Catholic theology in the context of "Saint Peter"

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (/ˌdɛzɪˈdɪəriəs ɪˈræzməs/ DEZ-i-DEER-ee-əs irr-AZ-məs; Dutch: [ˌdeːziˈdeːrijʏs eːˈrɑsmʏs]; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch humanist, Christian theologian, and philosopher. He was, through his writings, one of the most influential scholars of the Northern Renaissance and a major figure of Western culture.

Erasmus was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous, copious and natural Latin style. As a Catholic priest developing humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared pioneering new Latin and Greek scholarly editions of the New Testament and of the Church Fathers, with annotations and commentary that were immediately and vitally influential in both the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, The Complaint of Peace, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style and many other popular and pedagogical works.

Purgatory (Latin: purgatorium, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a belief in Catholic theology. It is a passing intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul before entering Heaven. A common analogy is dross being removed from gold in a furnace.

In Catholic doctrine, purgatory refers to the final cleansing of those who died in the State of Grace, and leaves in them only "the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven"; it is entirely different from the punishment of the damned and is not related to the forgiveness of sins for salvation. A forgiven person can be freed from his "unhealthy attachment to creatures" by fervent charity in this world, and otherwise by the non-vindictive "temporal (i.e. non-eternal) punishment" of purgatory.

Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour, Edward was the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because Edward never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (1550–1553).

Edward's reign was marked by many economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. His father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the English Church and Rome but continued to uphold most Catholic doctrine and ceremony. During Edward's reign, Protestantism was established for the first time in England, with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass and the imposition of compulsory English in church services.

A catechism ( /ˈkætəˌkɪzəm/; from Ancient Greek: κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult converts. Catechisms are doctrinal manuals – often in the form of questions followed by answers to be memorised – a format that has been used in non-religious or secular contexts as well.

The term catechumen refers to the designated recipient of the catechetical work or instruction. In the Catholic Church, catechumens are those who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Baptism. Traditionally, they would be placed separately during Holy Mass from those who had been baptized, and would be dismissed from the liturgical assembly before the Profession of Faith (Nicene Creed) and General Intercessions (Prayers of the Faithful).

The three, four or five solae (Latin: quinque solae from the Latin sola, lit. "alone"; occasionally Anglicized to five solas) of the Protestant Reformation are a foundational set of Christian theological principles theorized to be central to the doctrines of justification and salvation as taught by the Lutheran, Reformed and Evangelical branches of Protestantism, as well as in some branches of Baptist and Pentecostalism.

Each sola represents a key belief in these Protestant traditions that is putatively distinct from the theological doctrine of the Catholic Church, although they were not assembled as a theological until the 20th century. The Reformers are known to have only stated two of the five solae clearly. Even today there are differences as to what constitutes the solae, how many there are, and how to interpret them to reflect the Reformers' beliefs.

Repentance (a term related to Greek: μετάνοια, romanized: metanoia), in Christianity, refers to being sorrowful for having committed sin and then turning away from sin toward a life of holiness.

In certain Christian traditions, such as Catholic theology, Lutheran theology, Orthodox theology and Anglican theology, repentance plays a key role in confession and absolution. It can specifically refer to a stage in Christian salvation in which an individual gains awareness of God's standard, acknowledges their past or present wrongdoings, and deliberately turns away from sin toward God; its numeration as a stage in the ordo salutis varies with the Christian denomination, with the Reformed theological tradition arguing it occurs after faith. Christian denominations that adhere to the liturgical kalendar, such as Catholicism, Lutheranism, Moravianism and Anglicanism, focus on repentance during the season of Lent, while emphasizing its importance in the life of the believer throughout the year.

The Woman of the Apocalypse (or the woman clothed with the sun, Greek: γυνὴ περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον; Latin: Mulier amicta sole) is a figure–often considered to be a reference to the Virgin Mary in Catholic theology–described in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation (written c. AD 95).

The woman gives birth to a male child who is threatened by a dragon, identified as the Devil and Satan, who intends to devour the child as soon as he is born. When the child is taken to heaven, the woman flees on eagle’s wings into the wilderness at a "place prepared of God" for 1,260 days. This leads to a "War in Heaven" in which the angels cast out the dragon. The dragon attacks the woman, but the woman escapes on her wings for "a time, times and a time and a half". The dragon then attacks her again with a flood of water from his mouth, which is subsequently swallowed by earth. Frustrated, the dragon initiates war on "the remnant of her seed", identified as the righteous followers of Christ.The Woman of the Apocalypse is widely identified as the Virgin Mary. Some Catholic commentaries, such as Thomas Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary (1859), allow for the interpretation of the woman as either the Church or Mary. The commentary of the New American Bible states that "The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the stars (images taken from Genesis 37:9–10) symbolizes God’s people in the Old and the New Testament. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon (Rev. 12:6, 13–17); cf. Is. 50:1; 66:7; Jer. 50:12."