History of the Catholic Religion
| Catholics consider that Jesus Christ is the founder of the Catholic Church. That he did so in 33 AD. They also believe that Peter, the apostle, was appointed by Christ as the first vicar of the Catholic Church. |
These beliefs of Catholics are based on Matthew 16:18-19, which says, "And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shalt be loosed in heaven."
In 45 AD, Peter decided to go to Rome where he then took over the running of the Catholic Church. Later, he was arrested and then incarcerated by Emperor Nero. He was going to be crucified at the peak of Mount Vatican, but he requested to be hung upside down, since he did not consider himself worthy enough of dying in the same position as Christ.
He was immortalized on June 29, 67 AD, and has been the predecessor to 266 popes since then. The harassment towards Christians in Rome continued for the next 300 years, till Emperor Constantine’s mother Helena converted to Christianity and urged her son to let Christians be. Constantine decided to make Christianity the state religion, and under his guidance, 318 bishops got together and formed the Nicene Creed.
In 606 AD, the title of ‘universal bishop’ was conferred on Boniface III, who at that time was the pope of Rome. This also marked the start of the Roman Catholic Church, under which there are around 1.038 billion Catholics spread all over the world.
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