5 Amazing Facts About the Catholic Church

1. Catholics are Christians. The original Christians

“And shall the Fathers rather follow our authority, and the antiquity of Saints give way to be emended by us, and times now putrifying through their sins, pluck out the grey hairs of Apostolic age? And yet, my brother, be not troubled; Christian is my name, but Catholic my surname. The former gives me a name, the latter distinguishes me. By the one I am approved; by the other I am but marked.” St. Pacian, bishop of Barcelona and father of the Church (Epistle to Sympronian 7 [A.D. 375])

2. The early Christians identified the Church Jesus Christ established as the Catholic Church

“And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is–for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’–nor askmerely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiarto this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop of Jerusalem and doctor of the Church (Catechetical Lectures 18:26 [A.D. 350])

3. The early Christians held that the truth was founded only in the Catholic Church

“The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole depository of apostolical doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation, and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.” St. Irenaeus of Lyon, bishop of Lyons and father of the Church (Against Heresies 3:4 [A.D. 189])

4. The early Christians believed that the Catholic Church was where Jesus’ presence is

“Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop of Antioch and father of the Church (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110])

5. The founder of the Protestant Movement acknowledges that the Word of God was received from the Catholic Church

“We are obliged to yield many things to the Papists [Catholics] —that they possess the Word of God which we received from them, otherwise we should have known nothing at all about it” Martin Luther (Commentary on St. John, 16).

BONUS:

The Catholic Church is the single tree every other Christian denomination has broken off from, each taking a truth with it, but leaving a little behind every time another branch breaks off.

The Catholic Church chose which books to include in the Bible and coined the word Bible [“βυβλος” Byblos meaning “papyrus” i.e. paper] which is not found in the Bible itself.

The Catholic Church protected Christianity from the Arian heresy and defined the Trinity.

Adapted from the excellent apologetic work “Are Catholics Christian?”

By Godwin Delali Adadzie

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