Rome: Stories and Tradition Journal 9/21/10

The Pope’s address on Easter and Christmas always begins; “Urbi et Orbi” – “To the city of Rome and to the World.” The term “Roman Catholic” also suggests that there is something “roman” and something “universal” about the church. In what sense is the Church “roman” and in what sense is it “global?”

The Catholic Church is both “Roman” and “Universal.” Within the span of many years, The Catholic faith has spread across the world and the practices all start with the Romans.

The Catholic Church is “Roman” and the history of Roman Catholicism dates back in 313 by Constantine and became the state religion of the Empire in 380, but before Catholicism became an official religion, many things happen that led up to this decision. As the apostles of Jesus spread the Gospel, they provided the beginning structure for the early Christian Church. During the time of the Roman Empire, Jesus’ apostles gained Jewish converts, and because of this Christianity strayed away from the Jewish beliefs and came up with their own religion. And overtime Catholicism was made a new religion, and became the official religion of the Roman Empire. During the following 1000 years, Catholics were the only people recognized as Christians. According to wikipedia.org/Catholic_church, “After Constantine moved the imperial capital to Constantinople and allowed the bishops, now called “Popes,” to have a lot of power.” With the power of the Pope, the Catholic Church was able to gain wealth. Therefore, the Catholic Church had money to build beautiful churches throughout Rome and continued expanding.

Another influence on Rome and the Catholic Church is the fact that the Pope lives in Vatican City, located in Rome. The Catholic Church is “Roman” just by having the Pope located in Vatican City in Rome. The Pope had so much power in Rome and all over the world making the Catholic Church “universal.”

The Catholic Church is not only “Roman,” but it is also “universal.” Catholicism turned universal when believers in this religion spread their faith all over the universe. An example of when the Church became global was during Vatican II and Pope John Paul II said, “Lets open the windows of the church.” This statement is extremely powerful in the sense that the Pope wanted people of all beliefs to feel welcome. From this, the more we see diversity, the more we realize we’re all one family. “Gaudium Et Spes” was another large influence on allowing diverse beliefs to be entered into the world.

In class today when Rabbi Spitzer talked about us going to see the papal audience tomorrow, he mentioned that about 14,000 people will be there and there is a diverse amount of faiths and everyone is welcome. That idea of “family” applies to the audience tomorrow and shows that the Pope John Paul II statement has lived on to this day.