Catholic Church

The Slovak Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine Catholic Church in Slovakia, is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church based in Slovakia. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. The church is organised as a single ecclesiastical province with one metropolitan see. Its liturgical rite is the Byzantine Rite. In 2008 in Slovakia alone, the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia had some 350,000 faithful, 374 priests and 254 parishes. In 2017, the Catholic Church counted 207,320 Greek Catholics in Slovakia worldwide, representing roughly one percent of all Eastern Catholics.

The Latin Church (Latin: Ecclesia Latina) is the largest autonomous (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 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.

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 (Latin: Ecclesia Occidentalis), which is reflected in one of the pope's traditional titles in some eras and contexts, the Patriarch of the West. It is also known as the Roman Church (Latin: Ecclesia Romana), the Latin Catholic Church, and in some contexts as the Roman Catholic Church (though this name can also refer to the Catholic Church as a whole).

Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة, romanized: Al-Mawārinah; Syriac: ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ, romanized: Mārōnōye) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.

The Maronites derive their name from Saint Maron, (350-410 AD.), a monk whose teachings spread throughout the Northern Levant becoming the basis of the Maronite tradition. The spread of Christianity was very slow in the Lebanese region; in the 5th century AD in the highlands they were still pagan. St. Maron sent the apostle Abraham of Cyrrhus known as the "Apostle of Lebanon" with a mandate to convert the pagan inhabitants of Mount Lebanon to Christianity. After their conversion, the inhabitants of the region renamed the Adonis River to the Abrahamic River in honor of the Saint who preached there.

The Slovenian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Slovenia (Slovene: Katoliška cerkev v Sloveniji) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The 2018 Eurobarometer data shows 73.4% of Slovenian population identifying as Catholic that fell to 72.1% in the 2019 Eurobarometer survey. According to the Catholic Church data, the Catholic population fell from 78.04% in 2009 to 72.11% in 2019.

There are total of 1,509,986 (72.11%) Catholics in Slovenia in 2019 by official statistics published by Catholic Church of Slovenia. The country is divided into six dioceses, including two archdioceses. The diocese of Maribor was elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. Additionally, the pope created three new sees, namely Novo Mesto, Celje and Murska Sobota.

The Catholic Church in Scotland, overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. Christianity first arrived in Roman Britain and was strengthened by the conversion of the Picts through both the Hiberno-Scottish mission and Iona Abbey. After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium and contributing enormously to Scottish literature and culture, the Catholic Church was outlawed by the Scottish Reformation Parliament in 1560. Multiple uprisings in the interim failed to reestablish Catholicism or to legalise its existence. Even today, the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, while no longer enforced, still remains on the books.

Throughout the nearly three centuries of religious persecution and disenfranchisement between 1560 and 1829, many students for the priesthood went abroad to study while others remained in Scotland and, in what is now termed underground education, attended illegal seminaries. An early seminary upon Eilean Bàn in Loch Morar was moved during the Jacobite rising of 1715 and reopened as Scalan seminary in Glenlivet. After multiple arson attacks by government troops, Scalan was rebuilt in the 1760s by Bishop John Geddes, who later became Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District, a close friend of national poet Robert Burns, and a well-known figure in the Edinburgh intelligentsia during the Scottish Enlightenment.

Martin Luther (/ˈluːθər/ LOO-thər; German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history.

Born in Eisleben, Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church, in particular the view on indulgences and papal authority. Luther initiated an international debate on these in works like his Ninety-five Theses, which he authored in 1517. In 1520 Pope Leo X demanded that Luther renounce all of his writings, and when Luther refused to do so, excommunicated him in January 1521. Later that year, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V condemned Luther as an outlaw at the Diet of Worms. When Luther died in 1546, his excommunication by Leo X was still in effect.

Latgale (Latgalian: Latgola; Latvian: Latgale; Russian: Латгалия, romanized: Latgaliya; Polish: Łatgalia; German: Lettgallen; Belarusian: Латгалія, romanized: Lathalija; Belarusian Latin: Łathalija; Latin: Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is predominantly Catholic: 65.3% according to a 2011 survey. After the Counter-Reformation it was the northernmost predominantly Catholic province or region in Europe. There is a considerable Eastern Orthodox minority (23.8%), of which 13.8% are Russian Orthodox Christians and 10.0% are Old Believers. As of 2020, the region's population was 255,968.

The region has a large population of ethnic Russians, especially in Daugavpils, the largest city in the region and the location of the region's only public university, the University of Daugavpils. Many of the Russians who lived in Latgale before Soviet rule are Old Believers. Rēzekne, often called the heart of Latgale, Krāslava, and Ludza are other large towns in the region, which also has a Belarusian minority. There is also a significant Polish minority. As part of the Polotsk and Vitebsk guberniyas, the region was part of the Pale of Settlement and had a very large Jewish population – but many of the Jews were killed in WW2 and most of the remainder emigrated. Other than in Daugavpils, the Baltic German presence in Latgale was less sizable than in other regions of Latvia. According to the Latvian Official Statistics portal, Latgale is the only region of Latvia where the number of Slavs surpasses the number of ethnic Latvians.

Lutheranism or Evangelical Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 1517. The Lutheran Churches adhere to the Bible and the Ecumenical Creeds, with Lutheran doctrine being explicated in the Book of Concord. Lutherans hold themselves to be in continuity with the apostolic church and affirm the writings of the Church Fathers and the first four ecumenical councils.

The schism between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism, which was formalized in the Edict of Worms of 1521, centered on two points: the proper source of authority in the church, often called the formal principle of the Reformation, and the doctrine of justification, the material principle of Lutheran theology. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification "by Grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone", the doctrine that scripture is the final authority on all matters of faith. This contrasts with the belief of the Roman Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, which contends that final authority comes from both Scripture and tradition. In Lutheranism, tradition is subordinate to Scripture and is cherished for its role in the proclamation of the Gospel.

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Olomouc (Czech: Metropolitní Arcidiecéze olomoucká, Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitae Olomucensis) is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. It has its seat in Olomouc.

The East–West Schism, also known as the Great Schism or the Schism of 1054, is the break of communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church since 1054. A series of ecclesiastical differences, theological disputes and geopolitical tensions between the Greek East and Latin West preceded the formal split that occurred in 1054. Prominent among these were the procession of the Holy Spirit (Filioque), whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, iconoclasm, the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor of the Romans in 800, the pope's claim to universal jurisdiction, and the place of the See of Constantinople in relation to the pentarchy.

The first action that led to a formal schism occurred in 1053 when Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople ordered the closure of all Latin churches in Constantinople. In 1054, the papal legate sent by Leo IX travelled to Constantinople in order, among other things, to deny Cerularius the title of "ecumenical patriarch" and insist that he recognize the pope's claim to be the head of all of the churches. The main purposes of the papal legation were to seek help from the Byzantine emperor, Constantine IX Monomachos, in view of the Norman conquest of southern Italy, and to respond to Leo of Ohrid's attacks on the use of unleavened bread and other Western customs, attacks that had the support of Cerularius. The historian Axel Bayer says that the legation was sent in response to two letters, one from the emperor seeking help to organize a joint military campaign by the eastern and western empires against the Normans, and the other from Cerularius. When the leader of the legation, Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, O.S.B., learned that Cerularius had refused to accept the demand, he excommunicated him, and in response Cerularius excommunicated Humbert and the other legates. According to Kallistos Ware, "Even after 1054 friendly relations between East and West continued. The two parts of Christendom were not yet conscious of a great gulf of separation between them ... The dispute remained something of which ordinary Christians in East and West were largely unaware".