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The Catholic Church
(continued)
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The Annunciation,
Murillo
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After the first sin of
Adam and Eve, God promised them that He would send them a Savior. This
promise was constantly recalled by the prophets and awaited by the people
of Israel. Isaiah says: "A
virgin will conceive and bear a son that will be named Emmanuel" (God
with us) (Is. 7,14). In order to fulfill His promise, God sent the angel
Gabriel to a virgin called Mary and announced to her that she would conceive
through the power of the Holy Spirit and bear a child to be named Jesus,
who would be the Son of God. That's precisely what happened and Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. He lived on earth for 33 years. Through His teachings
and miracles He gave us a message of salvation as the Father had entrusted
Him. In order to carry on His work, He established a church that would
be catholic (universal) based on the 12 disciples whom he named Apostles
and He designated Peter as their head. Soon after, He died on a cross and
offered His life to the Father for the salvation of the world. |
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On the
third day He rose, appeared many times to His disciples, and 50
days after His resurrection He sent the Holy Spirit to strengthen
them in their work to proclaim the Gospel to people of every race,
tongue and nation. This is the reason why the church founded by
Christ has from ancient times been called Catholic. Peter was named
head of the Church by Christ: "You
are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates
of hell will not prevail against her" (Mat. 16, 18). Christ
also instructed Peter to tend His flock: "Feed my sheep" (John
21, 15). Peter acted always as head of the Church in Jerusalem, Antioch
and finally Rome, where he was martyred. He was the first bishop
of Rome and he has been succeeded by others who are given the name
of Pope. To date, there have been 266 Popes (bishops of Rome) whose
names and years of pontificate are given later in this section. |
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Christ
the Teacher
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