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The Catholic Church is the "world's oldest continuously functioning international institution." [ 8 ] It is also the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world, [ 9 ] while the diplomatic status of the Holy See facilitates the access of its vast international network of charities .
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. [4] [5] [9] It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.
Note: Unitarian Universalism developed out of Christian traditions but no longer identifies as a Christian denomination. Church of Christ, Scientist – 0.4 million; Church of Christ, 4th Watch – 0.6 million; World Mission Society Church of God – 0.1 million [314] Friends of Man – 0.07 million; Christadelphians – 0.05 million [315]
The Catholic Church, or Roman Catholic Church, is composed of 24 autonomous sui iuris particular churches: the Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches. It considers itself the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church that Christ founded, [ 64 ] and which Saint Peter initiated along with the missionary work of Saint Paul and others.
While the word religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion used in religious studies courses defines it as [a] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations ...
Catholicity (from Ancient Greek: καθολικός, romanized: katholikós, lit. 'general', 'universal', via Latin: catholicus) [1] is a concept pertaining to beliefs and practices that are widely accepted by numerous Christian denominations, most notably by those Christian denominations that describe themselves as catholic in accordance with the Four Marks of the Church, as expressed in the ...
The Catholic Church believes it is the continuation of those who remained faithful to the apostolic leadership and rejected false teachings. [168] Catholic belief is that the Church will never defect from the truth, and bases this on Jesus' telling Peter "the gates of hell will not prevail against" the Church. [169]
The Catholic Church has been the driving force behind some of the major events of world history including the Christianization of Western and Central Europe and Latin America, the spreading of literacy and the foundation of the universities, hospitals, the Western tradition of monasticism, the development of art and music, literature ...