The history of the Catholic Church is integral to the history of Christianity as a whole. It is also, according to church historian, Mark A. Noll, the "world's oldest continuously functioning international institution."[1] This article covers a period of just under two thousand years.
Over time, schisms have disrupted the unity of Christianity. The Catholic Church considers that major divisions occurred in c. 144 with Marcionism,[2] 318 with Arianism, 451 with the Oriental Orthodox, 1054 to 1449 (see East–West Schism) during which time the Orthodox Churches of the East parted ways with the Western Church over doctrinal issues (see the filioque) and papal primacy, and in 1517 with the Protestant Reformation, of which there were many divisions, resulting in over 200 denominations.
The calculations of Dionysius Exiguus put the birth of Jesus in the year that in consequence is called 1 BC; most historians place his birth between 6 and 4 BC.
28 AD: Jesus' baptism, start of ministry, and selection of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke indicates that Jesus was baptized during the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar which is dated in 28 AD (found in Luke 3:1,21,22). Christian Gospels strongly suggest Peter as leader and spokesman of the Apostles of Jesus, being mentioned the most number of times in the Gospels. Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, constitute the inner circle of the Apostles of Jesus, being witnesses to specific important events of the life of Jesus: preachings of Jesus such as the Sermon on the Mount and performance of miracles mainly involving cures and driving out demons, inaugurating the Messianic Age.
30 AD: Peter declares and other followers believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Jewish Messiah promised by Yahweh according to the Jewish Scriptures and the predictions of the Hebrew prophets. Entry into Jerusalem, start of Passion of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is crucified in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea during the reign of Tiberius and Herod Antipas, after the Sanhedrin, under the High Priest Caiaphas, accuse Jesus of blasphemy. He was then crucified under Pontius Pilate. According to his followers, three days later, God raised him from the dead. Forty days after his resurrection (Ascension), the Christian Gospels narrate that Jesus instructed His disciples thus: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of time." (Matthew 28:18–20). Ten days later (Pentecost) Peter makes the first sermon converting 3,000 to be baptized.
46: Paul begin his missionary journeys, with Barnabas.
50: Council of Jerusalem determines that Gentile converts to Christianity do not have to abide by Mosaic Laws. This will gradually lead to the separation of Christianity from Judaism.[4]
64: The Neronian Persecution begins under Nero after the Great Fire of Rome. Martyrdom of Saint Peter. Persecution of Christians continues intermittently until 313 AD.
67: Martyrdom of Saint Paul outside of Rome. Pope Linus, according to Catholic tradition, becomes the next pope.
68: Neronian Persecution ends with the suicide of Nero.
110: Ignatius of Antioch uses the term Catholic Church in a letter to the church at Smyrna, in one of the letters of undisputed authenticity attributed to him. In this and other genuine letters he insists on the importance of the bishops in the church and speaks harshly about heretics and Judaizers.
150: Latin translations (the Vetus Latina) from the Greek texts of the Scriptures are circulated among non-Greek-speaking Christian communities.
180: Irenaeus's Adversus Haereses brings the concept of "heresy" to the fore in the first systematic attempt to counter Gnostic and other aberrant teachings. In the same work, he taught that the most reliable source of apostolic guidance was the episcopacy of Rome.
250: Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
312: Emperor Constantine leads the forces of the Roman Empire to victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Tradition has it that, the night before the battle, Constantine had a vision that he would achieve victory if he fought under the symbol of Christ; accordingly, his soldiers bore on their shields the Chi-Rho sign composed of the first two letters of the Greek word for "Christ" (ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ).
321: Granting the Church the right to hold property, Constantine donates the palace of the Laterani to Pope Miltiades. The Lateran Basilica (Basilica of Our Savior) becomes the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Rome.
November 3, 324: Constantine lays the foundations of the new capital of the Roman Empire in Byzantium, later to be known as Constantinople.
323 Pope Sylvester I in his calendar lists Sunday (rather than the Jewish Saturday) as the first day of the week, names it "the Lord's day", and commands church members to keep it as a holy day.[15]
325: The Arian controversy erupts in Alexandria, causing widespread violence and disruptions among Christians.
February, 380: Emperor Theodosius I issues an edict, De Fide Catolica, in Thessalonica, published in Constantinople, declaring Catholic Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.[18]
August 24, 410: Sack of Rome. Alaric and his Visigoths burst in by the Porta Salaria on the northeast of the city of Rome.
431: The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus declares that Jesus existed both as Man and God simultaneously, clarifying his status in the Holy Trinity. The meaning of the Nicene Creed is also declared a permanent holy text of the church.
November 1, 451: The Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, closes. The Chalcedonian Creed is issued, which re-asserts Jesus as True God and True Man and the dogma of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. The council excommunicatesEutyches, leading to the schism with Oriental Orthodoxy.
September 4, 476: Emperor Romulus Augustus is deposed in Rome, marked by many as the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The focus of the early Church switches to expanding in the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople.
477–799
Justinian I depicted on a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
480: Traditional birth of St Benedict, author of a Monastic Rule, setting out regulations for the establishment of monasteries.
496: Clovis I pagan King of the Franks, converts to the Catholic faith.
502: Pope Symmachus ruled that laymen should no longer vote for the popes and that only higher clergy should be considered eligible.
529: The Codex Justinianus (Code of Justinian) completed. First part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law).
January 2, 533: Mercurius becomes Pope John II. He becomes the first Successor of Peter to take a new name as pope. John II obtains valuable gifts as well as a profession of orthodox faith from the Byzantine emperor Justinian.
533: The Digest, or Pandects, was issued; second part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law). The Institutes, third part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), comes into force of law.
595: In a deed of manumission that freed two Roman slaves, Pope Gregory I declared that no heathen who wished to become a Christian should continue to be held a slave.[20]
685: The Maradites used their power and importance to choose John Maron, one of their own, as Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. John received the approval of Pope Sergius I, and became the first Maronite Patriarch.
698: St Willibrord commissioned by Pope Sergius I as bishop of the Frisians (Netherlands). Willibrord establishes a church in Utrecht.
1098: Foundation of the reforming monastery of Cîteaux, leads to the growth of the Cistercian order.
1099: Retaking of Jerusalem by the 1st Crusade, followed by a massacre of the remaining non-Christian inhabitants, and the establishment of the Crusader kingdoms; Latin bishops are appointed to dioceses still largely populated by the Orthodox.
Notre-Dame Cathedral – designed in the Gothic architectural style.
1123: First Ecumenical Lateran Council. Among other internal issues it tackled, Canon 3 of the council (in response to widespread abuse among the clergy) forbade priests, deacons, and sub-deacons to associate with concubines or women in general other than with female family members.
1188: Pope Innocent III issued a bull that proclaimed the emancipation of all slaves.[24]
January 8, 1198: Lotario de' Conti di Segni elected Pope Innocent III. His pontificate is often considered the height of the temporal power of the papacy.
November 30, 1215: Fourth Ecumenical Lateran Council is closed by Pope Innocent III. Seventy decrees were approved, the pre-Thomistic definition of transubstantiation being among them.
1233: In a papal bull or charter, Pope Gregory IX gave graduates of Cambridge University the right to teach "everywhere in Christendom". Other popes encouraged researchers and scholars from other universities to visit Cambridge, study there, and give lecture courses.
1241: The death of Ögedei Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongols, prevented the Mongols from further advancing into Europe after their easy victories over the combined Christian armies in the Battle of Liegnitz (in present-day Poland) and Battle of Mohi (in present-day Hungary).
November 18, 1302: Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam.
1305: French influence causes the Pope to move from Rome to Avignon.
August 12, 1308: Pope Clement V issues the Bull Regnans in coelis calling a general council to meet on October 1, 1310, at Vienne in France for the purpose "of making provision in regard to the Order of Knights Templar, both the individual members and its lands, and in regard to other things in reference to the Catholic Faith, the Holy Land, and the improvement of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons".
1308: Meister Eckhart, Dominican mystic, composes his Book of Spiritual Consolations for Agnes, Queen of Hungary.[25]
August 17–20, 1308: The leaders of the Knights Templar are secretly absolved by Pope Clement V after their interrogation was carried out by papal agents to verify claims against the accused in the castle of Chinon in the diocese of Tours.
c. 1412–1431: St. Joan of Arc, a peasant girl from France, has visions from God telling her to lead her countrymen to reclaim their land from the English. After success in battle she is captured by the English in 1431 and is condemned as a heretic and executed by burning, at the age of 19. Later investigation authorized by Pope Callixtus III would conclude she was innocent and a martyr.
1440: Johannes Gutenberg completes his wooden printing press using movable metal type, revolutionizing the spread of knowledge by cheaper and faster means of reproduction. This soon leads to the large scale production of religious books including Bibles, more accessible now to the laity.
Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
1462: Pope Pius II issued a bill in which he declared the Church's opposition to the slave trade. The pope's primary concern was that prisoners captured during the European wars should not be enslaved by the victorious powers.[26]
January 22, 1506: Kaspar von Silenen and first contingent of Swiss mercenaries enter the Vatican during the reign of Pope Julius II. Traditional date of founding of the Swiss Guards.
April 18, 1506: Pope Julius II lays cornerstone of New Basilica of St. Peter.
1520: Pope Leo X, release a Papal Bull, "Debitum Pastoralis" which conceded that neither the Bishop of Utrecht nor any of his successors, nor any of their clergy or laity, should ever have his cause taken to an external tribunal (Rome or anywhere else) for any reason. Any such proceeding would be null and void.
March 31, 1521: Baptism of the first Catholics in the Philippines, the first Christian nation in Southeast Asia. This event is commemorated with the feast of the Sto. Niño.
1534: The Diocese of Goa is created by Portuguese missionaries to serve the Western Coast of India.
October 30, 1534: English Parliament passes Act of Supremacy making the King of England Supreme Head of the Church of England, a national church canonically alienated from the bishop of Rome, the pope. The hegemony of one form of liturgy and order within the pre-Reformation English church is eventually broken or altered among ecclesial fractions, notably Dissenters, Anglicans (Church of England) and Catholics.
1537: Pope Paul III issued a bull in which he declared the Catholic Church's opposition to the slave trade. The pope's concern was similar to the concerns of his predecessor, Pius II, that prisoners captured during European wars should not be enslaved by victorious powers. He also issued the bull Veritas Ipsa, which decreed that indigenous people in the Americas were not to be enslaved.[28]
1543: The Polish scientist-cleric, Nicolaus Copernicus, published a full account of the heliocentric Copernican theory titled, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium). Considered as the start of the scientific revolution.
December 13, 1545: Ecumenical Council of Trent convened during the pontificate of Paul III, to prepare the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation. Its rulings set the Counter-Reformation tone of Catholic Church for four centuries until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
July 14, 1570: Pope Pius V issues the Apostolic Constitution on the Tridentine Mass, Quo Primum.
October 7, 1571: Christian fleet of the Holy League defeats the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto.
1571: The French government of King Charles IX decreed that "all prisoners are free in this kingdom, as soon as a slave has reached these frontiers and becomes baptized, he is free."[29]
1577: Teresa of Ávila writes The Interior Castle, one of the classic works of Catholic mysticism.
October 15, 1582: The Gregorian calendar is first adopted by Italy, Spain, and Portugal. October 4 (Julian) is followed by October 15 (Gregorian) – ten days are removed.
September 28, 1586: Domenico Fontana successfully finished re-erecting the Vatican Obelisk at its present site in St. Peter's Square. Hailed as a great technical achievement of its time.
1589-91: William Byrd composed his Cantiones sacrae. His music, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, has "an intensity unrivaled in England and a breadth of scale unknown on the Continent." Byrd and his teacher, Thomas Tallis, though both Catholic, were allowed to compose and perform music during the reign of Elizabeth I.
1593: Robert Bellarmine finishes his Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei.
1600: Pope Clement VIII sanctions use of coffee despite petition by priests to ban the Muslim drink as "the devil's drink".[30] The Pope tried a cup and declared it "so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it."[31]
April 19, 1622: Pope Gregory XV makes Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu a cardinal upon the nomination of King Louis XIII of France – becoming Cardinal Richelieu. His influence and policies greatly impact the course of European politics.
November 18, 1626: Pope Urban VIII solemnly dedicates the New Basilica of St. Peter 1,300 years after the first Constantinian basilica was consecrated by Pope Sylvester I.
1674: Quebec City, Canada, is elevated to a diocese with its own bishop, St. Francois de Montmorency-Laval. At one time (1712), the Quebec diocese covered most of the American continent (French, English and Native American territories/colonies) to the Gulf of Mexico. No other Christian community, Catholic or otherwise, had a bishop in those territories at the time.
September 12, 1683: Battle of Vienna. Decisive victory of the army of the Holy League, under King John III Sobieski of Poland, over the Ottoman Turks, under Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The Turks do not threaten Western Europe militarily again.
1687: John Dryden, dominant English literary figure and influence of his age, publishes The Hind and the Panther to celebrate his conversion to Catholicism.
1737: Vincent de Paul, French priest who dedicated his life and ministry to serving the poor, is canonized by Pope Clement XII.
April 28, 1738: Pope Clement XII publishes the Bull In Eminenti forbidding Catholics from joining, aiding, socializing or otherwise directly or indirectly helping the organizations of Freemasonry and Freemasons under pain of excommunication. Membership to any secret society would also incur the penalty of excommunication.
1740–1758: Pope Benedict XIV appointed first women as professors to Papal Universities in Bologna, reformed canonization procedures: an intellectual open to all sciences;
1789: Georgetown University is founded as Georgetown College. It is the oldest Catholic university in the United States and the first of 28 colleges and universities founded by the Jesuits in the US.
1829: The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, is passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
1830: the Chaldean Church leaves the Nestorians to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church
1837: Arrival of the French Catholic Missionaries in Korea.
1839: In a papal letter, Pope Gregory XVI declared the official opposition of the Church to the slave trade and to slavery. In the United States, Catholic slaveholders generally ignored the papal pronouncement and continued to participate in the institution of slavery.[35]
1846: Pope Pius IX begins his reign. During his reign he asks that an anti-Catholic document written by Freemasons known as the Alta Vendita be distributed to alert Catholic officials of possible Masonic infiltration.
1848: John Bosco, priest, writer and educator, founds the Salesians, a religious community based on the spirituality and the philosophy of St. Francis de Sales, a Catholic bishop of Geneva
1850: The Archdiocese of Westminster and twelve other dioceses are set up, re-establishing a Catholic hierarchy for the Catholic public in the United Kingdom against intense political opposition. Westminster Cathedral is formally consecrated 53 years later, in 1903.
1865: The Society of African Missions of Lyon establishes a mission in Lagos, Nigeria. The same Society establishes a mission in Benin, five years later.
July 18, 1870 – The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ from the fourth session of Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus, issues the dogma of papal infallibility among other issues before the fall of Rome in the Franco-Prussian War causes it to end prematurely and brings an end to the Papal States. Controversy over several issues leads to the formation of the Old Catholic Church. This council was not formally closed until 1960 by Pope John XXIII in preparation for the Second Vatican Council.
1873-75: The enactment of the Falk Laws, legislation in Germany during the Kulturkampf conflict with the Church which led to the expulsion of some religious orders from Germany. English poet and Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins, dedicated his famous poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" to five nuns who were forced to flee Germany because of the Laws and later drowned in a shipwreck.
November 30, 1894: Pope Leo XIII publishes the EncyclicalOrientalium Dignitas (On the Churches of the East) safeguarding the importance and continuance of the Eastern traditions for the whole Church.
1895: Mark Twain's Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc is published by Harper's Magazine.
1914–1918 Pope Benedict XV declares neutrality during World War I. His peace initiatives are rejected by both sides as favoring the other. Massive papal charity in Europe.
1916: Charles I of Austria is crowned Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Charles attempted to negotiate peace between the warring nations during World War I. His attempts at peace are largely ignored.
1927: Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest scientist, first proposed on theoretical grounds that the universe was expanding. In addition, he was first to ascertain what is now known as Hubble's Law. He also proposed what became known as the Big Bang.
October 2, 1928: Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei, a worldwide organization of lay members of the Catholic Church.
1928: Sigrid Undset wins the Nobel Prize in Literature..
February 12, 1931: Vatican Radio is set up by Guglielmo Marconi and inaugurated by Pope Pius XI. First signal broadcast is in Morse code: In nomine Domini, amen.
1931–1936: Persecution of the Church in Spain. It is estimated that in the course of the Red Terror (Spain), 6,832 members of the Catholic clergy were killed.[37]
September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland, start of the Second World War. The Vatican, after trying to avoid the war, declares neutrality to avoid being drawn into the conflict. Massive Vatican relief intervention for displaced persons, prisoners of war and needy civilians in Europe.
1940: Graham Greene publishes The Power and the Glory.
During World War II: Convents, monasteries, and the Vatican are used to hide Jews and others targeted by the Nazis for extermination (see The Myth of Hitler's Pope). St. Maximilian Kolbe is martyred in Auschwitz concentration camp after volunteering to die in place of a stranger. The Nazis imprison and at times execute Catholic clergy, monks and nuns who criticize Nazi ideology.
1943: Year of the founding of the lay association Focolare Movement by Chiara Lubich. The Movement promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.
1944: The German Army occupies Rome. Adolf Hitler proclaims he will respect Vatican neutrality; however several incidents, such as giving aid to downed Allied airmen, nearly cause Nazi Germany to invade the Vatican. Rome is liberated by the Allies after only a few weeks of occupation.
1950:Holy Year declared by Pope Pius XII, who announced on December 25, 1950, that the Tomb of Saint Peter had been identified by archeologists underneath Saint Peter Basilica; canonization of Pope Pius X and Maria Goretti; encyclical Humani generis
1952: Francois Mauriac wins Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote the foreword to Elie Wiesel's book Night, having encouraged Wiesel earlier to write about his experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust.
January 7–29, 1953: First Plenary Council of the Philippines.
1960: Senator John F. Kennedy is elected, the first Roman Catholic president in United States history.
October 11, 1962: Pope John XXIII opens the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. The 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church emphasized the universal call to holiness and brought many changes in practices, including an increased emphasis on ecumenism; fewer rules on penances, fasting and other devotional practices; and initiating a revision of the Mass, which was made more accessible by allowing the use of native languages instead of Latin. Opposition to changes inspired by the Council gives rise to the movement of Traditionalist Catholics who disagree with changing the old forms of worship and disagree with the rise of previously condemned philosophies. End of Oath against modernism.
1964: Year of the founding of the lay movement Neocatechumenal Way by Kiko Argnello and Carmen Hernandez.
December 7, 1965: Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I. Mutual excommunication of the Great Schism of 1054 against Catholic and Orthodox is lifted by both parties.
December 8, 1965: Pope Paul VI solemnly closes the Second Vatican Council.
1973: Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan, reports seeing a number of apparitions now known as Our Lady of Akita.
1973: Gustavo Gutierrez, Peruvian theologian, Dominican priest, and founder of Liberation Theology, publishes a pivotal book, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation.
1973: Year of the founding of the Chemin Neuf Community by Jesuit priest, Laurent Fabre.
August 26, 1978: Pope John Paul I becomes the first pope to use a double regnal name. He reigns for only 33 days.
October 16, 1978: Pope John Paul II becomes the first Polish pope and first non-Italian pope elected in 450 years; influential in overthrowing communism in Poland.
1979: Third Episcopal Conference of Latin America, at Puebla, Mexico, confirms option for the poor and asks affluent nations “not to put obstacles in our way to progress.”[38]
June 30, 1988: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrates four men as bishops at Écône, Switzerland, without the express permission of the Pope. Lefebvre et al. automatically incur excommunication. Traditionalist bishops of the SSPX continue to be suspended a divinis.[39]
January 1991: Australian Catholic University opens.[40]
January 20 – February 17, 1991: Second Plenary Council in the Philippines.
1991: The Soviet Union is officially dissolved. Persecuted Catholic Church re-emerges from hiding, especially in Ukraine and Lithuania.
Fourth Episcopal Conference of Latin America, at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, showed a discontinuity with other conferences, as it was heavily controlled by conservative elements and by Rome.[41]
April 30, 2000: Pope John Paul II canonizes St. Faustina and designates the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the General Roman Calendar, with effect from the following year.
January 1, 2001: The 21st century and the new millennium begin. The Church solemnizes the start of the third Christian millennium by extending into part of the year 2001 the jubilee year that it observes at 25-year intervals and that, in the case of the year 2000, is called the Great Jubilee.
January 6, 2001: John Paul II issues Novo Millennio Ineunte, a program for the Church in the new millennium, wherein he placed sanctity through a training in prayer as the most important priority of the Catholic Church in consonance with its purpose.
2004: Cambridge University Press publishes The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar, a scholarly appraisal of his writings.
April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies at the age of 84. His funeral is broadcast worldwide and attended by millions in Rome.
April 19, 2005: German-born Cardinal Joseph Alois Ratzinger is elected by the College of Cardinals as Pope Benedict XVI, thus becoming the first Pope elected during the 21st century and the 3rd millennium.
August 18, 2005: Pope Benedict XVI attends the World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, his first trip outside Italy.
September 12, 2006: Pope Benedict XVI delivers address on Faith, Reason and the University at the University of Regensburg, decrying the emphasis in the Western world on positivistic reason and philosophy, excluding the divine and dialogue with cultures.[42] He quotes negative views of Emperor Manuel II Paleologus regarding Islam, creating violent reactions among Muslims in several parts of the world.[43][44][45][46][47]
June 11, 2007: Pope Benedict XVI reverted the decision of his predecessor regarding papal elections, and restored the traditional two-thirds majority required.[48]
July 7, 2007: With his motu proprioSummorum Pontificum Pope Benedict XVI explicitly allows all priests of the Latin Church to use the 1962 Roman Missal when celebrating Mass privately and, under certain conditions, publicly instead of the post-Vatican II Mass, and expressed the wish that this measure would lead to healing the division between the Society of Saint Pius X and the Catholic Church.
October 28, 2007: Pope Benedict XVI authorizes the largest beatification ceremony in Church history involving 498 Spanish Martyrs who were killed during the Civil War in Spain.
2007: Fifth Episcopal Conference of Latin America at Aparecida, Brazil. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio – later Pope Francis – served as secretary and helped draft the final document which emphasized what would also be a theme of his pontificate: serving the poor in the peripheries of society.[49]
May 2008: A solemn declaration agreed on between Pope Benedict XVI and Muslims, led by Mahdi Mostafavi, stressed that genuine religion is essentially non-violent and that violence can be justified neither by reason nor by faith.[50]
January 2009: The Holy See remits the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, which had had a schismatic relationship with the Catholic Magisterium.
October 11, 2009: Father Damien, a Belgian priest known as the "Apostle of the Lepers", is canonized.
October 21, 2012: Kateri Tekakwitha, Algonquin-Mohawk laywoman known as the "Lily of the Mohawks", is canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.
October 21, 2012: Pedro Calungsod, Young Layperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu, Philippines, is canonized by Pope Benedict XVI and becomes the Second Filipino Saint and First Visayan.
March 2013: Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina elected as Pope Francis, the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be elected Pope.
May 12, 2013: Pope Francis canonizes over 800 Catholics that were killed by Turks in Otranto, 1480. With this he surpassed the record of John Paul II in canonizing the most saints in a pontificate.
May 2015: Pope Francis in his encyclicalLaudato si' (Praise be to you) drew attention to "our sin" of destroying the natural environment and met with Big OilCEOs to drive home the message.[51]
December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016: In The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis, Rome received 21.3 million pilgrims, shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe received 22 million pilgrims, and World Youth Day in Krakow received 3 million pilgrims. According to archbishop Fisichella, president of Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, between 56% and 62% of all Catholics participated in the events while pilgrims in Rome mostly came from Germany, US, Poland, Spanish speaking countries and many from China, Chad, Rwanda, Nepal and Cook Islands.
November 2, 2017: Pope Francis suggests recruiting "proven" married men to become priests for dioceses in the Roman/Latin/Western Church where there are few priests[57] (as do the Eastern Catholic Churches).[58]
March 19, 2018: In his apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), Pope Francis picks up on a theme of Vatican II, explaining that all are called to the same perfection of virtue.[59]
May 18, 2018: Bishops of Chile offer their resignations to Pope Francis owing to criminal negligence in dealing with child sexual abuse among some clerics. Francis accepts the resignations of bishops and cardinals in other countries for similar reasons. Francis faces a far worse crisis among clergy—child abuse and lack of effective episcopal oversight.[60][61]
August 2, 2018: Pope Francis declares the death penalty is unacceptable in all cases, as an attack on human dignity.[62]
July 1, 2019: The canonization of John Henry Newman authorized and the date set for October 13, 2019.[64]
July 2, 2019: it was announced that Pope Francis had transferred the nine bone fragments of St, Peter which were displayed during the 'Year of Faith' Mass, to Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Bartholomew, who serves as head of the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, described the gesture as “brave and bold.”[65]
^The New Shape of World Christianity, Mark A. Noll (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 191.
^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Marcionites" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.: "...they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known."
^J. P. Rodriguez, with foreword by Orlando Patterson CHRONOLOGY OF WORLD SLAVERY (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1999). 50.
^Kristó, Gyula (2001). "The Life of King Stephen the Saint". In Zsoldos, Attila (ed.). Saint Stephen and His Country: A Newborn Kingdom in Central Europe – Hungary. Lucidus Kiadó. pp. 15–36. ISBN978-963-86163-9-5.
^"Suave Molecules of Mocha"Archived March 9, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization, New Partisan – A Journal of Culture, Arts and Politics, March 7, 2005, retrieved October 23, 2006
^Schism of SSPX Pete Vere, My Journey out of the Lefebvre Schism: All Tradition Leads to Rome, Catholic Education Resource Center, retrieved November 20, 2006
^William Dailey, C.S.C., "Would a mass resignation of bishops hurt the US Church? Quite the opposite," www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2018/08/16.
^Thomas Reese, S.J., "Pennsylvania grand jury report is a new low for Catholic Church," www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/August 15, 2018
^Elisabetta Povoledo and Laurie Goodstein, "Pope Declares Death Penalty Always Wrong," NEW YORK TIMES, p.1.
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