Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic.
Today we’re diving into the world of Catholicism.
We’re going to cover how the religion came to be, what they believe in, and some of the
supposed controversies about the religion.
Let’s start at the beginning.
And by the beginning, I mean the 1st century.
The story of Jesus tells us of a man who was born to a virgin mother named Mary and grew
up to become an incredible role model for the world.
In religious texts like the Bible, Jesus is the son of God and part of the holy trinity.
It was his destiny to die at the hands of the people and sacrifice himself to take onto
himself the sins of the world so that anyone who believed in him could gain entrance to heaven.
After Jesus was killed, he returned to life three days later to say his goodbyes to his
loyal apostles, men who would now travel the world and tell of these stories, as Jesus
took his place at the throne of Heaven.
That process of sharing the death and rebirth of Jesus, called the gospel, continues today.
The Catholic Church is the closest thing to what the church looked like back in those
ancient days, as we’ll dive into their ritual and traditions later on.
In most discussions about religion, the term Christian will get used but it’s important
to know what that means.
If a Christian believes that Jesus did indeed die for their sins, then Catholics are indeed
Christians, as are other groups such as Latter-Day Saints and Seventh Day Adventists.
But back in the days following Jesus, there was only one church of Christians, which evolved
during the Roman Empire to be called the Roman Catholic Church.
There have been several splits, which is why the Roman Catholic notation is important.
The first big split came in the early 1000s, where Greek and Latin Christians had some
serious disagreements fundamentally and logistically.
It’s been a thousand years remember and the church has spread itself across the globe,
so naturally things will evolve and adapt and eventually become incongruent, so we have
what is called a schism, where we get the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The other big split came later in the 1500s and 1600s, a huge span of time called the
Reformation, where the church was split again into what are now called protestant churches,
who rejected the rigidity, tradition, and the rule of the church administration and
instead focused on grace through faith alone.
Again, this a complicated story involving many years and many people who made it happen,
but what you need to know is that there are now essentially three groups of quote unquote
Christians, which include the Catholics, the Orthodox, and the Protestants.
Under each, you’ll see variations but these three big umbrellas should give you a decent
understanding to move forward.
So back to Catholicism, now that you understand how it fits.
It’s an incredibly long-lasting religion and many of their ancient beliefs are still
in play, so let’s dive into theology and tradition.
Catholics today believe that because of Jesus dying on the cross, human beings have the
ability to enter heaven.
They exemplify this devotion by celebrating seven sacraments, which they believe were
left behind by Jesus to participate and rejoice in.
The first sacrament is baptism, the act of devoting someone to Christ through a water ceremony.
Catholics believe that everyone carries sin, including children, and they must all be baptized
to enter the kingdom of God.
How do children have sin, you might ask.
Because of Adam and the quote unquote original sin, Catholics believe that everyone is born
with that inherent sin and temptation.
The act is interesting in that anyone can perform a baptism, if it comes to a life or
death situation.
Even atheists can baptize, assuming that they perform the act with the intent to baptize
and dedicate the act to the father, the son, and holy spirit, which is a statement called
the Trinitarian baptismal formula.
The second sacrament is called the Eucharist, or commonly known as communion.
If a child or an adult just becoming Catholic completes their baptism, it’s likely followed
by their first communion.
Communion is the act of eating bread and wine, which Catholics believe are actually the body
and blood of Christ, transformed through an act of a priest called transubstantiation.
They perform a certain rite which makes this food and drink become the body and blood of
Christ.
In other forms of Christianity, the bread and wine merely represent the body and blood,
as a symbol.
Only individuals who have confessed their sins should receive communion.
We’ll talk more about confession later.
The third sacrament is the last one of what is called the sacraments of initiation, the
three steps to become a member of the Catholic Church.
Confirmation.
This act, as the name implies, confirms that the person in question understands the dedication
to God and is willing to devote themselves to the church.
This used to be tied to baptism and the child would be immediately confirmed but more recently,
it’s become standard for children to reach an older age so that they understand the claim
they are making when they do their first communion and confirmation.
Those three sacraments are the initiation into the Catholic Church but the rest of the
sacraments are lessons and rites passed down by Jesus Christ that can help humans to thrive
and endure on Earth.
Gifts given to mankind.
The first of these gifts is called penance.
This act allows a human to confess their sins to a priest and to be absolved of that sin,
washed clean of it.
This requires the Catholic to confess any and all sins with a desire to not commit those
sins again and it requires the priest to perform an act of reparation to absolve this person
of their sins.
The priest is required to maintain secrecy about any and all sins confessed.
The next sacrament is a gift given to those who are about to pass, called the anointing of the sick.
A priest can help prepare someone old or sick as they near death by using oils to bless their body.
If they are unable to confess sins, a priest can even forgive their sins without it.
When combined with communion and penance, the anointing is often called “the last
rites,” to ensure that the sick are forgiven before they pass.
The last two sacraments are about the roles that humans take in society and how those
roles can enhance our lives.
Firstly, there’s the sacrament of marriage.
The Catholic Church believes that marriage between a man and a woman is sacred and necessary.
This is the only way that sexual activity is condoned and the church disapproves of
contraception use, which can be a point of controversy.
There is a method called “natural family planning” in which a family can plan for
when they have children by only having sex during times when the woman isn’t fertile.
The church also does not recognize divorce, as marriage is a lifelong bond.
Some predominantly Catholic countries don’t even have a procedure for divorce, including
the Philippines in which divorce is actually illegal.
In 2018, it’s finally up for discussion and after this video goes live, they may eventually
legalize divorce, only time will tell.
The last sacrament to discuss…
The Catholic Church embraces what are called Holy Orders, which allows them to raise up
members of the church into positions such as deacons, priests, and bishops.
This gives these members of the church the ability and blessing to perform some of these
other sacraments, as well as speaking and service roles in routine ceremonies such as
their regular church services called mass.
Aside from nuns, these roles are exclusively male.
There is an ongoing debate over whether or not women can be deacons, or in this case deaconesses.
Why are women not allowed?
If positions in the church structure are essentially imitating god, they believe that men, who
are created in god’s image, should be in those positions.
Since we’re talking about structure, this introduces our first three positions in the
church administration.
All of these positions can preach and give lessons, as well as baptizing and performing weddings.
Only the priests can perform the Eucharist sacrament, receive confessions, and anoint the sick.
And only the bishops at the top can perform this sacrament of the Holy Orders, ordaining
church members to these other positions.
These bishops oversee an area called a dioceses, which is equivalent to a region.
Large dioceses might be run by an archbishop, which just signifies a high population region.
Above these bishops are cardinals, which are bishops who have been handpicked by the Pope
to be a part of what is called the College of the Cardinals.
These cardinals act as bishops or archbishops but it is also their responsibility to elect
a new Pope when the time comes.
Let’s talk about the Pope, since we’re already in this far.
Pope is a nickname for the bishop of Rome and the ruler of the entire Catholic Church.
Right now, Pope Francis sits in that position and rules from the Vatican, which is a self-sovereign
state located inside of Rome.
When the current Pope retires or leaves the post, the College of the Cardinals convenes
to decide a new bishop to elevate.
If the vote is unsuccessful, black smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel, to signify that discussions continue.
When a vote is successful, white smoke comes from the Chapel and the world can rejoice
that a new Pope has been chosen.
Pope Francis has been in power since 2013 and has been generally regarded as a breath
of fresh air to the rest of the world, even showing more willingness to discuss social
issues than past Popes.
He’s made statements about loving those that have come out as gay, as loving the person
and not loving the sin, and showing efforts to initiate interfaith dialogue.
He’s also been a strong supporter of climate change research and wealth equality.
When he first began, he spoke openly about how some of these issues have been neglected
and he sought to bring them back to the forefront.
The reception to Pope Francis has been mixed, with a large segment of quote unquote traditionalist
Catholics that want to go back to the old customs and traditions that have been lost over time.
Now back to theology and what Catholics believe.
We talked about the sacraments and how to live out a Christian lifestyle through those
tenants but there’s also a large emphasis on Mary in the Catholic Church.
Mary is the virgin mother of Jesus who was chosen by God to bear his son.
By giving birth to Jesus, she is also believed to be the spiritual mother of every member
of the Catholic Church, so special attention is paid to thanking her.
This veneration is encouraged by the Church but it’s always emphasized that it’s separate
and distinct from the worship of God.
The Virgin Mary appears often in art and poetry and Catholics might make pilgrimages to some
of these sites including the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City and Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.
So let’s zoom out.
Roman Catholicism is the largest sect of Christianity in the world, with over 1 billion members.
Its largest concentration comes from Latin America, about 48% of the population.
It’s one of the world’s oldest and still active religions so it’s no doubt that there
have been controversies along the road that have brought the church under scrutiny.
One of the largest was featured in the 2015 Academy Award-winning film Spotlight, which
was based on a massive series of sexual assault cases that came to light involving Catholic
clergymembers and some non-Christlike behavior.
You’d think a movie focused on this would be received negatively from the church, but
it was actually the opposite.
Key members of the church called it fairly accurate but they did say that the movie didn’t
emphasize the way that the church has reformed since those incidents.
Overall though, members of the church have been receptive to the movie, even though the
actual incidents might be difficult to discuss.
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Head down to the comments and tell me what other religions you'd be interested in getting
a refresher like this on.
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out our other playlist of other topics that you might be interested in learning about, if you're unfamiliar. Thanks for watching!