50]
May 2008: A solemn declaration agreed on betweenPope Benedict XVI and Muslims, led byMahdi Mostafavi, stressed that genuine religion is essentially non-violent and that violence can be justified neither by reason nor by faith.[51]
July 2008:Pope Benedict XVI participates in Sydney, Australia, in theWorld Youth Day and announces Spain as the country to host the next one.
January 2009: The Holy See remits the excommunications of the bishops of theSociety of St. Pius X, which had had a schismatic relationship with the Catholic Magisterium.
October 11, 2009:Father Damien, aBelgian priest known as the "Apostle of the Lepers", is canonized.
March 2013: Jorge Bergoglio ofArgentina elected asPope Francis, the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be elected Pope.
May 12, 2013: Pope Francis canonizes over 800 Catholics that were killed by Turks in Otranto, 1480. With this he surpassed the record of John Paul II in canonizing the most saints in a pontificate.
October 16–18, 2013: First Philippine Conference of New Evangelization by Manila Archbishop CardinalLuis Antonio Tagle at the Quadricentennial Pavilion of theUniversity of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila for the video message ofPope Francis.
January 15–19, 2015:Pope Francis visit to the Philippines, the fourth papal visit.
May 2015: Pope Francis in hisencyclicalLaudato si' (Praise be to you) drew attention to "our sin" of destroying the natural environment and met withBig OilCEOs to drive home the message.[52]
December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016: In The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis, Rome received 21.3 million pilgrims, shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe received 22 million pilgrims, and World Youth Day inKraków received 3 million pilgrims. According to archbishop Fisichella, president of Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, between 56% and 62% of all Catholics participated in the events while pilgrims in Rome mostly came from Germany, US, Poland, Spanish speaking countries and many from China,Chad,Rwanda,Nepal andCook Islands.
November 2, 2017: Pope Francis suggests recruiting "proven" married men to become priests for dioceses in the Roman/Latin/Western Church where there are few priests[58] (as do theEastern Catholic Churches).[59]
March 19, 2018: In his apostolic exhortationGaudete et exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), Pope Francis picks up on a theme of Vatican II, explaining that all are called to the same perfection of virtue.[60]
May 18, 2018: Bishops ofChile offer their resignations to Pope Francis owing to criminal negligence in dealing with child sexual abuse among some clerics. Francis accepts the resignations of bishops and cardinals in other countries for similar reasons. Francis faces a far worse crisis among clergy—child abuse and lack of effective episcopal oversight.[61][62]
August 2, 2018: Pope Francis declares thedeath penalty is unacceptable in all cases, as an attack on human dignity.[63]
July 1, 2019: The canonization ofJohn Henry Newman authorized and the date set for October 13, 2019.[65]
July 2, 2019: it was announced that Pope Francis had transferred the nine bone fragments of St, Peter which were displayed during the 'Year of Faith' Mass, to Orthodox Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew of Constantinople. Bartholomew, who serves as head of the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, described the gesture as “brave and bold.”[66]
^The New Shape of World Christianity, Mark A. Noll (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 191.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Marcionites" .Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.: "...they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known."
^"405 Jerome Completes the Vulgate".Christian History | Learn the History of Christianity & the Church. October 1990. RetrievedMay 16, 2020.
^J. P. Rodriguez, with foreword by Orlando Patterson CHRONOLOGY OF WORLD SLAVERY (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1999). 50.
^Kristó, Gyula (2001). "The Life of King Stephen the Saint". In Zsoldos, Attila (ed.).Saint Stephen and His Country: A Newborn Kingdom in Central Europe – Hungary. Lucidus Kiadó. pp. 15–36.ISBN978-963-86163-9-5.
^"Suave Molecules of Mocha"Archived March 9, 2005, at theWayback Machine Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization,New Partisan – A Journal of Culture, Arts and Politics, March 7, 2005, retrieved October 23, 2006
^O’Mahony, Anthony (2008). "Syriac Christianity in the modern Middle East". In Angold, Michael (ed.).The Cambridge History of Christianity - Volume 5: Eastern Christianity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 519–520.ISBN978-0-521-81113-2.
^Schism of SSPX Pete Vere, My Journey out of the Lefebvre Schism: All Tradition Leads to Rome, Catholic Education Resource Center, retrieved November 20, 2006
^William Dailey, C.S.C., "Would a mass resignation of bishops hurt the US Church? Quite the opposite," www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2018/08/16.
^Thomas Reese, S.J., "Pennsylvania grand jury report is a new low for Catholic Church," www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/August 15, 2018
^Elisabetta Povoledo and Laurie Goodstein, "Pope Declares Death Penalty Always Wrong," NEW YORK TIMES, p.1.
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