Portal:Christianity/Selected article/June 2007: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:Catholic population.png|350px|thumb|Global distribution of Roman Catholicism]]

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! width="50%" align="left" | <span style="color:gray">&lt;</span> [[Portal:Christianity/Selected article/May 2007|May 2007]]

! width="50%" align="right" | [[Portal:Christianity/Selected article/July 2007|July 2007]] <span style="color:gray">></span>

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The '''[[Roman Catholic Church]]''' or '''Catholic Church''' (see [[Catholic Church#Terminology|terminology]]) is the [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Ecclesia (church)|church]] in [[full communion]] with the [[Bishop of Rome]], currently [[Pope Benedict XVI]]. It traces its origins to the [[Christian Church|original Christian community]] founded by [[Jesus Christ]] and led by the [[Twelve Apostles]], in particular [[Saint Peter]].

The Catholic Church is by far the largest Christian church and the largest organized body of any world [[religion]]. According to the ''Statistical Yearbook of the Church'', the Catholic Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000, approximately one-sixth of the world's population.

The worldwide Catholic Church is made up of one [[Latin RiteChurch|Western or Latin]] and 22 [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] [[particular church]]es, all of which look to the [[Bishop of Rome]], alone or along with the [[College of Bishops]], as their highest authority on earth for matters of faith, morals and church governance. It is divided into jurisdictional areas, usually on a territorial basis. The standard territorial unit, each of which is headed by a [[bishop]], is called a [[diocese]] in the Latin church and an [[eparchy]] in the Eastern churches. At the end of 2006, the total number of all these jurisdictional areas (or "Sees") was 2,782.

'''([[Roman Catholic Church|more]])'''