Roman Catholicism

Catholicism
Ecclesia Catholica
Scripture	Bible
Theology	Catholic theology
Polity	Episcopal (Papacy) Parliamentary (Supreme Apostolic Council)
Traditionalist leader	Pope
Reformist leader	President of the Supreme Apostolic Council
Region	Worldwide
Language	Latin
Liturgy	See below
Headquarters	Santiago, Spain (Papacy) Rome, Latium (Supreme Apostolic Council)
Founder	Jesus, according to sacred Christian tradition
Origin	1st century Palestine

The Catholic Church (Latin: Ecclesia Catholica) is the largest Christian church and the oldest religious institution in the world. It is subdivided into sixteen particular churches and seven Rites, with the Latin Church being the most dominant and most populous. In modern day, the largest Catholic populations reside in southern Europe, Mexico, the Philippines, Tussenland, and western Africa.

The leadership of the Catholic Church has been contested between the Holy See and the Supreme Apostolic Council since expulsion of the Pope in 1908. Both claim to be the worldwide leader of Catholic Christendom. From 1911, the papacy has been in exile in Spain, seated at the Archbasilica of Santiago de Compostela. The ecumenical Council of Rome, called in 1909 by the Doge of Venice, established the permanent and executive Supreme Apostolic Council, seated in Rome. Today, the rivalry between conciliarism and papism remain among the largest and most contentious religious predicaments in the world.

History

Catholic Schism (1901-1912)

The Latial Famines of 1901 to 1903 had triggered several popular revolts in the Papal States. Pope Innocent XVII became the main target of the public's wrath due to his and his predecessors' administration of the States. Innocent XVII proceeded to die in 1904. One of his favorite cardinals, Remondo di Muzio, was swiftly elected by the College of Cardinals as Boniface X soon after.

Venice invaded the Papal States in 1908, exacerbating the severity of the revolts and further destabilizing the Papal States. A few weeks later, Boniface X was assassinated by radical republican Jacopo Marzullo in the Ponte district of Rome. Marzullo was allegedly in collaboration with an unnamed bishop. Soon after the incident, the members of the Roman Curia were expelled while the College of Cardinals was thrown into chaos. In 1909, the Doge of Venice would convoke the 20th Catholic ecumenical council, the Council of Rome. The same year, several members of the Curia, the College, and the Roman aristocracy sought refuge in the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, where they were welcomed by the Spanish government.

Supreme Apostolic Council

Council of Rome
Date	1909
Accepted by	Some members of the Catholic Church
Previous council	Council of Saturnia
Next council	Council of Salamanca
Convoked by	Doge of Venice
President	Patriarch of Venice
Attendance	Approx. 3,000
Topics	Papal supremacy Conciliarism Sedevanticism
Location	Quirinal Palace, Rome, Latium
Chronological list of ecumenical councils

Council of Rome (1909)

In 1909, the Doge of Venice convoked the 21st recognised ecumenical council, the Council of Rome, in the Quirinal Palace. The Council, mediated and organised by the concurrent Patriarch of Venice, primarily addressed the issue of papal supremacy and the popularity of conciliarism, sedevanticism, and other forms of anti-Pontifical Catholicism. The historical ecumencial councils of Ephesus (431) and of Basel (1431) were cited as evidential examples of a long-standing desire to severely restrict or eliminate the power of the Pope.

In 1910, the Council had come to a conclusion. They agreed to form the permanent executive body of the Supreme Apostolic Council, created in the image of the First Nicaean Council, in order to replace the Holy See as the highest authoritative institution of the Catholic Church. The Apostolic Council officially claimed apostolic succession while explicitly rejecting the concept of apostolic sees and formally abolishing the position of Bishop of Rome. The provisions of the Council of Rome laid out the structure of the Supreme Apostolic Council:

• The Supreme Apostolic Council is to have a President, elected by the Council. The President can preside for life, but may be removed by the members of the Council through a plurality or majority vote. The position of President is in no way alike to the Pope, and is not invested with the same powers.
• The Patriarch of Venice shall be recognised as the sole Primate of Italia and may substitute for the President is he is absent or if the position is vacant. The position of Primate of Italia is in no way alike to the Pope, and is not invested with the same powers.
• There will be 600 members of the Council, consisting of a reasonably fair assortment of bishops in regards to population of their respective jurisdictions.
• The Quirinal Palace will be the seat of the Supreme Apostolic Council. The defence of the Apostolic Council and the Council's right to convene at the Quirinal Palace is is sanctioned by the heads of state of Venice and Latium; the Doge and the President.
• All members of the Council are to convene at the Quirinal Palace at a minimum of every three months to participate in Apostolic Conferences.
• Apostolic Conferences are distinct from ecumenical councils, which may be seldom convoked by the Supreme Apostolic Council via a majority vote in order to address special, extraordinary, and/or unforeseen matters & circumstances surrounding the Catholic Church.

Organisation

Autonomous particular churches

There are fifteen autonomous particular churches (sui iuris) within the Catholic Church besides the Latin Church, which de jure are in full communion with the Papacy. Each particular church may have their own distinct Catholic tradition, expression, and liturgical practices.

Name	Establishment	Rite	Seat's location (cathedra)	Polity type	Group
Latin Church (fka Roman Catholic Church)	1st century	Roman	Santiago DC, Galicia, Spain Quirinial Palace, Rome, Latium	Patriarchate	Western
Catholic Church of Padania	1916	Ambrosian	Milan, Lombard Republic	Metropolis
Maronite Catholic Church	4th century	Maronite	Beirut, Mt. Lebanon, Ottoman Empire	Patriarchate
Syrian Catholic Church	1722		Jerusalem Free State	Patriarchate
Syrian Malabar Church	1st century	Nestorian	Cochin, Dominion of the Carnatic	Metropolis	Eastern
Chaldean Catholic Church	1552		Baghdad City, State of Baghdad	Patriarchate
Chinese Nestorian Church	1868		Loyang, China	Metropolis
Melkite Greek Catholic Church	1727	Greek	Damascus, Syria, Ottoman Empire	Patriarchate
Galician Catholic Church	1910		Lwow, Poland	Metropolis
Ruthenian Uniate Church	1596		Minsk, Poland	Metropolis
Wallachian Greek Catholic Church	1697		Curtea de Argeș, Wallachia	Metropolis
Coptic Catholic Church	1731	Alexandrine	Alexandria, Egypt	Patriarchate
Abyssinian Catholic Church	1878		Girga, Egypt	Metropolis
Armenian Catholic Church	1742	Armenian	Erevan, Persia	Patriarchate
Chinese Catholic Church	1729	Sinitic	Zaiton, China	Patriarchate	Far Eastern
Japanese Eastern Catholic Church	1757		Nagasaki, Japan	Metropolis

Local particular churches

Local particular churches, also known as dioceses, eparchies, or vicariates, are non-autonomous particular churches.

The Latin Patriarchs

Unlike Patriarchs of sui iuris churches, the minor Latin patriarchs do not have any administrative functions and only provides pastoral, spiritual, and community leadership. They are ranked after the Pope and patriarchs in the Latin Church hierarchy.

Name	Establishment	Residence	Area served
Patriarch of Jerusalem	1099	Jerusalem	Levant
Patriarch of Constantinople	1204	Constantinople	Ottoman Empire, Russia
Patriarch of Alexandria	1215	Seville, Spain	Africa
Patriarch of Antioch	1098	Naples, Naples	Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia
Patriarch of Venice	1451	Venice, Venice	Italian peninsula
Patriarch of Lisbon	1716	Lisbon, Portugal	Iberia
Patriarch of the West Indies	1524	San Agustín, Florida	America
Patriarch of Flores	1803	Larantúca, Timor	Southeast & south Asia
Patriarch of Nagasaki	1752	vacant	Japan, Corea, China

Primates

'Primate' is a title bestowed upon particularly important (arch)bishop who has precedence in a particular area, and may have certain administrative privileges. A list of notable and relevant primates will follow.

Name	Area served	Ecclesiastical district	Notes
Primate of the Gauls	France	Lyon
Primate of the Spains	Iberia	Toledo, Santiago, or Braga
Primate of All Ireland	Ireland	Armagh
Primate of Ireland	Ireland	Dublin
Primate of Quebecq	New France	Quebecq
Primate of Normandy	Normandy	Rouen
Primate of Germania	Central Europe	Salzburg or Mainz
Primate of Italia	Italian peninsula	Venice, Dalmatia	Also the Patriarch of Venice
		Ostia	Papal loyalist
Primate of Sicily	Sicily, Malta	Syracuse or Palermo
Primate of Batavia	Netherlands	Utrecht
Primate of Poland	Poland	Gniezno or Lwow
Primate of the East	India	Goa
Primate of the Philippines	Southeast Asia	Manila
Primate of Saint Dominic	Caribbean	Saint-Domingue
Primate of Brazil	Colonial Brazil	Salvador, Bahia	Anti-colonial
		Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Portuguese loyalist
Primate of Tussenland	Tussenland	Peoria or Sault Ste. Marie
Primate of America	New Netherland	New Amsterdam
Primate of All Mexico	Mexico	Mexico City
Primate of California	North Mexico	Goudhaven or San Diego
Primate of Colombia	Colombia	Bogotá

List of leaders

Roman Pontiffs

The Pope (Latin and Spanish: Papa), also known as the Roman Pontiff, the Spanish Pontiff, or the Supreme Pontiff (pontifex maximus), was created in the 1st century and was unequivocally confirmed as the head of the worldwide Catholic Church in the Second Nicaean Council. Since the expulsion of the Pope from Rome in 1908, the supremacy of the Papacy has been widely contested.

Popes residing in Rome

• Alexander VII (1655-1667)
• Clement IX (1667-1669)
• Alexander VIII (1667-1676)
• Innocent XI (1676-1677)
• Gregory XVI (1677-1683)
• Clement X (1683-1689)
• Innocent XII (1689-1703)
• Clement XI (1703-1736)
• Clement XII (1736-1740)
• Alexander IX (1740-1749)
• Sixtus VI (1749-1754)
• Gregory XVII (1754-1780)
• Innocent XIII (1780-1782)
• Innocent XIV (1782-1799)
• Alexander X (1799-1828)
• Leo XII (1828)
• Innocent XV (1828-1833)
• Pius VI (1833-1845)
• Sixtus VII (1845-1851)
• Alexander XI (1851-1866)
• Interregnum (1866)
• Paul VI (1866-1877)
• Innocent XVI (1877-1889)
• Alexander XII (1889-1890)
• Paul VII (1890-1893)
• Leo XIII (1893-1898)
• Innocent XVII (1898-1904)
• Boniface X (1904-1908)

Popes residing in Santiago de Compostela

• Interregnum (1908-1910)
• Callixtus IV (1910-1932)
• Leo XIV (1932-1956)
• Leo XV (1956-1973)
• Clement XIII (1973-1975)
• Adrian VII (1975-1981)
• Martin VI (1981-2002)