Catholicism

The Pope is the bishop of Rome, and the Catholic Church holds its bishops to be successors of the apostles. In 1337 it was the faith of nearly all Latin Europe.

Worship centres on the Mass, in which consecrated bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Its sacraments number seven. The schism of 1054 divided it from the Orthodox Church.

The popes lived at Avignon from 1309 to 1376, and rival claimants split the Church from 1378 until the Council of Constance of 1414–1418. Luther's Ninety-five Theses of 1517 took much of northern Europe out of its obedience; the Council of Trent, 1545–1563, led the Counter-Reformation, and Spanish and Portuguese missionaries carried the faith to the Americas and Asia.