Catholicism is like the main character of Christianity every other denomination has something to say about them and they are by far the largest religious organization in the world of any religion here's where they are on the church Compass they're very high church because they put a lot of emphasis on the authority of the church the traditions of the church and the role of the church in the life and salvation of the believer they're more High Church than any Protestant denominations because they do claim to be the one true church founded by Jesus and the Apostles but they're arguably not quite as high church as some of the Orthodox Churches because they're a bit less exclusive than they are about what the one true church means they're generally more willing than the Orthodox to recognize true Christianity in some sense outside the institutional boundaries of the church that's why ever since the second Vatican Council they've recognized Protestants as departed Brethren and they recognize that Orthodox Churches have valid sacraments they're also a bit more willing than the Orthodox Churches to change things because while the Orthodox Church tends to put more Authority in past traditions of the church Catholics tend to put more Authority in the present magisterium or teaching Office of the church which is the teacher for all Christians today so because of that they're arguably not quite as high church as the Orthodox but still more High Church than any Protestant groups also just like all mainstream denominations there's a wide range of liberal and Conservative Catholics although liberal Catholics are much more rare and make up a much smaller percentage of Catholicism than say liberal methodists or liberal congregationalists now let's talk about what Catholics believe just like all other Christians Catholics believe in the essentials of nyine Christianity summarized in the nyine Creed just like the Eastern Orthodox and some other groups Catholics affirm all seven ecumenical councils and believe these councils are infallible and unchangeable but here are some beliefs that make them unique everyone knows Catholics care a lot about the Virgin Mary a common straw man of Catholics is that they worship Mary which they don't they believe Mary is the Mother of God which all traditional Christians do they believe Mary is ever virgin they believe in the Perpetual virginity of Mary that she remained a virgin even after Jesus was born while she was married to Joseph because being a virgin is Central to her identity they believe that Mary was sinless they believe Mary was conceived without any original sin this is called the Immaculate Conception of Mary they believe Mary is Queen of Heaven because the saints that have died and gone to heaven are still alive and reigning with Christ in heaven and because she's the mother of Christ she is the Queen of Heaven and they believe that Mary did not die a normal death like the rest of us but she was bodily assumed into heaven meaning her body was taken up by God into heaven and therefore her body did not remain on Earth after her life on Earth was over Catholics also believe Mary intercedes for us which is another thing they believe another common misconception about Catholics is that they worship the Saints because Catholics pray to Saints but they don't pray to the Saints in the same way that they pray to God they pray to God directly but what they do with the Saints is is they ask them to pray for us so it's sort of like asking one of your friends to pray to God for you and St James does say the prayer of a righteous man availeth much so in some sense asking a saint in heaven to pray for you is stronger than just asking a friend to pray for you because they're more holy and more Sanctified one of the ways we get more Sanctified is Purgatory Catholics believe in purgatory now a common misconception about purgatory is that it's extra punishment after death because the sacrifice Christ made on the cross for us wasn't enough to pay for all of our sins but that's not exactly what they believe they believe we just need extra purification before going into heaven because most people are not holy enough to enter Heaven at the point of death but if they if they've been faithful Christians they still are promised to place in heaven eventually so Purgatory is just purification after death before they can enter Heaven but luckily the Saints do pray for people in purgatory right now and we're supposed to pray for the people in purgatory as well Catholics believe in transubstantiation where when they do communion The Bread and Wine change substance into the real body and blood of Christ and only keep the outward appearance of bread and wine but in reality it's the body blood soul and Divinity of Jesus that we feed on and the purpose of feeding on Christ is to be made more like Christ most Christian denominations believe in some form of real presence of Christ in communion but Catholics use Aristotelian metaphysics to explain how it can appear to be bread and wine while actually being the body and blood of Christ here's what Catholics believe about salvation they believe salvation is normatively through the church they don't limit God to the boundaries of the church they know God could save anyone but God ordained the church on Earth to forgive sins administer the sacraments and unite people to Christ it begins at baptism where original sin is washed away and one is brought into a state of grace and a state of grace means that if you die right then you're going to heaven maybe after Purgatory but you're still going to heaven that's what a state of grace means and one somebody reaches an age of accountability they're going to need to keep their faith alive with good works and Holy Communion so it's not like they believe salvation is by faith plus Works they believe salvation is by faith but faith is like an organism that can be killed off by mortal sin mortal sin is a certain sin that is directly wrong and it is done consciously and that can kill faith and remove someone from a state of grace but luckily they can still be restored if they go to confession and do Penance now the vast majority of people as we said are not going to go directly to heaven after they die because they haven't been fully Sanctified in this life so they have to go to Purgatory what Catholics are most famous for perhaps is their Church structure where they have a hierarchy of Bishops going all the way up to the pope who is the bishop of Rome this is called an Episcopal structure and they believe that the Bishops have their Authority because of apostolic succession where every Bishop in the Catholic church was ordained by a bishop who was ordained by a bishop going all the way back to the apostles so the Bishops of the Catholic church are the successors of the Apostles they believe that the Pope the leader of the church on Earth is infallible but only in rare cases meaning the pope as a person isn't infallible and not everything the pope ever says is infallible but the pope has the ability to make infallible statements in certain cases Catholics have disagreements about Sin with both Protestants and Eastern Orthodox they agree with Protestants that we are all guilty of Adam's original sin meaning ever since we're conceived as a baby we are guilty of the sin that Adam committed even before we've committed any actual sins the Catholics agree with the Eastern Orthodox that concupiscence or the desire to sin does not actually count as Sin even though they have a common Heritage there's a lot of differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy the biggest is probably the filio which is Latin 4 and the sun because Catholics hold to Western trinitarian theology dating back to the western church fathers like Augustine which says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son whereas Eastern Orthodoxy holds to an Eastern view of the Trinity which says the Holy Spirit only proceeds from the father at least hypostatic they also have a different attitude towards human reason although there is rationalism in the East and there is mysticism in the west generally the Catholic church is more rational and the Eastern Orthodox Church was more mystical that's why it was the Western Catholic Church that did scholasticism which is a very academic and careful approach to theology that is very specific and uses a lot of metaphysical categories and this video is not about scholasticism but scholasticism had a very profound impact on the west it's because of scholasticism that the West did so much science and had so many scientific advancements because in the Medieval Era theology was the queen of science so doing a lot of academic study into theology led to doing a lot of academic study in all of the Sciences so even though the average public school in the west today says the Catholic church was completely anti-science it's thanks to the Catholic church that we even have modern science at all now this is debatable but there are some people who think the filio is one of the reasons why Catholicism has more of a rationalistic tendency and Eastern Orthodoxy has more of a mystical tendency we all agree that the holy spirit is the one who gives us Faith so if the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Sun who is the logos the word or the logic of God then our spirituality and Faith should be rooted in the word of God and in reason but if the Holy Spirit only proceeds from the father and not the word then our spirituality should be based more on a direct encounter with God mediated not by human reason but by mystical practices another reason why the West is more intellectual and the east is more mystical has to do with different views of divine Simplicity generally Catholicism follows the views of Thomas aquinus who said that God's Essence meaning what God is is identical to God's attributes meaning the things that we say about God so that means in some sense we can understand God's Essence and we can reason about God and do theology as an academic discipline whereas the East believes in the essence energy distinction they still believe that God's Essence is simple meaning it's not made of Parts but they don't believe God's Essence is identical to his attributes meaning meaning the things we say about God they think God's Essence is completely unknowable and it's a mystery and we can only know God by encountering his energies and to do that we need to have a mystical contemplation of God that's why of the three forms of apologetics Catholics tend to favor classical apologetics where we first prove that God exists logically and then we argue for Christianity specifically and the reason it needs to be in those two steps is Catholics believe strongly in the distinction between natural Revelation and special Revelation this is something Thomas has talked about a lot natural Revelation is accessible to all people because they believe in the Simplicity of God's Essence we can approach the Divine Essence by reason so all peoples all across the world whether they're Christian or not can reason that God exists logically but we can only know about the Trinity and the specifically Christian God through special Revelation and that only comes through scripture and the traditions of the church objectively no institution has had more of an impact on the world than the Roman Catholic Church not only are they the largest charitable organization both now and historically but the systems pioneered by the Catholic Church laid the groundwork for Western Civilization everything from the modern University system modern scientific method modern hospital system and even the Western nuclear family has its origins in the western Catholic Church