Roman Catholic Church
...to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2003 was 1,085,557,000, over half of the estimate at that time of the total number of Christians.[1] It is led by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, currently His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
It has defined itself as "the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter" i.e. the Pope "and the bishops in communion with him."[2] It teaches that it is the one holy catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people.
Origins
The Church traces its origins to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, in particular Peter, the leader of the Apostles, who is traditionally regarded as the first Pope.[3] It rose to prominence in the fourth-century Roman Empire, when Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan in 313. From 380, Christianity was the Roman state religion.
Terminology
The term Catholic is derived from the Greek meaning universal and all churches that use the title in their name do so with the theological or historical intent that they can claim to be the one universal church founded by the God they worship.
Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The statue in the foreground is of Saint Peter, whose successor is considered, within the Catholic Church, to be the Pope.The Church considered in this article uses many names to describe itself, none of which it has declared to be the definitive name by which it should be known. However, when drawing up documents jointly with other Churches, it refers to itself either as the Catholic Church or as the Roman Catholic Church.
Divergent usages attach a certain ambiguity to each of these terms. Some apply the term Roman Catholic Church only to the Western or Latin Church, excluding the Eastern-Rite particular Churches that are in full communion with the Pope, and are part of the same...
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