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{{Short description|Largest autonomous particular Catholic church}}
{{redirect|Latin Christian|the music genre|Latin Christian music}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Infobox religion
| icon               = Emblem of the Papacy SE.svg
| icon_width         = 25px
| icon_alt           = Emblem of the Holy See
| name               = Latin Church
| founder            = 
| native_name        = {{lang|la|Ecclesia Latina}}
| native_name_lang   = la
| image              = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg
| imagewidth         = 250px
| alt                = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
| caption            = [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]] in [[Rome]], Italy
| type               = [[Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites|Particular church]] ({{lang|la|[[sui iuris]]}})
| main_classification = [[Catholic]]
| orientation        = [[Western Christianity]]
| scripture          = [[Nova Vulgata]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houghton |first=H. A. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXQqCwAAQBAJ&q=sixtine+vulgate&pg=PA132 |title=The Latin New Testament: A Guide to Its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198744733 |pages=132 |language=en |quote=The standard Bible of the Roman Catholic Church until 1979 was the Clementine Vulgate, prepared for Pope Clement VIII in 1592.}}</ref>
| theology           = [[Catholic theology]]
| polity             = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]]<ref name=Episcopal_Polity>{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=Thomas William |date=1844 |title=Notes of the Episcopal Polity of the Holy Catholic Church |location=London |publisher=Levey, Rossen and Franklin}}</ref>
| governance         = [[Holy See]]
| leader_title       = [[Pope]]
| leader_name        = {{incumbent pope}}
| language           = [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] and native languages
| liturgy            = [[Latin liturgical rites]]
| headquarters       = [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]], [[Rome]], Italy
| territory          = Worldwide
| founded_date       = [[Christianity in the 1st century|1st century]]
| founded_place      = [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], [[Roman Empire]]
| full_communion     = Catholic Church
| area               = Mainly in [[Western Europe]], [[Central Europe]], the [[Americas]], the [[Philippines]], pockets of [[Africa]], [[Madagascar]], [[Oceania]], with several [[episcopal conference]]s around the world
| separations        = {{indented plainlist|
*[[Donatism]]<ref name=britannicaa>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Africa/Christianity-and-the-Donatist-controversy?utm_source=google|title=Christianity and the Donatist controversy|website=
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.}}</ref>
*[[Protestantism]] (initially [[Lutheranism]], [[Calvinism]], [[Anglicanism]] and [[Anabaptism]] in the 16th century)
*[[Old Catholicism]] (Utrecht, 19th century)
*[[Sedevacantism]]
}}
| members            = 1.2 billion (2015)<ref>{{cite book|url= https://brill.com/previewpdf/display/book/9789004411173/BP000001.xml|title= Children's Rights and Obligations in Canon Law: The Christening Contract|first=Mary|last=McAleese|date=2019|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-90-04-41117-3}}</ref>
| other_names        = {{ublist|''Western Church''|''Latin Catholic Church''|''Roman Church''}}
| website            = [https://www.vatican.va/ vatican.va]
}}
{{Particular churches sui iuris}}
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}
{{Christianity sidebar}}

The '''Latin Church''' ({{langx|la|Ecclesia Latina}}) is the largest autonomous ({{lang|la|[[sui iuris]]}}) [[particular church]] within the [[Catholic Church]], whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 [[Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches|''sui iuris'' churches]] in [[full communion]] with the [[pope]]; the other 23 are collectively referred to as the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], and they have approximately 18 million members combined.<ref name=witness>{{Cite web|last=Anderson|first=Jon|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/the-beautiful-witness-of-the-eastern-catholic-churches/|title=The beautiful witness of the Eastern Catholic Churches|date=7 March 2019|website=Catholic Herald|access-date=29 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929010556/https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/the-beautiful-witness-of-the-eastern-catholic-churches/|archive-date=29 September 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Latin Church is directly headed by the pope in his role as the [[bishop of Rome]], whose ''[[cathedra]]'' as a bishop is located in the [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]] in [[Rome]], Italy. The Latin Church both developed within and strongly influenced [[Western culture]]; as such, it is sometimes called the '''Western Church''' ({{langx|la|Ecclesia Occidentalis}}), which is reflected in one of the pope's traditional titles in some eras and contexts, the [[Patriarch of the West]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Mancini|first=Marco|title=Patriarca d'Occidente? No grazie, disse Benedetto XVI|trans-title=Patriarch of the West? No thanks, said Benedict XVI|url=https://www.acistampa.com/story/patriarca-doccidente-no-grazie-disse-benedetto-xvi-6621|work=ACI Stampa|date=2017-08-11|access-date=2023-11-28|location=Vatican City|language=it}}</ref> It is also known as the '''Roman Church''' ({{langx|la|Ecclesia Romana}}),<ref>{{cite book|first=Paul |last=Turner|year=2007 |title=When other Christians become Catholic. |publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-6216-8|page=141|quote="When other Christians become Catholic: the individual becomes Eastern Catholic, not Roman Catholic"}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite encyclopaedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09022a.htm |first=Adrian |last=Fortescue|author-link=Adrian Fortescue|title=Latin Church"|encyclopaedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|year=1910|quote=no doubt, by a further extension Roman Church may be used as equivalent to Latin Church for the patriarchate}}</ref> the '''Latin Catholic Church''',<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Faris|first=John D.|author-link=John D. Faris |date=2002 |title=The Latin Church ''Sui Iuris'' |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/juristcu62&id=286&div=&collection= |journal=Jurist |volume=62 |pages=280}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ashni |first1=A. L. |last2=Santhosh |first2=R. |date=December 2019 |title=Catholic Church, Fishers and Negotiating Development: A Study on the Vizhinjam Port Project |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0972266119883165 |journal=Review of Development and Change |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=187–204 |doi=10.1177/0972266119883165 |s2cid=213671195 |issn=0972-2661|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and in some contexts as the [[Roman Catholic (term)|'''Roman Catholic Church''']] (though this name can also refer to the Catholic Church as a whole).<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Paul |title=When other Christians become Catholic |publisher=Liturgical Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8146-6216-8 |page=141 |quote="When other Christians become Catholic: the individual becomes Eastern Catholic, not Roman Catholic"}}</ref>{{Efn|The term ''Roman Catholic Church'' is also used to refer to the [[Catholic Church]] as a whole, especially in a non-Catholic context, while also occasionally used in reference to the Latin Church vis-à-vis the Eastern Catholic Churches. {{Cite web |date=2011-11-30 |title=Do you know differences between Roman, Byzantine Catholic Churches? |url=https://www.thecompassnews.org/2011/11/do-you-know-differences-between-roman-byzantine-catholic-churches/ |access-date=2021-04-08 |website=The Compass |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416102436/https://www.thecompassnews.org/2011/11/do-you-know-differences-between-roman-byzantine-catholic-churches/ |url-status=dead }}}}

The Latin Church was in full communion with what is referred to as the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] until the [[East–West Schism]] of [[Holy See|Rome]] and [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Constantinople]] in 1054. From that time, but also before it, it became common to refer to Western Christians as ''[[Latins (Middle Ages)|Latins]]'' in contrast to [[Eastern Christians|Byzantines or Greeks]].

The Latin Church employs the [[Latin liturgical rites]], which since the mid-20th century are very often translated into the [[vernacular]]. The predominant [[Ritual family|liturgical rite]] is the [[Roman Rite]], elements of which have been practiced since the fourth century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fortescue|first=Adrian|title=The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy|series=The Westminster Library|editor-last1=Ward|editor-first1=Bernard|editor-last2=Thurston|editor-first2=Herbert|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|location=London|year=1914|edition=New|url=https://archive.org/details/massstudyofroman00fort/mode/2up|page=167}}</ref> There exist and have existed since ancient times additional Latin liturgical rites and [[use (liturgy)|use]]s, including the currently used [[Mozarabic Rite]] in restricted use in Spain, the [[Ambrosian Rite]] in parts of Italy, and the [[Anglican Use]] in the [[personal ordinariate]]s.

In the [[early modern period]] and subsequently, the Latin Church carried out [[Catholic missions|evangelizing missions]] to the [[Americas]], and from the [[Modern history|late modern period]] to [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[East Asia]]. The [[Protestant Reformation]] in the 16th century resulted in [[Protestantism]] breaking away, resulting in the fragmentation of [[Western Christianity]], including not only Protestant offshoots of the Latin Church, but also smaller groups of 19th-century break-away [[Independent Catholic denominations]].

==Terminology==
{{see also|Catholic Church#Name|Catholic (term)|Roman Catholic (term)}}

===Name===
The historical part of the Catholic Church in the West is called the Latin Church to distinguish itself from the Eastern Catholic Churches which are also under the pope's [[papal primacy|primacy]]. In historical context, before the [[East–West Schism]] in 1054 the Latin Church is sometimes referred to as the ''Western Church''. Writers belonging to various Protestant denominations sometime use the term ''Western Church'' as an implicit claim to legitimacy.{{clarify|date=November 2023}}

The term ''Latin Catholic'' refers to followers of the [[Latin liturgical rites]], of which the [[Roman Rite]] is predominant. The Latin liturgical rites are contrasted with the liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

==="Church" and "rite"===
{{further|Catholic liturgical rites and particular churches}}
The 1990 [[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]] defines the use within that code of the words "church" and "rite".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1_lt.html#CANONES_PRAELIMINARES|title=CCEO, canon 27|website=w2.vatican.va|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref><ref>CCEO, canon 28 §1</ref> In accordance with these definitions of usage within the code that governs the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], the Latin Church is one such group of Christian faithful united by a hierarchy and recognized by the supreme authority of the [[Catholic Church]] as a ''sui iuris'' particular Church. The "Latin Rite" is the whole of the patrimony of that distinct particular church, by which it manifests its own manner of living the faith, including its own liturgy, its theology, its spiritual practices and traditions and its canon law. A Catholic, as an individual person, is necessarily a member of a particular church. A person also inherits, or "is of",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1E.HTM#BC|title= Code of Canon Law, canons 383 §2|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1L.HTM#7U 450 §1]</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1O.HTM#3F 476 ]</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1O.HTM#B7 479 §2]</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P3O.HTM#FY 1021]</ref> a particular patrimony or rite. Since the rite has liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary elements, a person is also to worship, to be catechized, to pray and to be governed according to a particular rite.

Particular churches that inherit and perpetuate a particular patrimony are identified by the [[metonymy]] "church" or "rite". Accordingly, "Rite" has been defined as "a division of the Christian Church using a distinctive liturgy",<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rite |title=Rite |date=3 October 2023 |publisher=Merriam Webster Dictionary}}</ref> or simply as "a Christian Church".<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/rite |title=Rite |publisher=Collins English Dictionary}}</ref> In this sense, "Rite" and "Church" are treated as synonymous, as in the glossary prepared by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and revised in 1999, which states that each "Eastern-rite (Oriental) Church ... is considered equal to the Latin rite within the Church".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.usccb.org/comm/glossary.shtml|title=Glossary of Church Terms|website=usccb.org|access-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706194635/http://old.usccb.org/comm/glossary.shtml|archive-date=6 July 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Second Vatican Council likewise stated that "it is the mind of the Catholic Church that each individual Church or Rite should retain its traditions whole and entire and likewise that it should adapt its way of life to the different needs of time and place"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html|title=Decree on the Eastern Rite ''Orientalium Ecclesiarum''|date=1964-11-21|author=Pope Paul VI|author-link=Pope Paul VI|location=Rome}}</ref> and spoke of patriarchs and of "major archbishops, who rule the whole of some individual Church or Rite".<ref>''Orientalium Ecclesiarum'', 10</ref> It thus used the word "Rite" as "a technical designation of what may now be called a particular Church".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiJnrTwWRqcC&pg=PA73|last=Bassett|first=William W.|title=The Determination of Rite, an Historical and Juridical Study|publisher=Gregorian University Press|location=Rome|year=1967|isbn=978-88-7652129-4|volume=157|issue=21|series=Analecta Gregoriana|page=73}}</ref> "Church or rite" is also used as a single heading in the [[United States]] Library of Congress classification of works.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/KBS%20Table%202.pdf|title=Library of Congress Classification – KBS Table 2|website=loc.gov|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref>

==History==
Historically, the governing entity of the Latin Church (i.e. the [[Holy See]]) has been viewed as one of the five [[patriarchates]] of the [[Pentarchy]] of [[early Christianity]], along with the patriarchates of [[Patriarchate of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Patriarchate of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Patriarchate of Antioch|Antioch]], and [[Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. Due to geographic and cultural considerations, the latter patriarchates developed into churches with distinct [[Eastern Christian]] traditions. This scheme, tacitly at least accepted by Rome, is constructed from the viewpoint of Greek Christianity and does not take into consideration other churches of great antiquity which developed in the East outside the frontiers of the Roman Empire. The majority of Eastern Christian Churches broke full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the Latin Church, following various theological and jurisdictional disputes in the centuries following the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in AD 451. These included notably the [[Nestorian Schism]] (431–544) ([[Church of the East]]), [[Chalcedonian Schism]] (451) ([[Oriental Orthodoxy]]), and the [[East-West Schism]] (1054) ([[Eastern Orthodoxy]]).<ref name=AFortescue>{{CE1913|wstitle=Latin Church|first=Adrian|last=Fortescue|year=1910|prescript=}}</ref> The [[Protestant Reformation]] of the 16th century saw a schism which was not analogous since it was not based upon the same historical factors and involved far more profound theological dissent from the teaching of the totality of previously existing historical Christian churches. Until 2006, the pope claimed the title "[[patriarch of the West]]"; [[Benedict XVI]] set aside this title. In 2024, [[Pope Francis]] reinstated patriarch of the West as one of the official [[papal titles]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-10 |title=Why is Pope Francis embracing the patriarchy (of the West)? |url=https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/why-is-pope-francis-embracing-the |access-date= |website=[[The Pillar]] |language=en}}</ref>

Following the [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquests]], the [[Crusades]] were launched by the West from 1095 to 1291 in order to defend Christians and their properties in the [[Holy Land]] against [[persecution of Christians|persecution]]. In the long term the Crusaders did not succeed in re-establishing political and military control of Palestine, which like former Christian North Africa and the rest of the Middle East remained under Islamic control. The names of many former Christian dioceses of this vast area are still used by the Catholic Church as the names of [[Catholic titular sees]], irrespective of the question of liturgical families.

In the [[High Middle Ages]] began the development of [[Scholasticism]] in the Latin Church, which saw to reconcile the rediscovery of [[Transmission of the Greek Classics|Classial Greek works]] such as those of [[Aristotle]] with Christianity. Under that came new theologians  such as [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Anselm of Canterbury]] who believed that faith and reason could exist without any contradiction.<ref name=GilsonP>{{cite book|last=Gilson|first=Etienne|title=The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy (Gifford Lectures 1933–35)|year=1991|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|location=Notre Dame, IN|isbn=978-0-268-01740-8|pages=490}}</ref><ref>Grant, Edward. ''God and Reason in the Middle Ages.'' Cambridge University Press, 2004, 56</ref><ref name=SEP3>{{cite book |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/aquinas/ |title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |last1=McInerny |first1=Ralph |last2=O'Callaghan |first2=John |chapter=Saint Thomas Aquinas |date=5 February 2018 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>

During the Age of Discovery, the Latin Church spread to the Americas and the Philippines under the colonial powers of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]], which [[Pope Alexander VI]] in the [[papal bull]] [[Inter caetera]] awarded colonial rights to.<ref name="Koschorke13">[[Klaus Koschorke|Koschorke, K.]] ''A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America'' (2007), pp. 13, 283</ref>  The [[French colonization of the Americas]] beginning in the 16th century established the French Latin Church in [[Quebec]].<ref>Lyons (2013), p. 17</ref>

== Membership ==
In the Catholic Church, in addition to the Latin Church{{Em dash}}directly headed by the pope as Latin patriarch and notable within [[Western Christianity]] for its [[sacred tradition]] and [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|seven sacraments]]{{Em dash}} there are 23 [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], self-governing [[particular church]]es [[sui iuris]] with their own hierarchies. Most of these churches trace their origins to the other four patriarchates of the ancient [[pentarchy]], but either never historically broke full communion or returned to it with the Papacy at some time. These differ from each other in [[liturgical rite]] (ceremonies, vestments, chants, language), devotional traditions, [[Catholic theology|theology]], [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]], and [[Clergy in the Catholic Church|clergy]], but all maintain the same faith, and all see full communion with the pope as [[bishop of Rome]] as essential to being Catholic as well as part of the [[one true church]] as defined by the [[Four Marks of the Church]] in [[Catholic ecclesiology]].

The approximately 18 million Eastern Catholics represent a minority of Christians in communion with the pope,<ref name=witness/> compared to well over 1 billion Latin Catholics. Additionally, there are roughly 250 million [[Eastern Orthodox]] and 86 million [[Oriental Orthodox]] around the world that are not in union with Rome. Unlike the Latin Church, the pope does not exercise a direct patriarchal role over the Eastern Catholic churches and their faithful, instead encouraging their internal hierarchies, which while separate from that of the Latin Church and function analogously to it, and follow the traditions shared with the corresponding Eastern Christian churches in Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy.<ref name=AFortescue />

==Organisation==
{{further|Holy See}}

===Liturgical patrimony===
[[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Joseph Ratzinger]] (later Pope Benedict XVI) described the [[Latin liturgical rites]] on 24 October 1998:<ref>{{cite book| title= Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=z-c-D6N0u3cC&q=ratzinger+%E2%80%9Cthe+ambrosian+rite%E2%80%9D&pg=PT190 | access-date = 24 November 2017 | first= Tracey | last= Rowland | date= 2008 | publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 9780191623394}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Several forms of the Latin rite have always existed, and were only slowly withdrawn, as a result of the coming together of the different parts of Europe. Before the Council there existed, side by side with the [[Roman rite]], the [[Ambrosian rite]], the [[Mozarabic rite]] of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], the [[rite of Braga]], the [[Carthusian rite]], the [[Carmelite]] rite, and best known of all, the [[Dominican order|Dominican]] rite, and perhaps still other rites of which I am not aware.|author=|title=|source=}}

Today, the most common Latin liturgical rites are the [[Roman Rite]]—either the post-[[Vatican II]] Mass promulgated by [[Pope Paul VI]] in 1969 and revised by [[Pope John Paul II]] in 2002 (the [[Mass of Paul VI|"Ordinary Form"]]), or the 1962 form of the [[Tridentine Mass]] (the "Extraordinary Form"); the [[Ambrosian Rite]]; the [[Mozarabic Rite]]; and variations of the Roman Rite (such as the [[Anglican Use]]). The 23 [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] employ five different families of liturgical rites. The Latin liturgical rites are used only in a single ''[[sui iuris]]'' particular church.

Of other liturgical families, the main survivors are what is now referred to officially as the [[Mozarabic Rite|Hispano-Mozarabic Rite]], still in restricted use in Spain; the [[Ambrosian Rite]], centred geographically on the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan|Archdiocese of Milan]], in [[Italy]], and much closer in form, though not specific content, to the Roman Rite; and the [[Carthusians#Liturgy|Carthusian Rite]], practised within the [[Carthusians|strict Carthusian monastic Order]], which also employs in general terms forms similar to the Roman Rite, but with a number of significant divergences which have adapted it to the distinctive way of life of the Carthusians.

There once existed what is referred to as the Gallican Rite, used in Gaulish or Frankish territories. This was a conglomeration of varying forms, not unlike the present [[Mozarabic Rite|Hispano-Mozarabic Rite]] in its general structures, but never strictly codified and which from at least the seventh century was gradually infiltrated, and then eventually for the most part replaced, by liturgical texts and forms which had their origin in the diocese of Rome. Other former "Rites" in past times practised in certain religious orders and important cities were in truth usually partial variants upon the [[Roman Rite]] and have almost entirely disappeared from current use, despite limited nostalgic efforts at revival of some of them and a certain indulgence by the Roman authorities.

===Disciplinary patrimony===
{{main|1983 Code of Canon Law}}
{{canon law}}
Canon law for the Latin Church is codified in the ''[[1983 Code of Canon Law|Code of Canon Law]]'', of which there have been two codifications, the first promulgated by [[Pope Benedict XV]] in 1917 and the second by [[Pope John Paul II]] in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cdc/index.htm|title=Codes of Canon Law – Archive|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref>

In the Latin Church, the norm for administration of [[confirmation]] is that, except when in danger of death, the person to be confirmed should "have the use of reason, be suitably instructed, properly disposed, and able to renew the baptismal promises",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P33.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law, canon 889 §2|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> and "the administration of the Most Holy [[Eucharist]] to children requires that they have sufficient knowledge and careful preparation so that they understand the mystery of Christ according to their capacity and are able to receive the body of Christ with faith and devotion."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P39.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law, canon 913 §1|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> In the Eastern Churches these sacraments are usually administered immediately after [[baptism]], even for an infant.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-2_lt.html|title=Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canons 695 §1 and 710|website=w2.vatican.va|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref>

[[Clerical celibacy|Celibacy]], as a consequence of the duty to observe perfect continence, is obligatory for [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]]s in the Latin Church.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PY.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law, canon 277 §1|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> An exception is made for married clergy from other churches, who join the Catholic Church; they may continue as married priests.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apc_20091104_anglicanorum-coetibus_en.html|title= ''Anglicanorum coetibus'', VI §§1–2|website=w2.vatican.va|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> In the Latin Church, a married man may not be admitted even to the diaconate unless he is legitimately destined to remain a deacon and not become a priest.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P3S.HTM#6O|title=Code of Canon Law, canon 1042|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> Marriage after ordination is not possible, and attempting it can result in canonical penalties.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3Y.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law, canon 1087|website=The Holy See|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> The Eastern Catholic Churches, unlike the Latin Church, have a married clergy.

At the present time, [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Bishop]]s in the Latin Church are generally [[Appointment of Catholic bishops|appointed]] by the [[pope]] after hearing the advice of the various [[dicasteries]] of the [[Roman Curia]], specifically the [[Congregation for Bishops]], the [[Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples]] (for countries in its care), the [[Section for Relations with States]] of the [[Secretariat of State (Holy See)|Secretariat of State]] (for appointments that require the consent or prior notification of civil governments), and the [[Congregation for the Oriental Churches]] (in the areas in its charge, even for the appointment of Latin bishops). The Congregations generally work from a "terna" or list of three names advanced to them by the local church, most often through the Apostolic Nuncio or the Cathedral Chapter in those places where the Chapter retains the right to nominate bishops.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

==Theology and philosophy==
===Augustinianism===
{{See also|Augustinianism|New Jerusalem|The City of God|Neoplatonism}}
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - St Augustine.JPG|thumb|upright|left|''St. Augustine'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1636–1638]]
[[Augustine of Hippo]] was a [[Roman Africans|Roman African]], [[philosopher]] and [[bishop in the Catholic Church]]. He helped shape [[Latin Christianity]], and is viewed as one of the most important [[Church Fathers]] in the Latin Church for his writings in the [[Patristics|Patristic Period]]. Among his works are ''[[The City of God]]'', ''[[De doctrina Christiana]]'', and ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]''.

In his youth he was drawn to [[Manichaeism]] and later to [[neoplatonism]]. After his baptism and conversion in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives.<ref>{{cite book |title=Augustine the Theologian |last=TeSelle |first=Eugene |year=1970 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/augustinetheolog0000tese/page/347 347–349] |isbn=978-0-223-97728-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/augustinetheolog0000tese/page/347 }} 2002: {{ISBN|1-57910-918-7}}.</ref> Believing that the [[Grace in Christianity|grace of Christ]] was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of [[original sin]] and made seminal contributions to the development of [[just war theory]]. His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. The segment of the church that adhered to the concept of the [[Trinity]] as defined by the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]] and the [[First Council of Constantinople|Council of Constantinople]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilken |first=Robert L. |title=The Spirit of Early Christian Thought |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-300-10598-8 |page=291}}</ref> closely identified with Augustine's ''[[On the Trinity]]''

When the [[Western Roman Empire]] began to disintegrate, Augustine imagined the church as a spiritual [[New Jerusalem#Christianity|City of God]], distinct from the material Earthly City.<ref name="CC">{{cite book |last=Durant |first=Will |title=Caesar and Christ: a History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 |publisher=MJF Books |location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-56731-014-6 |author-link=Will Durant|title-link=Ancient Rome }}</ref> in his book ''On the city of God against the pagans'', often called ''[[The City of God]]'', Augustine declared its message to be spiritual rather than political. Christianity, he argued, should be concerned with the mystical, heavenly city, the [[New Jerusalem]], rather than with earthly politics.

''The City of God'' presents human [[history]] as a conflict between what Augustine calls the Earthly City (often colloquially referred to as the City of Man, but never by Augustine) and the City of God, a conflict that is destined to end in victory for the latter. The City of God is marked by people who forego earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The Earthly City, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world.
[[File:Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Augustine by [[Philippe de Champaigne]], 17th century]]
For Augustine, the [[Logos]] "took on flesh" in Christ, in whom the logos was present as in no other man.<ref>Augustine, Confessions, Book 7.9.13–14</ref><ref>De immortalitate animae of Augustine: text, translation and commentary, By Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo.), C. W. Wolfskeel, introduction</ref><ref>1 John 1:14</ref> He strongly influenced [[Medieval philosophy#Early medieval Christian philosophy|Early Medieval Christian Philosophy]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Handboek Geschiedenis van de Wijsbegeerte I, Article by Douwe Runia</ref>

Like other Church Fathers such as [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenagoras]],<ref>{{cite web | title = A Plea for the Christians |first = Athenagoras | last = the Athenian | url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0205.htm | publisher = New advent}}</ref> [[Tertullian]],<ref>Flinn, Frank K. and Melton, J. Gordon (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA4 ''Encyclopedia of Catholicism'']. Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Religions. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-5455-8}}), p. 4</ref> [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Basil of Caesarea]],<ref>Kristin, Luker (1985) [https://books.google.com/books?id=-SZnZTSQV9EC&pg=PA12 ''Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood'']. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-5209-0792-8}}), p. 12</ref> Augustine "vigorously condemned the practice of induced [[abortion]]", and although he disapproved of an abortion during any stage of pregnancy, he made a distinction between early abortions and later ones.<ref name="Fitzgerald, 1">{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Wm B Eerdmans | isbn = 978-0-8028-3843-8| page = 1| editor-first = Allan D | editor-last = Fitzgerald | last = Bauerschmidt | first = John C |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcVhAGpvTQ0C&pg=PA1 |title=Abortion |encyclopedia = Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia| year = 1999}}</ref> He acknowledged the distinction between "formed" and "unformed" fetuses mentioned in the [[Septuagint]] translation of {{bibleverse||Exodus|21:22–23}}, which is considered as wrong translation of the word "harm" from the original Hebrew text as "form" in the Greek Septuagint and based in Aristotelian distinction "between the fetus before and after its supposed 'vivification'", and did not classify as murder the abortion of an "unformed" fetus since he thought that it could not be said with certainty that the fetus had already received a soul.<ref name="Fitzgerald, 1"/><ref>[http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life.cfm Respect for Unborn Human Life: the Church's Constant Teaching]. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops</ref>

Augustine also used the term "[[Catholic (term)|Catholic]]" to distinguish the "[[One true church|true]]" church from heretical groups:
<blockquote>In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the [[Apostle Peter]], to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15–19), down to the present [[historical episcopate|episcopate]].</blockquote>
<blockquote>And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should. ...With you, there is none of these things to attract or keep me. ...No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion. ...For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.&nbsp;
:— St. Augustine (354–430): ''Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental'', chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf104.iv.viii.vi.html?|title=Chapter 5.—Against the Title of the Epistle of Manichæus|publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|access-date=21 November 2008}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Gerard Seghers (attr) - The Four Doctors of the Western Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430).jpg|thumb|''Saint Augustine of Hippo'' by [[Gerard Seghers]] (attributed)]]
In both his philosophical and theological reasoning, Augustine was greatly influenced by [[Stoicism]], [[Platonism]] and [[Neoplatonism]], particularly by the work of [[Plotinus]], author of the ''[[Enneads]]'', probably through the mediation of [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] and [[Gaius Marius Victorinus|Victorinus]] (as [[Pierre Hadot]] has argued). Although he later abandoned Neoplatonism, some ideas are still visible in his early writings.<ref>[[#Russel|Russell]], Book II, Chapter IV</ref> His early and influential writing on the [[Will (philosophy)|human will]], a central topic in [[ethics]], would become a focus for later philosophers such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], [[Søren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]], and [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]]. He was also influenced by the works of [[Virgil]] (known for his teaching on language), and [[Cicero]] (known for his teaching on argument).<ref name=encyclopedia>{{cite encyclopedia| last=Mendelson| first=Michael| title=Saint Augustine| url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/augustine/| encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| access-date=21 December 2012| date=2000-03-24}}</ref>

In the East, his teachings are more disputed, and were notably attacked by [[John Romanides]].<ref>{{Cite web| title = Some Underlying Positions of This Website| url = http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.00.en.some_underlying_positions_of_this_website.htm| website = www.romanity.org| access-date = 2015-09-30}}</ref> But other theologians and figures of the Eastern Orthodox Church have shown significant approbation of his writings, chiefly [[Georges Florovsky]].<ref>{{Cite web| title = Limits of Church| url = http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/limits_church.htm| website = www.fatheralexander.org| access-date = 2015-09-30}}</ref> The most controversial doctrine associated with him, the filioque,<ref name="Rev. Dr.">Papademetriou, George C. [http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 "Saint Augustine in the Greek Orthodox Tradition"]. goarch.org {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105045903/http://goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8153 |date=5 November 2010 }}</ref> was rejected by the Orthodox Church<ref>{{Cite book|last=Siecienski|first=Anthony Edward|year=2010|title=The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auT8VbgOe48C|isbn=978-0195372045|pages=53–67}}</ref> as heretical.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} Other disputed teachings include his views on original sin, the doctrine of grace, and [[predestination]].<ref name="Rev. Dr."/> Nevertheless, though considered to be mistaken on some points, he is still considered a saint, and has even had influence on some Eastern Church Fathers, most notably the Greek theologian Gregory Palamas.<ref>{{Cite document| title = Gregory Palamas' Use of Augustine's De Trinitate for Original Sin and its Application to the Theotokos & Scholarius' Palamitico-Augustinianism of the Immaculate Conception (Stockholm 28.VI.15)| publisher= Stockholm University Press | date = 2015-09-30| last1 = Kappes| first1 = Christiaan}}</ref> In the Orthodox Church his feast day is celebrated on 15 June.<ref name="Rev. Dr."/><ref>{{cite journal | last =[[Archimandrite]] | title = Book Review: ''The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church'' | journal =Orthodox Tradition | volume =II | issue =3&4 | pages =40–43 | url =http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/bless_aug.aspx#rose | access-date =28 June 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070710012506/http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/bless_aug.aspx| archive-date= 10 July 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> Historian [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] has written: "[Augustine's] impact on Western Christian thought can hardly be overstated; only his beloved example [[Paul the Apostle|Paul of Tarsus]] has been more influential, and Westerners have generally seen Paul through Augustine's eyes."<ref name="MacCulloch2010">{{cite book|author=Diarmaid MacCulloch|title=A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u1eTZKpJVS4C&pg=PT319|year=2010|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-102189-8|page=319}}</ref>

In his autobiographical book ''Milestones'', [[Pope Benedict XVI]] claims Augustine as one of the deepest influences in his thought.

===Scholasticism===
{{See also|René Descartes|Cartesianism}}
[[File:Laurentius de Voltolina Vorlesung vor Studenten - Min 1233 - Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.jpg|thumb|14th-century image of a university lecture]]
[[Scholasticism]] is a method of critical [[thought]] which dominated teaching by the [[Academic staff|academics]] ("scholastics", or "schoolmen"{{anchor|Schoolmen}}) of [[medieval university|medieval universities]] in Europe from about 1100 to 1700, The 13th and early 14th centuries are generally seen as the high period of scholasticism. The early 13th century witnessed the culmination of the [[recovery of Aristotle|recovery of Greek philosophy]]. Schools of translation grew up in Italy and Sicily, and eventually in the rest of Europe. Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige.<ref>{{cite book |title=Science in the Middle Ages |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |year=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-48232-3 |pages=70–72}}</ref> [[William of Moerbeke]]'s translations and editions of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped form a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, particularly of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions on which they had previously relied. [[Edward Grant]] writes: "Not only was the structure of the Arabic language radically different from that of Latin, but some Arabic versions had been derived from earlier Syriac translations and were thus twice removed from the original Greek text. Word-for-word translations of such Arabic texts could produce tortured readings. By contrast, the structural closeness of Latin to Greek permitted literal, but intelligible, word-for-word translations."<ref name=institutions>Grant, Edward, and Emeritus Edward Grant. The foundations of modern science in the Middle Ages: their religious, institutional and intellectual contexts. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 23–28</ref>

[[university|Universities]] developed in the large cities of Europe during this period, and rival clerical orders within the church began to battle for political and intellectual control over these centers of educational life. The two main orders founded in this period were the [[Franciscans]] and the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]]. The Franciscans were founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] in 1209. Their leader in the middle of the century was [[Bonaventure]], a traditionalist who defended the theology of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] and the philosophy of [[Plato]], incorporating only a little of [[Aristotle]] in with the more neoplatonist elements. Following Anselm, Bonaventure supposed that reason can only discover truth when philosophy is illuminated by religious faith.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Hammond|editor-first1=Jay|editor-last2=Hellmann|editor-first2=Wayne|editor-last3=Goff|editor-first3=Jared|title=A companion to Bonaventure|publisher=Brill|year=2014|series=Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition|volume=48|page=122|isbn=978-90-04-26072-6|doi=10.1163/9789004260733}}</ref> Other important Franciscan scholastics were [[Duns Scotus]], [[Peter Auriol]] and [[William of Ockham]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Gillian Rosemary|title=Fifty key medieval thinkers|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|series=Routledge Key Guides|isbn=9780415236638|pages=93, 147–149, 164–169}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Gracia|editor-first1=Jorge J. E.|editor-last2=Noone|editor-first2=Timothy B.|title=A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages|isbn=978-0-631-21673-5|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2005|pages=353–369, 494–503, 696–712}}</ref>

====Thomism====
{{further|Thomism|Thought of Thomas Aquinas|Summa Theologica}}
[[File:St-thomas-aquinas.jpg|thumb|During the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Augustinian theology, employing both reason and faith in the study of metaphysics, moral philosophy, and religion. While Aquinas accepted the existence of God on faith, he offered five proofs of God's existence to support such a belief.]]
[[File:Gentile da Fabriano 052.jpg|thumb|Detail from ''[[Valle Romita Polyptych]]'' by [[Gentile da Fabriano]] (c. 1400) showing Thomas Aquinas]]
[[File:Benozzo Gozzoli 004a.jpg|thumb|Detail from ''Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas over [[Averroes]]'' by [[Benozzo Gozzoli]] (1420–97)]]
Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]],<ref name="RBV">{{cite book|title=The Life and Labours of St. Thomas of Aquin|volume=1|last=Vaughan|first=Roger Bede|year=1871|place=London}}</ref><ref name="JPC">{{cite book|title=Saint Thomas Aquinas|url=https://archive.org/details/saintthomasaquin00conwuoft|series=Friar Saints|volume=1|last=Conway|first=Placid|year=1911|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|place=London}}</ref> an [[Italians|Italian]] [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[friar]], [[Philosophy|philosopher]] and [[Catholic priest|priest]], was immensely influential in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the ''Doctor Angelicus'' and the ''Doctor Communis''.<ref>See Pius XI, ''Studiorum Ducem'' 11 (29 June 1923), AAS, XV ("non modo Angelicum, sed etiam Communem seu Universalem Ecclesiae Doctorem"). The title ''Doctor Communis'' dates to the fourteenth century; the title ''Doctor Angelicus'' dates to the fifteenth century, see Walz, ''Xenia Thomistica'', III, p. 164 n. 4. [[Tolomeo da Lucca]] writes in ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' (1317): "This man is supreme among modern teachers of philosophy and theology, and indeed in every subject. And such is the common view and opinion, so that nowadays in the [[University of Paris]] they call him the ''Doctor Communis'' because of the outstanding clarity of his teaching." ''Historia Eccles.'' xxiii, c. 9.</ref>

Aquinas emphasized that "[[Synderesis]] is said to be the law of our mind, because it is a habit containing the precepts of the natural law, which are the first principles of human actions."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/conscience-medieval/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|title=Medieval Theories of Conscience|first=Douglas|last=Langston|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=5 February 2015|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|edition=Fall 2015}}</ref><ref>Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part, Question 94 Reply Obj. 2</ref>

According to Aquinas "…all acts of virtue are prescribed by the natural law, since each one's reason naturally dictates to him to act virtuously. But if we speak of virtuous acts, considered in themselves, i.e., in their proper species, not all virtuous acts are prescribed by the natural law for many things are done virtuously to which nature does not incline at first; but that, through the inquiry of reason, have been found by men to be conducive to well living." Therefore, we must determine if we are speaking of virtuous acts as under the aspect of virtuous or as an act in its species.<ref>Summa Question 94, A.3</ref>

Thomas defined the four [[cardinal virtues]] as [[prudence]], [[temperance (virtue)|temperance]], [[justice]], and [[courage|fortitude]]. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three [[theological virtues]]: [[faith]], [[hope]], and [[charity (virtue)|charity]]. Thomas also describes the virtues as imperfect (incomplete) and perfect (complete) virtues. A perfect virtue is any virtue with charity, which completes a cardinal virtue. A non-Christian can display courage, but it would be courage with temperance. A Christian would display courage with charity. These are somewhat supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God:

{{blockquote|Now the object of the theological virtues is God Himself, Who is the last end of all, as surpassing the knowledge of our reason. On the other hand, the object of the intellectual and moral virtues is something comprehensible to human reason. Wherefore the theological virtues are specifically distinct from the moral and intellectual virtues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.FS_Q62_A2.html#FS_Q62_A2-p6 |title=''Summa'', Q62a2 |publisher=Ccel.org |access-date=2012-02-02}}</ref>}}

Thomas Aquinas wrote: "[Greed] is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things."<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/SS/SS118.html#SSQ118A1THEP1 Summa Theologica], Second Part of the Second Part, Question 118, Article 1. Retrieved 26 October 2018.</ref>

Aquinas also contributed to [[History of economic thought#Economic thought in the Middle Ages (500–1500 AD)|economic thought]] as an aspect of ethics and justice. He dealt with the concept of a [[just price]], normally its market price or a regulated price sufficient to cover seller [[costs of production]]. He argued it was immoral for sellers to raise their prices simply because buyers were in pressing need for a product.<ref>Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. "Of Cheating, Which Is Committed in Buying and Selling". Translated by The Fathers of the English Dominican Province [http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ECON301-2.1.2-1st.pdf] Retrieved 19 June 2012</ref><ref>Barry Gordon (1987). "Aquinas, St Thomas (1225–1274)", v. 1, p. 100</ref>

Aquinas later expanded his argument to oppose any unfair earnings made in trade, basing the argument on the [[Ethic of reciprocity|Golden Rule]]. The Christian should "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", meaning he should trade value for value. Aquinas believed that it was specifically immoral to raise prices because a particular buyer had an urgent need for what was being sold and could be persuaded to pay a higher price because of local conditions:

:If someone would be greatly helped by something belonging to someone else, and the seller not similarly harmed by losing it, the seller must not sell for a higher price: because the usefulness that goes to the buyer comes not from the seller, but from the buyer's needy condition: no one ought to sell something that doesn't belong to him.<ref>''Si vero aliquis multum iuvetur ex re alterius quam accepit, ille vero qui vendidit non damnificatur carendo re illa, non debet eam supervendere. Quia utilitas quae alteri accrescit non est ex vendente, sed ex conditione ementis, nullus autem debet vendere alteri quod non est suum. . .''</ref>
::— ''[[Summa Theologica|Summa Theologiae]]'', 2-2, q. 77, art. 1

Aquinas would therefore condemn practices such as raising the price of building supplies in the wake of a [[natural disaster]]. Increased demand caused by the destruction of existing buildings does not add to a seller's costs, so to take advantage of buyers' increased willingness to pay constituted a species of [[fraud]] in Aquinas's view.<ref>Aquinas, ''Summa Theologica'', [http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/sth3061.html#42226 2ª-2ae q. 77 pr.]: "''Deinde considerandum est de peccatis quae sunt circa voluntarias commutationes. Et primo, de fraudulentia quae committitur in emptionibus et venditionibus ...''"</ref>

=====Five Ways=====
{{further|Five Ways (Aquinas)}}

In his {{lang|la|[[Summa Theologica]]}} and {{lang|la|[[Summa contra Gentiles]]}}, Aquinas laid out five arguments for the [[existence of God]], known as the {{lang|la|[[quinque viae]]}} ("five ways").<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1002.htm#article1|title=Summa Theologiae: The existence of God (Prima Pars, Q. 2)|website=New Advent}}</ref><ref>Summa of Theology I, q.2, The Five Ways Philosophers Have Proven God's Existence</ref> He also enumerated five divine qualities, all [[negative theology|framed as negatives]].<ref>Kreeft, pp. 74–112.</ref>

=====Impact=====
Aquinas shifted Scholasticism away from [[neoplatonism]] and towards [[Aristotle]]. The ensuing school of thought, through its influence on Latin Christianity and the ethics of the Catholic school, is one of the most influential philosophies of all time, also significant due to the number of people living by its teachings.

In theology, his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'' is one of the most influential documents in [[Medieval philosophy#Theology|medieval theology]] and continued into the 20th century to be the central point of reference for the philosophy and theology of Latin Christianity. In the 1914 encyclical ''Doctoris Angelici'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/doctoris.htm |title=Doctoris Angelici |access-date=2009-11-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831110620/http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/doctoris.htm |archive-date=31 August 2009 |df=dmy-all }} Accessed 25 October 2012</ref> [[Pope Pius X]] cautioned that the teachings of the Catholic Church cannot be understood without the basic philosophical underpinnings of Aquinas' major theses: {{blockquote|The capital theses in the philosophy of St. Thomas are not to be placed in the category of opinions capable of being debated one way or another, but are to be considered as the foundations upon which the whole science of natural and divine things is based; if such principles are once removed or in any way impaired, it must necessarily follow that students of the sacred sciences will ultimately fail to perceive so much as the meaning of the words in which the dogmas of divine revelation are proposed by the magistracy of the Church.<ref>[[Pope Pius X]], ''Doctoris Angelici'', 29 June 1914.</ref>}}

The [[Second Vatican Council]] described Aquinas' system as the "Perennial Philosophy".<ref>[[Second Vatican Council]], ''[[Optatam Totius]]'' (28 October 1965) 15.</ref>

====Actus purus====
{{further|Palamism|Hesychast controversy|Hesychasm|Barlaam of Seminara|Essence–energies distinction}}
''[[Actus purus]]'' is the absolute perfection of [[God]]. According to Scholasticism, created beings have [[Potentiality and actuality|potentiality]]—that is not actuality, imperfections as well as perfection. Only God is simultaneously all that He can be, infinitely real and infinitely perfect: 'I am who I am' ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] {{bibleref2-nb|Gen|3:14}}). His attributes or His operations are really identical with His [[essence]], and His essence necessitates His [[existence]].

=====Lack of essence-energies distinction=====
Later, the Eastern Orthodox ascetic and archbishop of Thessaloniki, (Saint) [[Gregory Palamas]] argued in defense of [[hesychast]] spirituality, the [[Tabor Light|uncreated character of the light of the Transfiguration]], and the [[Essence–energies distinction|distinction between God's essence and energies]]. His teaching unfolded over the course of three major controversies, (1) with the Italo-Greek [[Barlaam of Seminara|Barlaam]] between 1336 and 1341, (2) with the monk [[Gregory Akindynos]] between 1341 and 1347, and (3) with the philosopher [[Nicephorus Gregoras|Gregoras]], from 1348 to 1355. His theological contributions are sometimes referred to as [[Palamism]], and his followers as Palamites.

Historically Latin Christianity has tended to reject Palamism, especially the essence-energies distinction, some times characterizing it as a heretical introduction of an unacceptable division in the Trinity and suggestive of [[polytheism]].<ref name=Meyendorff1>John Meyendorff (editor), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8jcjtUbwptwC&q=%22Palamas+is+a+saint%22&pg=PR11 ''Gregory Palamas – The Triads''], p. xi. Paulist Press, 1983, {{ISBN|978-0809124473}}, although that attitude has never been universally prevalent in the Catholic Church and has been even more widely criticised in the catholic theology for the last century (see section 3 of this article). Retrieved on 12 September 2014.</ref><ref name=Vailhe>"No doubt the leaders of the party held aloof from these vulgar practices of the more ignorant monks, but on the other hand they scattered broadcast perilous theological theories. Palamas taught that by asceticism one could attain a corporal, i.e. a sense view, or perception, of the Divinity. He also held that in God there was a real distinction between the Divine Essence and Its attributes, and he identified grace as one of the Divine propria making it something uncreated and infinite. These monstrous errors were denounced by the Calabrian Barlaam, by Nicephorus Gregoras, and by Acthyndinus. The conflict began in 1338 and ended only in 1368, with the solemn canonization of Palamas and the official recognition of his heresies. He was declared the 'holy doctor' and 'one of the greatest among the Fathers of the Church', and his writings were proclaimed 'the infallible guide of the Christian Faith'. Thirty years of incessant controversy and discordant councils ended with a resurrection of polytheism" {{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06752a.htm|author=Simon Vailhé|title=Greek Church|publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company|year=1909}}</ref> Further, the associated practice of [[hesychasm]] used to achieve [[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|theosis]] was characterized as "magic".<ref name=Fortescue>{{Citation | last = Fortescue | first = Adrian | title = Hesychasm | publisher = Robert Appleton Company | year = 1910 | location = New York | volume = VII | url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm | access-date = 2008-02-03}}</ref><ref name=Vailhe2>"No doubt the leaders of the party held aloof from these vulgar practices of the more ignorant monks, but on the other hand they scattered broadcast perilous theological theories. Palamas taught that by asceticism one could attain a corporal, i.e. a sense view, or perception, of the Divinity. He also held that in God there was a real distinction between the Divine Essence and Its attributes, and he identified grace as one of the Divine propria making it something uncreated and infinite. These monstrous errors were denounced by the Calabrian Barlaam, by Nicephorus Gregoras, and by Acthyndinus. The conflict began in 1338 and ended only in 1368, with the solemn canonization of Palamas and the official recognition of his heresies. He was declared the 'holy doctor' and 'one of the greatest among the Fathers of the Church', and his writings were proclaimed 'the infallible guide of the Christian Faith'. Thirty years of incessant controversy and discordant councils ended with a resurrection of polytheism" ([http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06752a.htm Simon Vailhé, "Greek Church" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909)]</ref> More recently, some Roman Catholic thinkers have taken a positive view of Palamas's teachings, including the essence-energies distinction, arguing that it does not represent an insurmountable theological division between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy,<ref name="Michael J. Christensen pp. 243–244">Michael J. Christensen, Jeffery A. Wittung (editors), ''Partakers of the Divine Nature''(Associated University Presses 2007 {{ISBN|0-8386-4111-3}}), pp. 243–244</ref> and his feast day as a saint is celebrated by some [[Byzantine Rite|Byzantine]] [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Catholic]] churches in communion with Rome.<ref>[https://melkite.org/tag/sunday-of-gregory-palamas The Search For Sacred Quietude (melkite.org)]</ref><ref>[http://sspp.ca/our-faith/liturgical-year/movable-feasts/the-second-sunday-gregory-palamas/ Second Sunday of the Great Fast Gregory Palamas (sspp.ca)]</ref>

The rejection of Palamism by the West and by those in the East who favoured union with the West (the "Latinophrones"), actually contributed to its acceptance in the East, according to Martin Jugie, who adds: "Very soon Latinism and Antipalamism, in the minds of many, would come to be seen as one and the same thing".<ref>{{cite web |title=Martin Jugie, The Palamite Controversy |date=13 June 2009 |url=http://bekkos.wordpress.com/martin-jugie-the-palamite-controversy/6-palamism-as-official-church-doctrine/ |access-date=2010-12-27}}</ref>

===''Filioque''===
{{further|History of the Filioque controversy}}
{{Annotated image 4
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{{Annotation|20|27|'''<big>[[God the Father#Christianity|The<br>Father]]</big>'''}}
{{Annotation|240|27|'''<big>[[God the Son|The<br>Son]]</big>'''}}
{{Annotation|130|202|'''<big>[[God the Holy Spirit|The<br>Holy<br>Spirit]]</big>'''}}
}}
''[[Filioque]]'' is a Latin term added to the original [[Nicene Creed]], and which has been the subject of great controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. It is not in the original text of the Creed, attributed to the [[First Council of Constantinople]] (381), the [[second ecumenical council]], which says that the [[Holy Spirit]] proceeds "from the [[God the Father|Father]]", without additions of any kind, such as "and the Son" or "alone".<ref>{{cite book|author=Reformed Church in America. Commission on Theology|year=2002|chapter=The Nicene Creed and the Procession of the Spirit|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1mZXIGNqCgC&pg=PA70|editor-last=Cook|editor-first=James I.|title=The Church speaks: papers of the Commission on Theology, Reformed Church in America, 1959–1984|series=Historical series of the Reformed Church in America|volume=40|location=Grand Rapids, MI|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=978-0-80280980-3}}</ref>

The phrase ''Filioque'' first appears as an anti-[[Arianism|Arian]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=C2akvQfa-QMC&q=Filioque+Toledo+anti-Arian Dale T. Irvin, Scott Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement (2001)], Volume 1, p. 340</ref><ref name=Dix>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zTdm1WjdfKUC&q=Filioque+Toledo+anti-ArianGregory&pg=PA487 Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (2005), p, 487]</ref> interpolation in the Creed at the [[Third Council of Toledo]] (589), at which [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigothic Spain]] renounced [[Arianism]], accepting Catholic Christianity. The addition was confirmed by subsequent local councils in Toledo and soon spread throughout the West, not only in Spain but also in the kingdom of the Franks, who had adopted the Catholic faith in 496,<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/496clovis.html The Conversion of Clovis]</ref> and in England, where the [[Council of Hatfield]] imposed it in 680 as a response to [[Monothelitism]].<ref name=Plested>Plested, "Filioque" in John Anthony McGuckin, ''The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity'' (Wiley, John & Sons 2011 {{ISBN|978-1-4051-8539-4}}), vol. 1, p. 251</ref> However, it was not adopted in Rome.

In the late 6th century, some Latin churches added the words "and from the Son" (''Filioque'') to the description of the procession of the Holy Spirit, in what many Eastern Orthodox Christians have at a later stage argued is a violation of Canon VII of the [[Council of Ephesus]], since the words were not included in the text by either the [[First Council of Nicaea]] or that of Constantinople.<ref>For a different view, see e.g. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.x.xvi.xi.html Excursus on the Words πίστιν ἑτέραν]</ref> This was incorporated into the liturgical practice of Rome in 1014,<ref name="Catholic Greek-Latin">{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCUFILQ.HTM|title=Greek and Latin Traditions on Holy Spirit|website=Ewtn.com}}</ref> but was rejected by Eastern Christianity.

Whether that term ''Filioque'' is included, as well as how it is translated and understood, can have important implications for how one understands the doctrine of the [[Trinity]], which is central to the majority of Christian churches. For some, the term implies a serious underestimation of [[God the Father]]'s role in the Trinity; for others, denial of what it expresses implies a serious underestimation of the role of [[God the Son]] in the Trinity.

The ''Filioque'' phrase has been included in the Creed throughout all the Latin liturgical rites except where [[Greek language|Greek]] is used in the liturgy,<ref name=PCPCU>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCUFILQ.HTM Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: The Greek and the Latin Traditions regarding the Procession of the Holy Spirit] and [http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=1176&CFID=34190325&CFTOKEN=32054876 same document on another site]</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Ρωμαϊκό Λειτουργικό (Roman Missal), Συνοδική Επιτροπή για τη θεία Λατρεία 2005, I, p. 347</ref> although it was never adopted by Eastern Catholic Churches.<ref name=Brest>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TREATBR.HTM Article 1 of the Treaty of Brest]</ref>

===Purgatory===
{{further|History of purgatory|Three states of the Church}}
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 172.jpg|thumb|Impression of purgatory by Peter Paul Rubens]]
Another doctrine of Latin Christianity is [[purgatory]], about which Latin Christianity holds that "all who die in God's grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified" undergo the process of purification which the Catholic Church calls purgatory, "so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of [[Heaven in Christianity|heaven]]". It has formulated this doctrine by reference to biblical verses that speak of purifying fire ({{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|3:15}} and {{bibleverse|1 Peter|1:7}}) and to the mention by Jesus of forgiveness in the age to come ({{bibleverse|Matthew|12:32}}). It bases its teaching also on the practice of praying for the dead in use within the church ever since the church began and which is mentioned even earlier in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Maccabees+12%3A43-46&version=DRA 2 Macc 12:46].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2N.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The Final Purification, or Purgatory"]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT25.HTM#1|title=Pius IV Council of Trent-25|website=www.ewtn.com}}</ref>

The idea of purgatory has roots that date back into antiquity. A sort of proto-purgatory called the "celestial [[Hades]]" appears in the writings of Plato and Heraclides Ponticus and in many other pagan writers. This concept is distinguished from the Hades of the underworld described in the works of Homer and Hesiod. In contrast, the celestial Hades was understood as an intermediary place where souls spent an undetermined time after death before either moving on to a higher level of existence or being reincarnated back on earth. Its exact location varied from author to author. Heraclides of Pontus thought it was in the Milky Way; the Academicians, the [[Stoics]], Cicero, [[Virgil]], [[Plutarch]], the [[Hermetica|Hermetical writings]] situated it between the Moon and the Earth or around the Moon; while Numenius and the Latin Neoplatonists thought it was located between the sphere of the fixed stars and the Earth.<ref>Adrian Mihai, "L'Hadès céleste. Histoire du purgatoire dans l'Antiquité"(Garnier: 2015), pp.185–188</ref>

Perhaps under the influence of Hellenistic thought, the intermediate state entered Jewish religious thought in the last centuries before Christ. In Maccabees, we find the practice of prayer for the dead with a view to their after life purification,<ref>cf. {{bibleverse|2|Maccabees|12:42–44|NRSV}}</ref> [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|a practice accepted by some Christians]]. The same practice appears in other traditions, such as the medieval Chinese [[Buddhist]] practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead, who are said to suffer numerous trials.<ref name="EB">[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061946/purgatory Purgatory] in Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> Among other reasons, Western Catholic teaching of purgatory is based on the pre-Christian (Judaic) practice of [[prayer for the dead|prayers for the dead]].<ref>[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]], [https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#III 1032]</ref>

[[File:Carracci-Purgatory.jpg|thumb|left|Image of a fiery purgatory by [[Ludovico Carracci]]]]
Specific examples of belief in a purification after death and of the communion of the living with the dead through prayer are found in many of the [[Church Fathers]].<ref>[[Gerald O'Collins]] and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27.</ref> [[Irenaeus]] ({{circa|130–202}}) mentioned an abode where the souls of the dead remained until the universal judgment, a process that has been described as one which "contains the concept of ... purgatory".<ref>''Christian Dogmatics'' vol. 2 (Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 1984) p. 503; cf. Irenaeus, ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Against Heresies]]'' 5.31.2, in ''The Ante-Nicene Fathers'' eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979) 1:560 cf. 5.36.2 / 1:567; cf. George Cross, "The Differentiation of the Roman and Greek Catholic Views of the Future Life", in ''The Biblical World'' (1912) p. 107</ref> Both [[Clement of Alexandria]] ({{circa|150–215}}) and his pupil [[Origen of Alexandria]] ({{circa|185–254}}) developed a view of purification after death;<ref>Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27; cf. Adolph Harnack, ''History of Dogma'' vol. 2, trans. Neil Buchanan (London, Williams & Norgate, 1995) p. 337; Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book6.html 6:14]</ref> this view drew upon the notion that fire is a divine instrument from the [[Old Testament]], and understood this in the context of [[New Testament]] teachings such as [[baptism|baptism by fire]], from the Gospels, and a purificatory trial after death, from [[Paul of Tarsus|St. Paul]].<ref>Jacques Le Goff, ''The Birth of Purgatory'' (University of Chicago Press, 1984) p. 53; cf. {{bibleverse||Leviticus|10:1–2}}, {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|32:22}}, {{bibleverse||1Corinthians|3:10–15}}</ref> Origen, in arguing against [[soul sleep]], stated that the souls of the elect immediately entered paradise unless not yet purified, in which case they passed into a state of punishment, a penal fire, which is to be conceived as a place of purification.<ref>[[Adolf von Harnack|Adolph Harnack]], ''History of Dogma'' vol. 2, trans. Neil Buchanan (London: Williams & Norgate, 1905) p. 377. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma2.ii.iv.iii.v.html#ii.iv.iii.v-Page_377 read online].</ref> For both Clement and Origen, the fire was neither a material thing nor a metaphor, but a "spiritual fire".<ref>Jacques Le Goff, ''The Birth of Purgatory'' (University of Chicago Press, 1984) pp. 55–57; cf. Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' 7:6 and 5:14</ref> The early Latin author [[Tertullian]] ({{circa|160–225}}) also articulated a view of purification after death.<ref>Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27; cf. Adolph Harnack, ''History of Dogma'' vol. 2, trans. Neil Buchanan (London, Williams & Norgate, 1995) p. 296 n. 1; George Cross, "The Differentiation of the Roman and Greek Catholic Views of the Future Life", in ''The Biblical World'' (1912); Tertullian ''De Anima''</ref> In Tertullian's understanding of the afterlife, the souls of [[martyr]]s entered directly into eternal blessedness,<ref name="J. Visser 1967 p. 13">A. J. Visser, "A Bird's-Eye View of Ancient Christian Eschatology", in ''Numen'' (1967) p. 13</ref> whereas the rest entered a generic realm of the dead. There the wicked suffered a foretaste of their eternal punishments,<ref name="J. Visser 1967 p. 13"/> whilst the good experienced various stages and places of bliss wherein "the idea of a kind of purgatory … is quite plainly found," an idea that is representative of a view widely dispersed in antiquity.<ref>[[Adolf von Harnack|Adolph Harnack]], ''History of Dogma'' vol. 2, trans. Neil Buchanan (London: Williams & Norgate, 1905) p. 296 n. 1. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma2.ii.iv.ii.ii.html#ii.iv.ii.ii-Page_296 read online]; cf. Jacques Le Goff, ''The Birth of Purgatory'' (University of Chicago Press, 1984) pp. 58–59</ref> Later examples, wherein further elaborations are articulated, include [[Cyprian of Carthage|St. Cyprian]] (d. 258),<ref>Cyprian, ''Letters'' [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050651.htm 51:20]; Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27</ref> [[John Chrysostom|St. John Chrysostom]] ({{circa|347–407}}),<ref>John Chrysostom, ''Homily on First Corinthians'' [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220141.htm 41:5]; ''Homily on Philippians'' [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230203.htm 3:9–10]; Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27</ref> and [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] (354–430),<ref>Augustine, ''Sermons'' 159:1, 172:2; ''City of God'' [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120121.htm 21:13]; ''Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity'' 18:69, 29:109; ''Confessions'' 2.27; Gerald O' Collins and Mario Farrugia, ''Catholicism: the story of Catholic Christianity'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) p. 36; Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000) p. 27</ref> among others.

[[Pope Gregory the Great]]'s ''Dialogues'', written in the late 6th century, evidence a development in the understanding of the afterlife distinctive of the direction that Latin [[Christendom]] would take:
<blockquote>As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the [[World to Come|age to come]]. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.<ref>Gregory the Great, ''Dialogues'' 4, 39: PL 77, 396; cf. {{bibleverse||Matthew|12:31}}</ref></blockquote>

====Speculations and imaginings about purgatory====
[[File:Dante03.jpg|thumb|Dante gazes at purgatory (shown as a mountain) in this 16th-century painting.]]
Some Catholic saints and theologians have had sometimes conflicting ideas about purgatory beyond those adopted by the Catholic Church, reflecting or contributing to the popular image, which includes the notions of purification by actual fire, in a determined place and for a precise length of time. [[Paul J. Griffiths]] notes: "Recent Catholic thought on purgatory typically preserves the essentials of the basic doctrine while also offering second-hand speculative interpretations of these elements."<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1XYXMTe1jYC&q=Griffiths+purgatory+second-order&pg=PA436 |author=Paul J. Griffiths |chapter=Purgatory |editor=Jerry L. Walls |title=The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |page=436|isbn=9780199742486 }}</ref> Thus [[Joseph Ratzinger]] wrote: "Purgatory is not, as [[Tertullian]] thought, some kind of supra-worldly concentration camp where man is forced to undergo punishment in a more or less arbitrary fashion. Rather it is the inwardly necessary process of transformation in which a person becomes capable of Christ, capable of God, and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfomsX5KtYkC&q=supra-worldly+concentration&pg=PA230 |author=Joseph Ratzinger |title=Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life |publisher=CUA Press |year=2007 |page=230|isbn=9780813215167 }}</ref>

In ''Theological Studies'', John E. Thiel argued that "purgatory virtually disappeared from Catholic belief and practice since Vatican II" because it has been based on "a competitive spirituality, gravitating around the religious vocation of ascetics from the late Middle Ages". "The birth of purgatory negotiated the eschatological anxiety of the laity. [...] In a manner similar to the ascetic's lifelong lengthening of the temporal field of competition with the martyr, belief in purgatory lengthened the layperson's temporal field of competition with the ascetic."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thiel|first=John E.|date=2008|title=Time, Judgment, and Competitive Spirituality: A Reading of the Development of the Doctrine of Purgatory|url=http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/69/69.4/69.4.1.pdf|journal=Theological Studies|volume=69|issue=4|pages=741–785|doi=10.1177/004056390806900401|s2cid=170574571|access-date=2020-07-05|archive-date=2020-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108134951/http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/69/69.4/69.4.1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The speculations and popular imaginings that, especially in late medieval times, were common in the Western or Latin Church have not necessarily found acceptance in the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], of which there are 23 in [[full communion]] with the pope. Some have explicitly rejected the notions of punishment by fire in a particular place that are prominent in the popular picture of purgatory. The representatives of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] at the [[Council of Florence]] argued against these notions, while declaring that they do hold that there is a cleansing after death of the souls of the saved and that these are assisted by the prayers of the living: "If souls depart from this life in faith and charity but marked with some defilements, whether unrepented minor ones or major ones repented of but without having yet borne the fruits of repentance, we believe that within reason they are purified of those faults, but not by some purifying fire and particular punishments in some place."<ref>[https://archive.org/details/patrologiaorient15pariuoft/page/40 "First Speech by Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus, on Purifying Fire" in ''Patrologia Orientalis'', vol. 15, pp. 40–41]</ref> The definition of purgatory adopted by that council excluded the two notions with which the Orthodox disagreed and mentioned only the two points that, they said, were part of their faith also. Accordingly, the agreement, known as the [[Union of Brest]], that formalized the admission of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]] into the full [[communion (Christian)|communion]] of the Roman Catholic Church stated: "We shall not debate about purgatory, but we entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Holy Church".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1595brest.html|title=Treaty of Brest, Article 5}}</ref>

===Mary Magdalene of Bethany===
{{further|Mary of Bethany#Medieval Western identification with Mary Magdalene}}
{{See also|Mary Magdalene}}
[[File:Guido Reni - The Penitent Magdalene - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|The Penitent Magdalene by [[Guido Reni]]]]
In the medieval Western tradition, [[Mary of Bethany]] the sister of [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]] was identified as [[Mary Magdalene]] perhaps in large part because of a [[homily]] given by Pope Gregory the Great in which he taught about several women in the [[New Testament]] as though they were the same person. This led to a conflation of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene as well as with another woman (besides Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus), the woman caught in adultery. Eastern Christianity never adopted this identification. In his article in the 1910 ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', [[Hugh Pope]] stated, "The [[Church Fathers#Greek Fathers|Greek Fathers]], as a whole, distinguish the three persons: the 'sinner' of {{Bibleverse|Luke|7:36–50}}; the sister of Martha and Lazarus, {{Bibleverse|Luke|10:38–42}} and {{Bibleverse|John|11}}; and Mary Magdalen.<ref name="Pope">Pope, H. (1910). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm St. Mary Magdalen], in The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>

French scholar Victor Saxer dates the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, and as Mary of Bethany, to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great on September 21, AD 591, where he seemed to combine the actions of three women mentioned in the New Testament and also identified an unnamed woman as Mary Magdalene. In another sermon, Gregory specifically identified Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha mentioned in Luke 10.<ref>referenced in {{cite book|last=Jansen|first=Katherine Ludwig |title=The making of the Magdalen: preaching and popular devotion in the later Middle Ages|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2001|isbn=978-0-691-08987-4}}</ref> But according to a view expressed more recently by theologian Jane Schaberg, Gregory only put the final touch to a legend that already existed before him.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rivera |first=John |url=http://wwrn.org/articles/3488/?&section=general |title=John Rivera, "Restoring Mary Magdalene" in "Worldwide Religious News", ''The Baltimore Sun'', April 18, 2003 |publisher=Wwrn.org |date=2003-04-18 |access-date=2018-04-05}}</ref>

Latin Christianity's identification of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany was reflected in the arrangement of the [[General Roman Calendar]] until this was altered in 1969,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7ly4DgtT3LkC&dq=%22Mary+of+Bethany%22+%22Mary+Magdalene%22+Catholic&pg=PA447 Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley (editors), ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'', Volume 3 (Eerdmans 2003] {{ISBN|978-90-0412654-1}}), p. 447</ref> reflecting the fact that by then the common interpretation in the Catholic Church was that Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman who anointed the feet of Jesus were three distinct women.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=b7kcK5YGvWkC&dq=%22Mary+of+Bethany%22+%22Mary+Magdalene%22+Catholic&pg=PA80 John Flader, ''Question Time: 150 Questions and Answers on the Catholic Faith'' (Taylor Trade Publications, 2010] {{ISBN|978-1-58979594-5}}), pp. 79–81</ref>

===Original sin===
{{further|Original sin}}
{{See also|Hamartiology}}
The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' says:

<blockquote>
By his sin [[Adam]], as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all humans.

Adam and [[Eve]] transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called "original sin".

As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |website=Vatican.va |access-date=24 January 2017}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Michelangelo, Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden 00.jpg|thumb|upright=2|[[Michelangelo]]'s painting of the sin of Adam and Eve from the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]]]]
The concept of original sin was first alluded to in the 2nd century by St [[Irenaeus]], [[Bishop of Lyon]] in his controversy with certain [[dualistic cosmology|dualist]] [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]].<ref>"In the person of the first Adam we offend God, disobeying His precept" (Haeres., V, xvi, 3).</ref> Other church fathers such as [[Augustine]] also shaped and developed the doctrine,<ref>Patte, Daniel. The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Ed. Daniel Patte. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 892.</ref><ref name="ODCC">{{cite book
|editor1-last=Cross
|editor1-first=Frank Leslie
|editor1-link=Frank Leslie Cross
|editor2-last=Livingstone
|editor2-first=Elizabeth A.
|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
|chapter=Original sin
|year=2005
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|location=Oxford
|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3
|edition=3rd rev.
}}</ref> seeing it as based on the New Testament teaching of [[Paul the Apostle]] ([[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] {{bibleref2-nb|Romans|5:12–21}} and [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] {{bibleref2-nb|1 Corinthians|15:21–22}}) and the [[Old Testament]] verse of [[Psalms|Psalm]] {{bibleref2-nb|Psalm|51:5}}.<ref>{{cite web|author=Peter Nathan |url=http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=227 |title=The Original View of Original Sin |website=Vision.org |access-date=24 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/num54.htm |title=Original Sin Explained and Defended: Reply to an Assemblies of God Pastor |website=Philvaz.com |access-date=24 January 2017 |archive-date=29 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729225730/http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/num54.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://nazarene.org/ministries/administration/visitorcenter/articles/ Preamble and Articles of Faith] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020030856/http://nazarene.org/ministries/administration/visitorcenter/articles/ |date=20 October 2013 }} – V. Sin, Original and Personal – Church of the Nazarene. Retrieved 13 October 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.topicalbiblestudies.com/original-sin.php Are Babies Born with Sin?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021173528/http://www.topicalbiblestudies.com/original-sin.php |date=21 October 2013 }} – Topical Bible Studies. Retrieved 13 October 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55992/original-sin Original Sin] – Psalm 51:5 – Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 13 October 2013.</ref> [[Tertullian]], [[Cyprian]], [[Ambrose]] and [[Ambrosiaster]] considered that humanity shares in Adam's sin, transmitted by human generation. [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine's]] formulation of original sin after AD 412 was popular among [[Protestant Reformation|Protestant reformers]], such as [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]], who equated original sin with [[concupiscence]] (or "hurtful desire"), affirming that it persisted even after [[baptism]] and completely destroyed freedom to do good. Before 412, Augustine said that free will was weakened but not destroyed by original sin.<ref name="ODCC"/> But after 412 this changed to a loss of free will except to sin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Kenneth |title=Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology |date=2018 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |location=Tübingen |isbn=9783161557538 |pages=16–18, 157–187}}</ref> Modern Calvinism holds the later [[Augustinian soteriology]] view. The [[Jansenism|Jansenist]] movement, which the Catholic Church declared to be heretical, also maintained that original sin destroyed [[Free will|freedom of will]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08285a.htm |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Jansenius and Jansenism |website=Newadvent.org |date=1 October 1910 |access-date=24 January 2017}}</ref> Instead the Western Catholic Church declares: "Baptism, by imparting the life of [[Divine grace|Christ's grace]], erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle."<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church 405.</ref> "Weakened and diminished by Adam's fall, free will is yet not destroyed in the race."<ref>Council of Trent (Sess. VI, cap. i and v).</ref>

[[St. Anselm]] says: "The sin of Adam was one thing but the sin of children at their birth is quite another, the former was the cause, the latter is the effect."<ref>De conceptu virginali, xxvi.</ref> In a child, original sin is distinct from the fault of Adam, it is one of its effects. The effects of Adam's sin according to the Catholic Encyclopedia are:
# Death and Suffering: "One man has transmitted to the whole human race not only the death of the body, which is the punishment of sin, but even sin itself, which is the death of the soul."
# Concupiscence or Inclination to sin. Baptism erases original sin but the inclination to sin remains.
# The absence of sanctifying grace in the new-born child is also an effect of the first sin, for Adam, having received holiness and justice from God, lost it not only for himself but also for us. Baptism confers original sanctifying grace, lost through the Adam's sin, thus eliminating original sin and any personal sin.<ref name="originalsin">{{cite web|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Original Sin|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm|website=New Advent|access-date=1 January 2018}}</ref>

Eastern Catholics and Eastern Christianity, in general, do not have the same theology of [[Fall of man|the Fall]] and original sin as Latin Catholics.<ref name="From East to West">"[https://east2west.org/sp_faq/original-sin/ Original Sin]", From East to West.</ref> But since Vatican II there has been development in Catholic thinking. Some warn against taking Genesis 3 too literally. They take into account that "God had the church in mind before the foundation of the world" (as in Ephesians 1:4).<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part One) (Sermon)|url=https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.Details/ID/463/Holy-Spirit-Trinity-Part-1.htm|access-date=2020-05-06|website=Bible Tools |first=John W. |last=Ritenbaugh |date=May 31, 1998 }}</ref> as also in 2 Timothy 1:9: ". . . his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus ''before'' the world began."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Before the World Began|url=https://www.icr.org/article/before-world-began/|access-date=2020-05-06|website=The Institute for Creation Research |date=Dec 6, 2018 |first=Henry M. |last=Morris |language=en}}</ref> And [[Pope Benedict XVI]] in his book ''In the Beginning ...'' referred to the term "original sin" as "misleading and unprecise".<ref>"Cardinal" Joseph Ratzinger, ''In the Beginning'', 1986, p. 72.</ref> Benedict does not require a literal interpretation of Genesis, or of the origin or evil, but writes: "How was this possible, how did it happen? This remains obscure. ...Evil remains mysterious. It has been presented in great images, as does chapter 3 of Genesis, with the vision of two trees, of the serpent, of sinful man."<ref>{{Cite web|title=General Audience of 3 December 2008: Saint Paul (15). The Apostle's teaching on the relation between Adam and Christ {{!}} BENEDICT XVI|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081203.html|access-date=2020-05-06|website=The Holy See}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Pope ponders original sin, speaks about modern desire for change|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/14509/pope-ponders-original-sin-speaks-about-modern-desire-for-change |date=Dec 3, 2008 |access-date=2020-05-06|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en}}</ref>

===Immaculate Conception===
[[File:Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante. Inmaculada Concepción.jpg|thumb|''Inmaculada Concepción'' by [[Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante]]]]
The [[Immaculate Conception]] is the [[Human fertilization|conception]] of the [[Titles of Mary|Blessed]] [[Virgin Mary]] free from original sin by virtue of the merits of her son [[Jesus]]. Although the belief has been widely held since [[Late Antiquity]], the doctrine was [[dogma]]tically defined in the Catholic Church only in 1854 when [[Pope Pius IX]] declared it ''[[Papal infallibility#Ex cathedra|ex cathedra]]'', i.e., using papal infallibility, in his [[papal bull]] ''[[Ineffabilis Deus]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a3p2.htm|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – "Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary"|website=The Holy See}}</ref>

It is admitted that the doctrine as defined by Pius IX was not explicitly noted before the 12th century. It is also agreed that "no direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from [[Bible|Scripture]]".<ref name=Holweck>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm Frederick Holweck, "Immaculate Conception" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 1910]</ref> But it is claimed that the doctrine is implicitly contained in the teaching of the Fathers. Their expressions on the subject of the sinlessness of Mary are, it is pointed out, so ample and so absolute that they must be taken to include original sin as well as actual. Thus in the first five centuries, such epithets as "in every respect holy", "in all things unstained", "super-innocent", and "singularly holy" are applied to her; she is compared to Eve before the fall, as ancestress of a redeemed people; she is "the earth before it was accursed". The well-known words of St. [[Augustine]] (d. 430) may be cited: "As regards the mother of God," he says, "I will not allow any question whatever of sin." It is true that he is here speaking directly of actual or personal sin. But his argument is that all men are sinners; that they are so through original depravity; that this original depravity may be overcome by the grace of God, and he adds that he does not know but that Mary may have had sufficient grace to overcome sin "of every sort" (''omni ex parte'').<ref name=EB1911/>

[[Bernard of Clairvaux]] in the 12th century raised the question of the Immaculate Conception. A feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin had already begun to be celebrated in some churches of the West. St Bernard blames the canons of the metropolitan church of [[Lyon]] for instituting such a festival without the permission of the Holy See. In doing so, he takes occasion to repudiate altogether the view that the conception of Mary was sinless, calling it a "novelty". Some doubt, however, whether he was using the term "conception" in the same sense in which it is used in the definition of [[Pope Pius IX]]. Bernard would seem to have been speaking of conception in the active sense of the mother's cooperation, for in his argument he says: "How can there be absence of sin where there is concupiscence (''libido'')?" and stronger expressions follow, which could be interpreted to indicate that he was speaking of the mother and not of the child. Yet, Bernard also decries those who support the feast for trying to "add to the glories of Mary", which proves he was indeed talking about Mary.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Immaculate Conception, The |volume=14 |pages=334–335 |first=John |last=Hedley |author-link=John Hedley (bishop)}}</ref>

The theological underpinnings of Immaculate Conception had been the subject of debate during the [[Middle Ages]] with opposition provided by figures such as Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]], a Dominican. However, supportive arguments by Franciscans [[William of Ware]] and [[Pelbartus Ladislaus of Temesvár]],<ref>Z. J. Kosztolnyik, ''Some Hungarian Theologians in the Late Renaissance'', ''Church History. Volume: 57''. Issue: 1, 1988. Z. J. Kosztolnyik, ''Pelbartus of Temesvar: a Franciscan Preacher and Writer of the Late Middle Ages in Hungary'', ''Vivarium'', 5/1967. Kenan B. Osborne, O.F.M., ''The History of Franciscan Theology'', The Franciscan Institute St. Bonaventure, [[New York City|New York]], 1994. Franklin H. Littell (ed.), ''Reformation Studies'', John Knox Press, [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Virginia]], 1962.</ref> and general belief among Catholics, made the doctrine more acceptable so that the [[Council of Basel]] supported it in the 15th century, but the [[Council of Trent]] sidestepped the question. [[Pope Sixtus IV]], a Franciscan, had tried to pacify the situation by forbidding either side to criticize the other, and placed the feast of the Immaculate Conception on the [[Calendarium Romanum|Roman Calendar]] in 1477, but [[Pope Pius V]], a Dominican, changed it to the feast of the Conception of Mary. [[Clement XI]] made the feast universal in 1708, but still did not call it the feast of the Immaculate Conception.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/firstlettertove00pusegoog/page/n377 <!-- pg=379 quote=Clement XI immaculate conception. --> Edward Bouverie Pusey, ''First letter to the Very Rev. J. H. Newman'' (J. Parker & Co. 1869), p. 379]</ref> Popular and theological support for the concept continued to grow and by the 18th century it was widely depicted in art.<ref>''Mary in the Christian tradition'' by Kathleen Coyle 1996 {{ISBN|0-85244-380-3}} page 38</ref><ref>''Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Volume 2'' by André Vauchez, Richard Barrie Dobson 2001 {{ISBN|1-57958-282-6}} page 348</ref><ref>Burke, Raymond L.; et al. (2008). ''Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons'' {{ISBN|978-1-57918-355-4}}, pp. 642–644</ref><ref>''The Catholic Reformation'' by Michael A. Mullett 1999 {{ISBN|0-415-18914-4}}, p. 5</ref>

==== Duns Scotus ====
{{See also|Scotism|Duns Scotus}}
[[File:JohnDunsScotus - full.jpg|thumb|John Duns Scotus was one of the Scholastic philosophers that argued most for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.]]
The [[Beatification|Blessed]] [[John Duns Scotus]] (d. 1308), a [[Order of Friars Minor|Friar Minor]] like Saint Bonaventure, argued, that from a rational point of view it was certainly as little derogatory to the merits of Christ to assert that Mary was by him preserved from all taint of sin, as to say that she first contracted it and then was delivered.<ref name=EB1911/> Proposing a solution to the theological problem of reconciling the doctrine with that of universal redemption in Christ, he argued that Mary's immaculate conception did not remove her from redemption by Christ; rather it was the result of a more perfect redemption granted her because of her special role in salvation history.<ref>''Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi'' by Karl Rahner 2004 {{ISBN|0-86012-006-6}}, pp. 896–898</ref>

The arguments of Scotus, combined with a better acquaintance with the language of the early Fathers, gradually prevailed in the schools of the Western Church. In 1387 the university of Paris strongly condemned the opposite view.<ref name=EB1911/>

Scotus's arguments remained controversial, however, particularly among the Dominicans, who were willing enough to celebrate Mary's ''sanctificatio'' (being made free from sin) but, following the Dominican Thomas Aquinas' arguments, continued to insist that her sanctification could not have occurred until after her conception.<ref name=Holweck/>

Scotus pointed out that Mary's Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus' redemptive work.<ref>[http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1223 Foley OFM, Leonard. "Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception", ''Saint of the Day'', (revised by Pat McCloskey OFM), AmericanCatholic.org]</ref>

Scotus's argument appears in [[Pope Pius IX]]'s 1854 declaration of the [[dogma]] of the Immaculate Conception, "at the first moment of Her conception, Mary was preserved free from the stain of original sin, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ."<ref name="Life">{{cite web |title=The Life of Blessed John Duns Scotus|publisher=EWTN|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/scotus.htm}}</ref> Scotus's position was hailed as "a correct expression of the faith of the Apostles."<ref name="Life"/>

====Dogmatically defined====
The complete defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception states:
{{blockquote|We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.<ref>{{cite web |title=INEFFABILIS DEUS (The Immaculate Conception) Pope Pius IX |url=http://www.ewtn.com/LIBRARY/PAPALDOC/P9INEFF.htm |website=ewtn.com}}</ref>

''Declaramus, pronuntiamus et definimus doctrinam, quae tenet, beatissimam Virginem Mariam in primo instanti suae Conceptionis fuisse singulari omnipotentis Dei gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritorum Christi lesu Salvatoris humani generis, ab omni originalis culpae labe praeservatam immunem, esse a Deo revelatam, atque idcirco ab omnibus fidelibus firmiter constanterque credendam. Quapropter si qui secus ac a Nobis.''}}

Pope Pius IX explicitly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sublime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was completely prevented from contracting original sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race. In {{Bibleverse||Luke|1:47}}, Mary proclaims: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour." This is referred to as Mary's pre-redemption by Christ. Since the [[Second Council of Orange]] against [[Semipelagianism|semi-pelagianism]], the Catholic Church has taught that even had man never sinned in the [[Garden of Eden]] and was sinless, he would still require God's grace to remain sinless.<ref>[http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma2.php Council of Orange II, Canon 19 ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113162800/http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma2.php |date=2009-01-13}} "That no one is saved except by God's mercy. Even if human nature remained in that integrity in which it was formed, it would in no way save itself without the help of its Creator; therefore, since without the grace of God it cannot guard the health which it received, how without the grace of God will it be able to recover what it has lost?"</ref><ref>''Theology for Beginners'' by Francis Joseph Sheed 1958 {{ISBN|0-7220-7425-5}}, pp. 134–138</ref>

The definition concerns original sin only, and it makes no declaration about the church's belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless in the sense of freedom from actual or personal sin.<ref name=EB1911/> The doctrine teaches that from her conception Mary, being always free from original sin, received the [[sanctifying grace]] that would normally come with baptism after birth.

Eastern Catholics and Eastern Christianity, in general, believe that Mary was [[sinless]] but they do not have the same theology of [[Fall of man|the Fall]] and original sin as Latin Catholics.<ref name="From East to West"/>

===Assumption of Mary===
[[File:Baroque Rubens Assumption-of-Virgin-3.jpg|thumb|''The Assumption of Mary'', [[Peter Paul Rubens]], {{circa|1626}}]]
The [[Assumption of Mary]] into Heaven (often shortened to ''the Assumption'') is the [[Entering heaven alive|bodily taking up]] of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] into [[Heaven (Christianity)|Heaven]] at the end of her earthly life.

On 1 November 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution {{lang|la|[[Munificentissimus Deus]]}}, Pope [[Pius XII]] declared the Assumption of Mary as a dogma:

{{blockquote|By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.<ref>Apostolic Constitution ''[[Munificentissimus Deus]]'' [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus_en.html item 44 at the Vatican web site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904181017/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus_en.html |date=4 September 2013 }}</ref>}}

In Pius XII's dogmatic statement, the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life", leaves open the question of whether the Virgin Mary died before her assumption or not. Mary's assumption is said to have been a divine gift to her as the "Mother of God". Ludwig Ott's view is that, as Mary completed her life as a shining example to the human race, the perspective of the gift of assumption is offered to the whole human race.<ref>Ludwig Ott's ''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'', pp. 250 ff.</ref>

Ludwig Ott writes in his book ''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'' that "the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church", to which he adds a number of helpful citations. He concludes: "for Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from [[original sin]] and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her [[Jesus|Divine Son]], subject to the general law of death".<ref name=Ott6>''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'', Ludwig Ott, Book III, Pt. 3, Ch. 2, §6, {{ISBN|0-89555-009-1}}</ref>

[[File:Tizian 041.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)|Titian's Assumption]]'' (1516–1518)]]
The point of her bodily death has not been infallibly defined by any pope. Many Catholics believe that she did not die at all, but was assumed directly into Heaven. The dogmatic definition within the Apostolic Constitution {{lang|la|[[Munificentissimus Deus]]}} which, according to Roman Catholic dogma, infallibly proclaims the doctrine of the Assumption leaves open the question of whether, in connection with her departure, Mary underwent bodily death. It does not dogmatically define the point one way or the other, as shown by the words "having completed the course of her earthly life".<ref name="Vatican-deus_en">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus_en.html |title=Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, no 44 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=3 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904181017/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus_en.html |archive-date=4 September 2013 }}</ref>

Before the dogmatic definition in ''[[Deiparae Virginis Mariae]]'' Pope Pius XII sought the opinion of Catholic Bishops. A large number of them pointed to the [[Book of Genesis]] ([[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Genesis#3:15|3:15]]) as scriptural support for the dogma.<ref name="IntroM75">''Introduction to Mary'' by Mark Miravalle (1993) Queenship Pub. Co. {{ISBN|978-1-882972-06-7}} pp. 75–78</ref> In {{lang|la|[[Munificentissimus Deus]]}} (item 39) Pius XII referred to the "struggle against the infernal foe" as in Genesis 3:15 and to "complete victory over the sin and death" as in the [[Letters of Paul]] as a scriptural basis for the dogmatic definition, Mary being assumed to heaven as in [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:54|1 Corinthians 15:54]]: "then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory".<ref name="IntroM75"/><ref name="Mariology pages 328-350">Paul Haffner in ''Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, seminarians, and Consecrated Persons'' (2008) {{ISBN|9781579183554}} edited by M. Miravalle, pp. 328–350</ref>

====Assumption vs. Dormition====
{{See also|John of Damascus}}
The Western Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on 15 August, and the Eastern Orthodox and [[Greek Catholic]]s celebrate the [[Dormition of the Mother of God]] (or Dormition of the [[Theotokos]], the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date, preceded by a 14-day [[fasting|fast]] period. Eastern Christians believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily in anticipation of the general [[resurrection]]. Her tomb was found empty on the third day.

[[File:Theofanus uspenie.jpg|thumb|Icon of the Dormition by [[Theophan the Greek]], 1392]]
{{blockquote|Orthodox tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point [of the Dormition]: the Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body—like His—was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement, and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body ... has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now.<ref>Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, in: Festal Menaion [London: Faber and Faber, 1969], p. 64.</ref>}}

Many Catholics also believe that Mary first died before being assumed, but they believe that she was miraculously resurrected before being assumed. Others believe she was assumed bodily into Heaven without first dying.<ref>''The Catholicism Answer Book: The 300 Most Frequently Asked Questions'' by John Trigilio, Kenneth Brighenti 2007 {{ISBN|1-4022-0806-5}} p. 64</ref><ref>Shoemaker 2006, p. 201</ref> Either understanding may be legitimately held by Catholics, with [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholics]] observing the Feast as the Dormition.

Many theologians note by way of comparison that in the Catholic Church, the Assumption is dogmatically defined, while in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Dormition is less dogmatically than liturgically and mystically defined. Such differences spring from a larger pattern in the two traditions, wherein Catholic teachings are often dogmatically and authoritatively defined—in part because of the more centralized structure of the Catholic Church—while in Eastern Orthodoxy, many doctrines are less authoritative.<ref>See "[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/johndamascus-komesis.html Three Sermons on the Dormition of the Virgin]" by [[John of Damascus]], from the Medieval Sourcebook</ref>

===Ancient of Days===
{{See also|God the Father in Western art}}
[[File:Europe a Prophecy, copy D, object 1 (Bentley 1, Erdman i, Keynes i) British Museum.jpg|thumb|''[[The Ancient of Days]]'', watercolor etching from 1794 by [[William Blake]]]]
''[[Ancient of Days]]'' is a [[names of God|name for God]] that appears in the [[Book of Daniel]].

In an early Venetian school ''[[Coronation of the Virgin]]'' by [[Giovanni d'Alemagna]] and [[Antonio Vivarini]], ({{circa|1443}}), God the Father is shown in the representation consistently used by other artists later, namely as a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and a beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the description of the [[Ancient of Days]] in the [[Old Testament]], the nearest approach to a physical description of God in the Old Testament:<ref>Bigham Chapter 7</ref><blockquote>... the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. ([[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] 7:9) </blockquote>

St Thomas Aquinas recalls that some bring forward the objection that the Ancient of Days matches the person of the Father, without necessarily agreeing with this statement himself.<ref>Summa Theologica III.59.1 obj 2, ad 2</ref>

By the twelfth century depictions of a figure of God the Father, essentially based on the [[Ancient of Days]] in the [[Book of Daniel]], had started to appear in French manuscripts and in stained glass church windows in England. In the 14th century the illustrated [[Naples Bible]] had a depiction of God the Father in the [[Burning bush]]. By the 15th century, the [[Rohan Book of Hours]] included depictions of God the Father in human form or [[anthropomorphic]] imagery, and by the time of the [[Renaissance]] artistic representations of God the Father were freely used in the Western Church.<ref>George Ferguson, 1996 ''Signs & symbols in Christian art'' {{ISBN|0195014324}} p. 92</ref>

[[File:Damian. The Ancient of Days.jpg|thumb|left|''The Ancient of Days'', a 14th-century fresco from [[Ubisi]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]]]
Artistic depictions of God the Father were uncontroversial in Catholic art thereafter, but less common depictions of the [[Trinity]] were condemned. In 1745 [[Pope Benedict XIV]] explicitly supported the [[Throne of Mercy]] depiction, referring to the "Ancient of Days", but in 1786 it was still necessary for [[Pope Pius VI]] to issue a [[papal bull]] condemning the decision of an Italian church council to remove all images of the Trinity from churches.<ref>Bigham, 73–76</ref>

The depiction remains rare and often controversial in Eastern Orthodox art. In Eastern Orthodox Church hymns and [[icon]]s, the Ancient of Days is most properly identified with [[God the Son]] or Jesus, and not with God the Father. Most of the eastern church fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel (7:9–10, 13–14) interpreted the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the son before his physical incarnation.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_early_christian_studies/summary/v007/7.1mckay.html|title = The Eastern Christian Exegetical Tradition of Daniel's Vision of the Ancient of Days|last = McKay|first = Gretchen K.|date = 1999|journal = Journal of Early Christian Studies|volume = 7|pages = 139–161|doi = 10.1353/earl.1999.0019|s2cid = 170245894|url-access = subscription}}</ref> As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man, the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man, or wise baby, to portray him as he was incarnate. This [[iconography]] emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire with elderly images, although usually not properly or specifically identified as "the Ancient of Days".<ref>Cartlidge and Elliott, 69–72</ref> The first images of the Ancient of Days, so named with an inscription, were developed by iconographers in different manuscripts, the earliest of which are dated to the 11th century. The images in these manuscripts included the inscription "Jesus Christ, Ancient of Days," confirming that this was a way to identify Christ as pre-eternal with the God the Father.<ref>The manuscripts that include an image of the Ancient of Days are discussed in the unpublished dissertation by Gretchen Kreahling McKay, "Imaging the Divine: A Study of the Representations of the Ancient of Days in Byzantine Manuscripts," University of Virginia, 1997.</ref> Indeed, later, it was declared by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] at the [[Stoglavy Sobor|Great Synod of Moscow]] in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was the Son and not the Father.<ref>The Tome of the Great Council of Moscow (1666–1667 A.D.), Ch. 2, 43–45; tr. [[Hierodeacon]] Lev Puhalo, ''Canadian Orthodox Missionary Journal''</ref>

==Social and cultural issues==
===Sexual abuse cases===
{{Main|Catholic Church sexual abuse cases}}
From the 1990s, the issue of [[sexual abuse of minors]] by Western Catholic clergy and other church members has become the subject of civil litigation, criminal prosecution, media coverage and public debate in [[Catholic Church sex abuse cases by country|countries around the world]]. The Western Catholic Church has been criticised for its handling of abuse complaints when it became known that some bishops had shielded accused priests, transferring them to other pastoral assignments where some continued to commit sexual offences.

In response to the scandal, formal procedures have been established to help prevent abuse, encourage the reporting of any abuse that occurs, and to handle such reports promptly, although groups representing victims have disputed their effectiveness.<ref>{{cite news|author=David Willey |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10645748 |title=Vatican 'speeds up' abuse cases |work=BBC News |date=15 July 2010 |access-date=28 October 2010}}</ref> In 2014, Pope Francis instituted the [[Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors]] for the safeguarding of minors from abuse.<ref name="Bollettino">{{cite web | url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/de/bollettino/pubblico/2014/03/22/0199/00444.html | title=Comunicato della Sala Stampa: Istituzione della Pontificia Commissione per la Tutela dei Minori | publisher=Holy See Press Office| date=22 March 2014 | access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism|Christianity}}
* [[Early African church]]
*[[Counter-Reformation]]
* [[Latin Church in the Middle East]]
* [[Latin liturgical rites]]
** [[Ecclesiastical Latin]]
** [[Liturgical use of Latin]]
* [[James the Great#Spain]]
* [[Paul the Apostle#Journey from Rome to Spain]]
* [[Saint Peter#Connection to Rome]]
* [[General Roman Calendar]]
* [[East–West Schism]]
** [[Eastern Christianity]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Roman Catholic Church|Latin Church}}
* [https://www.vatican.va/ Official website of the Holy See]
* [https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09022a.htm Latin Church] (in the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'')

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