Catholic Church by country

Rare card · No. 61515

The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome (the pope)." This communion comprises the Latin Church (the Roman or Western Church) as well as 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, canonically called sui juris churches, each led by either a patriarch or a major archbishop in full communion with the pope. Historically, these bodies separated from Eastern Christian communions, either to remain in or to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. The Vatican II decree on Eastern Catholic Churches, however, explicitly recognizes them as churches and not just rites within the Catholic Church. For example, Greek Catholics follow the Byzantine Rite of the Greek Catholic Church, which falls within the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome. This communion "exists among and between the individual Churches and dioceses of the universal Catholic Church. Its structural expression is the College...

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