Roman Catholicism traces its history all the back to the Apostle Peter, over two thousand years ago. The apostle, Peter, also known as Simon, organized and presided over the Church (Pilz 2001). According to the Scriptures, Matthew 16:13-19 Christ said to Peter: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” In 313 A.D. the Roman Empire legally recognized the Catholic religion, and in 380 A.D. it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. During the following 1,000 years, Catholics were the only people recognized as Christians. Any Christianity other than the Catholic Church was a heresy, not a denomination (ReligionFacts 2006).
In 1054 A.D., a formal split occurred between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox (Fairchild 2006). The Catholic Church in the East, centered in Constantinople, and the Catholic Church in Rome argued over differences of language and theology. They eventually became locked in a power struggle. Rome’s way of......
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