Catholicism vs Christianity

1170 Words5 Pages
Catholicism Being baptized by a Catholic church and raised a Christian, I naturally became curious as to what the differences were between these two religions. Through my research and observation of a Catholic service (mass), I’ve learned that there are many similarities in their beliefs and that it is their practices of worship and salvation methods that becomes the dividing factor. Many people, including myself, typically mistaken Catholicism and Christianity as two very different religions. The fact is that they have an interrelationship, figuratively speaking. By this I mean that Catholicism is simply a denomination of Christianity. Therefore the question that should be asked is, “What is the difference between Catholics and other Christians?”. According to Howe1, in America alone Christianity alone makes up 78.4% of America’s population with Catholicism being 23.9% among the Christians in America. There are many things that differentiate Catholicism from other denominations under Christianity. One thing that makes Catholicism stand out is that they don’t only worship God and Jesus but they also worship saints as well. One saint that stands above the rest is Saint Mary. To Catholics Saint Mary is considered to be the greatest among all the other Saints because she is the virgin mother of Jesus Christ. In every Catholic Church you visit you are more than likely to stumble upon some type of memoir of the Saint Mary, whether it is a statue or her figure in stained glass windows. One thing that this denomination has that no other denomination under Christianity has is a Pope. Howe1 explains, “The pope is the spiritual leader of Catholicism and the visible head of the Catholic Church. He is the successor to Saint Peter, the first among the apostles and the first pope of Rome. ” Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio is the current pope as of 2013. He is the 266th pope
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