The Catholic Church and its views and teachings on specific subjects.
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102 views
Is Communion still Communion under only the species of wine?
I was reading in the Youcat that
Communion only under the species of bread is also a full communion with Christ
I was always under the impression that both the bread and the wine when ...
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1answer
410 views
What does the Catholic church teach about fate of non-Catholic christians?
From what I've heard, The Roman Catholic Church claims to be the only representative authority of God on earth. Does it indeed claim that, and if so what does it say happens to members of non-Catholic ...
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2answers
123 views
Resurrection of the body
How is the resurrection of the body supposed to work in Catholicism? E.g. If I die at 90, will I resurrect with the body of an old man? What about babies, will they simply resurrect as very young ...
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2answers
2k views
What is the purpose of a Rosary?
I am not Catholic and I am pretty sure the Rosary is mainly a Catholic artifact, and in modern times devout Catholics seem to always have a Rosary (as in, you know they're Catholic because of the ...
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2answers
986 views
Do Catholic priests have to report child abuse confessed in secret?
Is there any canon, regulation, norm or diocesan norm which requires priests to report confessions of child abuse? Are priests obliged to follow laws to this effect?
I'm not asking in regard to ...
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1answer
237 views
What does the Roman Catholic church teach about those who die having never heard of Christ?
What does the Roman Catholic church teach about those who die having never heard of Christ? Is there any possibility of salvation for them?
Related:
What happens to people who have never heard about ...
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2answers
777 views
What are the consequences of suicide according to the Roman Catholic church?
What are the consequences of suicide according to the Roman Catholic church? Are there exceptions or special penalties?
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1answer
194 views
Which doctrines are based solely on the apocrypha?
What Roman Catholic doctrines are based only in the 7 books canonized by the Roman church, but not accepted by Protestants. (e.g., Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, the additions to Daniel and Esther, etc...)
...
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2answers
1k views
How did the Crusades impact modern Christianity?
How do the crusades impact modern day Christianity own sense of morality and spirituality? What do these things mean to a person of faith?
The Crusades, from Wikipedia
The Crusades were a series ...
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2answers
185 views
Praying the Liturgy of the Hours in private; out loud
For the laity, when praying the Liturgy of the Hours in private, is it more in keeping with tradition to you pray out loud or silently or does it matter?
Also, do you change the way you repeat ...
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1answer
88 views
Apostolic succession and the Didache
As it pertains primarily to Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and other large denominations that not only lay claim to an unbroken successive line, but who also put significant emphasis on it:
The ...
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1answer
61 views
What does the Catholic Church mean when it calls humans co-creators with God?
The Catholic Church says that human are co-creators with God.
To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his
providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of ...
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3answers
2k views
Why is bread and wine used to represent the body and blood of Christ?
I don't know about other churches, but in the Catholic church you have communion, in which you receive the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine. Why was bread and wine chosen to ...
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2answers
123 views
Do Catholics tithe?
This might seem like a silly question, but I am not a Catholic, and so I do not know the answer!
Do Catholics tithe?
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4answers
264 views
How do Roman Catholics understand salvation in light of Romans 3&4?
As far as I can understand it, Paul directly contradicts the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation in Romans 3 & 4 (see verses 3:21-22, 3:28, 4:4-6 in particular, but I'm referring to the broad ...
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2answers
667 views
Is Roman Catholic reconciliation with the Orthodox likely (or possible)?
I have consistently heard rumors that the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics will be reconciling at some point (at least to the point of Catholics being able to receive Orthodox sacraments). Sometimes ...
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3answers
510 views
Have any real people been de-canonized?
I am asking about the Catholic Church, but would also welcome information from other traditions.
People can be canonized (declared to be saints) and these official declarations are held to be ...
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2answers
994 views
List of papal teachings considered infallible
After reading When does the Pope speak ex cathedra? I became curious and searched for a list of statements, but couldn't find one.
Does such list exist and if not, why is this the case?
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1answer
321 views
Has the Catholic church ever voiced its view on the possibility of aliens' existence?
Has the Catholic church ever acknowledged such a possibility as not contradicting the Bible? Or has it once said that the whole idea of aliens is absolutely non-Biblical as the humans are the center ...
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2answers
80 views
Is Latin considered a more holy language in the Catholic church?
I've heard that many Roman Catholic churches still hold Mass services and particularly ceremonies (e.g. weddings) in Latin. Is this true, and if so why is Latin considered to be a better language than ...
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2answers
137 views
The Pope is resigning. How does a living pope confer his authority?
I read that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning. I don't know much about Catholic/papal authority as it relates to leading the Church, but as far as I can remember, a pope dies before another one takes the ...
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1answer
66 views
In Catholic understanding, did Paul speak/write ex cathedra while Peter was serving as Pope?
Catholic doctrine teaches that Peter was the first Pope and that Popes may speak "ex cathedra". When they do, that is considered infallible.
However, while Peter was alive and presumably serving as ...
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1answer
242 views
What are indulgences and when and why were they used?
I seem to recall that indulgences had something to do with Roman Catholics doing something to receive forgiveness of sins prior to committing the sins.
So, is that what indulgences were? When did ...
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1answer
219 views
What is the purpose of minor basilicas?
What is the purpose of minor basilicas? What is the difference between them and a normal cathedral? As far as I can tell its purely ceremonial. If that is true, what aren't all cathedrals designated ...
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2answers
363 views
What is the biblical basis for the Immaculate Conception?
According to Catholic Doctrine, the Immaculate Conception refers to the teaching that Mary's own conception (not that of Jesus) was without the stain of original sin.
What is the biblical basis for ...
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1answer
208 views
What is the reason to genuflect when the Incarnation is mentioned?
At Mass during the recitation of the Nicene Creed and when praying the Angelus, it is common (or required?) for the congregation to bow or genuflect during the lines:
For us men and for our ...
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2answers
243 views
Why is Good Friday called Good?
My coworker asked "Why is Good Friday called good?" when I said we've got Good Friday off and I unfortunately don't know the answer to the question.
Is there a very obvious way to explain to someone ...
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2answers
599 views
How are Catholic priests chosen and assigned to specific parishes?
I know that a certain amount of education is necessary before men can be ordained as a Catholic priest. But are all men that received the necessary education ordained as priests? If not, what is the ...
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1answer
177 views
What is the Catholic stance on Embryo Screening?
Embryo Screening is the process of fertilizing multiple eggs, checking their DNA makeup, and then screening out the eggs that do not meet the requirements. These requirements can be anything from ...
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3answers
121 views
Did Mary know she was sinless, according to Roman Catholic teaching?
The Roman Catholic Church teaches the Immaculate Conception that asserts Mary was conceived without sin and remained sinless for her entire life.
Assuming this to be true, did Mary know that she ...
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1answer
132 views
Is veneration worship?
I answered this question calling adoration and veneration honor given to God and the saints accordingly.
If you look at the edits for my answer, I think I had some confusion as to the terminology ...
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1answer
468 views
How does the Catholic Church understand the priesthood of all believers?
In the process of answering a question on the Sacraments, I discovered that Catholic Church accepts the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers". This rather surprised me since the Church has ...
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1answer
200 views
What is the distinction between Consubstantial and One in Being?
The New Translation of the Roman Missal is going to be put into use in Advent 2011 and there is a change made to the Nicene Creed.
one in Being with the Father.
is going to be
consubstantial ...
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0answers
106 views
Where does the Catholic church procure most of its Bibles?
I was recently doing some research on Bible publishing and distribution in order to compose this answer over on the Skeptics Stack Exchange site. In spite of the result being well received, I have a ...
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4answers
811 views
What exactly was the original sin?
I always used to consider the original sin committed by Adam and Eve as eating the forbidden fruit from a particular tree. But recently my husband commented that Adam and Eve had sex with each other ...
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3answers
360 views
Why do Catholics put so much faith in the Virgin Mary?
I'm not sure how to express the relationship that Catholics have with the Virgin Mary, so please excuse the word Faith in the question title.
giving Mary praise
I understand that Mary gave birth to ...
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6answers
188 views
What arguments would you give to teenagers who are unconcerned about eternal life?
So the kids in my catechism class aren't all that into the notion of living forever.
That's kind of depressing, but I don't think its anything we can't get around. However, what do you tell a kid, ...
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3answers
104 views
Why did the conclave elect Pope Stephen I, when he died prior to taking office?
According to Wikipedia, Pope Stephen I was elected to the papacy in March of 752 A.D., but died a few days later, prior to being installed. As I understand it, Catholic teaching indicates that God's ...
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2answers
514 views
What is the Catholic stance against In Vitro Fertilization?
I was researching a different question and saw that some people find that In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is something that should be avoided on the basis of religious grounds.
Does anyone know what ...
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4answers
529 views
What is the Catholic position on Exodus 20:4?
This weekend my son and I participated in our Scouting council's annual Ten Commandments hike in which we walked to 10 different churches and heard a short talk on each of the 10 commandments from ...
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2answers
126 views
According to the Roman Catholic church, who can baptize a new believer?
As far as I remember, there is no rule in the Bible as to who can baptize a new believer. However, I'm almost certain that sometime in the early history of the Roman Catholic church, someone or some ...
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2answers
131 views
What makes someone an antipope?
Rather straight forward question. There have been multiple men declared antipopes. Is it different each time, or generally the same set of circumstances that causes this?
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2answers
67 views
Is the Virgin Mary ever referred to as “the Holy Table” (ἡ ἁγία ἡ τράπεζα)?
I'm still in the process of translating a work of John of Damascus concerning the Eucharist and the body of Christ, entitled Περὶ τοῦ ἀχράντου σώματος, οὗ μεταλαμβάνομεν.
In section 4, he writes,
...
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2answers
104 views
When did Peter become the first Pope, according to Roman Catholic doctrine?
Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that the apostle Peter was the first Pope. Exactly when did this occur?
I can imagine a few different options
When Jesus addressed Peter in Matthew:
I also ...
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2answers
240 views
Does the priest have the power to forgive sins?
John 20:22-23 (KJV)
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; ...
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2answers
114 views
Were paid indulgences compulsory prior to the Reformation?
Luther's 95 Theses were a refutation of selling indulgences on the part of the Catholic Church. Did he, or others, believe that the Church was saying that:
The only way to be a good Christian was ...
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3answers
872 views
In which other churches do Roman Catholics recognise apostolic succession?
The Roman Catholic Church derives much of its claim to legitimacy from the teaching of "apostolic succession". Other churches also believe that their priests derive their authority in an unbroken ...
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3answers
180 views
What do non-Catholic Christians do with the power of binding and loosing?
In Catholicism, we believe that the Bishops in Communion with the Pope (as Vicar of Christ) have authority over Church doctrine. The authority comes straight from the mouth of our Savior.
...
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143 views
Can indirection bring us closer to Christ?
Peter's excellent blog posting pointed to a movement I'd never heard of before: Militia of the Immaculata (MI). In the process of figuring out what it might be, I read this important qualification:
...
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227 views
What substitutes for prayers for the Pope's intentions during sede vacante?
One of the requirments one must meet to obtain an indulgence is to pray for the [edit]intentions of the[/edit] pope. When there's no pope, what's the substitute? I guess it's the conclave and the next ...
