Timeline of the Catholic Church

The History of the Roman Catholic Church covers a period of just under two thousand years, making the Church one of the oldest religious institutions in history. As one of the oldest branches of Christianity (the Eastern Orthodox and some other churches are also "apostolic" in origin -- i.e., they also date their origins back to the founding of the Christian Church at the time of the Apostles), the history of the Roman Catholic Church plays an integral part of the History of Christianity as a whole. For the sake of simplicity, the term "Catholic Church" as it is used in this article refers specifically to the Catholic Church founded in Rome, and presided over by their governing Bishop, commonly known as the Pope.

The history of the Catholic Church is vast and complex, covering many different eras in which the Church was a key influence in the course of European and world civilization. Yet, the Catholic Church is basically unchanged in its substantial teachings and organisation since the dawn of the Christian era in the first century.

Over time, schisms have disrupted the unity of Christianity. The two largest of these involved the separation from the Catholic Church of Orthodox Christianity the (East-West Schism) and Protestantism (the Reformation) respectively. The Catholic Church has been the moving force in some of the major events of world history including the Evangelization of Europe and Latin America, the spreading of literacy and the foundation of the Universities, hospitals, monasticism, the development of Art, Music and Architecture, the Inquisition, the Crusades, an analytical philosophical method, and the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 20th century.

Ministry of Jesus and expansion (c. 1 – 312)

Hi Alex!

Jesus as Christ pantocrator

The Catholic Church's institutional basis is the person and teachings of Jesus as described in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These describe Jesus as an observant Jewish carpenter from the region of Galilee, who was both the promised Messiah or anointed one (Christos in Greek, giving rise to the title Jesus Christ) and son of God, in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Catholicism thus considers itself a successor religion to Judaism with the Christian God and the God of the Jews seen as one and the same.

According to the four Gospels, when Jesus was about thirty years of age (Luke 3:23), he left the town of Nazareth and began a ministry of preaching and miraculous healing. In his preaching, he called for repentance (Mark 1:15), presenting God as a loving Father always ready to forgive. He also called on people to imitate the goodness and love of God towards all. He gained a following of people who saw him as a Rabbi and in some cases wondered if he could be the Messiah; but he aroused opposition from the religious leadership, who saw his teaching as contrary to traditional doctrine and practice, and felt that his hints about his own personal identity were blasphemous.

The Gospels give a detailed account of Jesus' final days, when, probably in his mid-thirties, Jesus was arrested by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and charged with blasphemy. To the Sanhedrin he declared himself the Messiah, and they persuaded the authorities of the Roman Empire, who ruled the region as Iudaea Province, to sentence him to death, after which he was scourged, beaten, and crucified. The Passion of Christ, thus recounted in the Gospels, tells of the events of Good Friday (beginning on what would now be considered the evening of the day before), which led up to Easter, when, according to the New Testament account, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples.

To Simon Peter, Jesus had earlier stated that he would entrust to him the keys to Heaven and that upon the "rock" (Latin Petrus) of Peter he would found his Church. The Catholic Church sees its history as beginning at this point, with the Pope as the successor of Saint Peter. The controversy between Rome and the other apostolic churches over what has been called the Petrine Doctrine is one of several doctrinal controversies that continues to divide the eastern and western churches.

Key dates

• c. 1: Nativity of Jesus. According to the Gospels, his birth occurred in the town of Bethlehem during the reigns of King Herod and Emperor Augustus, and he was the son of the Virgin Mary, who conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians see Him as as the Divine Son of God incarnate.

Although the calculations of Dionysius Exiguus put the birth of Jesus in the year that in consequence is called AD 1, history places his birth more likely some time between 6 and 4 BC.

Jesus Christ dies on the cross

• c. 30: Jesus' baptism, start of ministry, and selection of the Apostles. Christian Gospels strongly implicate Peter as the leader of the followers of Jesus. Major preachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount. Performance of miracles, such as raising the dead back to life, feeding five-thousand, walking on water, etc.
• c. 33: Peter declares and other followers believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Jewish Messiah promised by Yahweh according to the Jewish Scriptures and the predictions of the Hebrew prophets. Entry into Jerusalem, start of Passion of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is crucified in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea during the reign of Tiberius, after the Sandhedrin accuse Jesus of blasphemy. According to his followers, three days later, "God raised him from the dead", or, as they also express it, he "has risen." Forty days after his resurrection (Ascension), the Christian Gospels narrate that Jesus instructed His disciples thus: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of time." (Matthew 28:18-20). Ten days later (Pentecost) Peter makes the first sermon converting 3,000 to be baptized. From this point onwards, the teachings of Jesus are spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond forming into churches led by the Apostles. Christian tradition records that the Christian Church in Rome was jointly founded by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and that Peter was its first bishop.
• c. 34: St. Stephen, a deacon and first Christian martyr, stoned to death in Jerusalem.
• c. 50: Council of Jerusalem
• c. 64: Christian persecution under Emperor Nero after the great fire of Rome
• c. 70: Fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.
• c. 100: St. John, the last of the Apostles, dies in Ephesus.
• c. 110: Ignatius of Antioch uses the term Catholic Church in a letter to the Church at Smyrna, one of the letters of undisputed authenticity attributed to him. In this and other genuine letters he insists on the importance of the bishops in the Church and speaks harshly about heretics.
• c. 150: Latin translations (the Vetus Latina) from the Greek texts of the Scriptures are circulated among non-Greek-speaking Christian communities.
• c. 155: The teachings of Marcion, the gnostic Valentinus and pentecostal Montanists cause disruptions in the Roman community. Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire continues.
• c. 180: Irenaeus's Adversus Haereses brings the concept of "heresy" further to the fore.
• c. 195: Pope Victor I, first African Pope, excommunicated the Quartodecimans in an Easter controversy. Some think he may have been the first pope to celebrate Mass in Latin instead of Greek.
• c. 200: Tertullian, first great Christian Latin writer, coined for Christian concepts Latin terms such as "Trinitas", "Tres Personae", "Una Substantia", "Sacramentum"
• January 20, 250: Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
• c. 250: Pope Fabian is said to have sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges.
• October 28, 312: Emperor Constantine leads the forces of the Roman Empire to victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Tradition has it that, the night before the battle, Constantine had a vision that he would achieve victory if he fought under the Symbol of Christ; accordingly, his soldiers bore on their shields the Chi-Rho sign composed of the first two letters of the Greek word for "Christ" (ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ). After winning the battle, Constantine legalized Christianity. He himself was not baptized until shortly before death.

Church of the Roman Empire (313 – 476)

Head of Constantine's colossal statue at Musei Capitolini

• 313: The Edict of Milan declares the Roman Empire neutral towards religious views, in effect ending the persecution of Christians.
• 321: Granting the Church the right to hold property, Constantine donates the palace of the Laterani to Pope Miltiades. The Lateran Basilica (Basilica of Our Savior) becomes the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Rome.
• November 3, 324: Constantine lays the foundations of the new capital of the Roman Empire in Byzantium, later to be known as Constantinople.
• 325: The Arian controversy erupts in Alexandria, causing widespread violence and disruptions among Christians.
• May 20, 325: The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, convened as a response to the Arian controversy, establishes the Nicene Creed, declaring the belief of orthodox Trinitarian Christians in the Holy Trinity. The form of the Nicene Creed has undergone controversy over the Filioque clause but is still used by the Catholic Church to this day.
• November 18, 326: Pope Sylvester consecrates the Basilica of St. Peter built by Constantine the Great over the tomb of the Apostle.
• May 11, 330: Constantinople solemly inaugurated. Constantine moves the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, renaming it New Rome.
• May 22, 337: Constantine the Great dies. Baptized as a Christian only shortly prior to his death.
• 360: Julian the Apostate becomes the last non-Christian Roman Emperor.
• February 27, 380: Emperor Theodosius issues an edict, De Fide Catolica, in Thessalonica, published in Constantinople, declaring Catholic Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire.
• November 24, 380: Emperor Theodosius I is baptised a Christian.
• 381: First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople.
• 382: The Council of Rome under Pope Damasus I sets the Canon of the Bible, listing the accepted books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. No others are to be considered scripture. See also Biblical Canon.
• 391: The Theodosian decrees outlaw most Pagan rituals still practiced in Rome, thereby encouraging much of the population to convert to Christianity.
• 400: Jerome's Vulgate Latin Bible translation is published. This is a highly influential compilation of Old Testament and New Testament bible books that become the basis for the Bible which is known today.
• 404: The monk Telemachus jumps into an arena trying to separate two gladiators; he is killed by the mob. The gladiatorial games are ended by the Emperor Honorius.
• August 24, 410: Sack of Rome. Alaric and his Visigoths burst in by the Porta Salaria on the northeast of the city Rome.
• 431: The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus declares that Jesus existed both as Man and God simultaneously, clarifying his status in the Holy Trinity. The meaning of the Nicene Creed is also declared a permanent holy text of the church.
• October 8, 451: Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon opens.
• November 1, 451: The Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, closes. The Chalcedonian Creed is issued, which re-asserts Jesus as True God and True Man and the dogma of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. The council excommunicates Eutyches, leading to the schism with Oriental Orthodoxy.
• 452: Pope Leo I (the Great) meets Attila the Hun, the Scourge of God, and dissuades him from sacking Rome.
• 455: Sack of Rome by the Vandals. The spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem previously taken by Titus are allegedly among the treasures taken to Carthage.
• September 4, 476: Emperor Romulus Augustus is deposed in Rome, marked by many as the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The focus of the early Church switches to expanding in the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. Eventually the Church splits into Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism in the 11th Century.

Church of the Early Middle Ages (476 – 800)

Justinian I depicted on a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

• 480: St Benedict begins his Monastic Rule, setting out regulations for the establishment of monasteries.
• 496: Clovis I pagan King of the Franks, converts to the Catholic faith.
• 502: Pope Symmachus ruled that laymen should no longer vote for the popes and that only higher clergy should be considered eligible.
• 529: The Codex Justinianus (Code of Justinian) completed. First part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law).
• January 2, 533: Mercurius becomes Pope John II. He becomes the first pope to take a regnal name. John II obtains valuable gifts as well as a profession of orthodox faith from the Byzantine emperor Justinian.
• 533: The Digest, or Pandects, was issued; second part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law). The Institutes, third part of Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) comes into force of law.
• 553: Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople condemned the errors of Origen, The Three Chapters, and confirmed the first four general councils.
• 590: Pope Gregory the Great. Reforms ecclesiastical structure and administration. Establishes Gregorian Chant.
• 596: Saint Augustine of Canterbury sent by Pope Gregory to evangelize the pagan English.
• 638: Christian Jerusalem and Syria conquered by Muslim armies.
• 642: Egypt falls to the Muslims, followed by the rest of North Africa.
• 664: The Synod of Whitby unites the Celtic Church in England with the Catholic Church.
• 680: Third Ecumenical Council of Constantinople puts an end to Monothelitism.
• 711: Muslim armies invade Spain.
• 718: Saint Boniface, an Englishman, given commission by Pope Gregory II to evangelise the Germans.
• 726: Iconoclasm begins in the eastern Empire. The destruction of images persists until 843.
• 732: Muslim advance into Western Europe halted by Charles Martel at Poitiers, France.
• 756: Popes granted independent rule of Rome by King Pepin the Short of the Franks, the Donation of Pepin. Birth of the Papal States.
• 787: Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea resolved Iconoclasm.
• 793: Sacking of the monastery of Lindisfarne marks the beginning of Viking raids on Christian Europe.

Church of the High Middle Ages (800 – 1499)

• December 25, 800: King Charlemagne of the Franks is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the West by Pope Leo III in St. Peter's Basilica.
• 829: Ansgar begins missionary work in Sweden near Stockholm.
• 863: Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to evangelise the Slavic peoples. They translate the Bible into Slavonic.
• 869: Fourth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople condemns Photius. This council and succeeding general councils are denied by the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
• 910: Great Benedictine monastery of Cluny rejuvenates western monasticism. Monasteries spread throughout the isolated regions of Western Europe.
• 988: St. Vladimir I the Great is baptized; becomes the first Christian Grand Duke of Kiev.
• 1012: Burchard of Worms completes his twenty-volume Decretum of Canon law.
• July 16, 1054: Liturgical, linguistic, and political divisions cause a permanent split between the Eastern and Western Churches, known as the East-West Schism or the Great Schism. The three legates,Humbert of Mourmoutiers, Frederick of Lorraine, and Peter, archbishop of Amalfi, entered the Cathedral of the Hagia Sophia during mass on a Saturday afternoon and placed a papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar against the Patriarch Michael I Cerularius. The legates left for Rome two days later, leaving behind a city near riots.
• November 27, 1095: Pope Urban II preaches a sacrum bellum (holy war), a Crusade, to defend the eastern Christians, and pilgrims to the Holy Land, at the Council of Clermont.
• 1098: Foundation of the reforming monastery of Citeaux, leads to the growth of the Cistercian order.
• 1099: Recapture of Jerusalem by the 1st Crusade.

Notre-Dame Cathedral - designed in the Gothic architectural style.

• 1123: First Ecumenical Lateran Council.
• 1139: Second Ecumenical Lateran Council.
• 1144: The Saint Denis Basilica of Abbot Suger is the first major building in the style of Gothic architecture.
• 1150: Publication of Decretum Gratiani.
• 1179: Third Ecumenical Lateran Council.
• October 2, 1187: The Siege of Jerusalem. Ayyubid forces led by Saladin captured Jerusalem, prompting the Third Crusade.
• January 8, 1198: Lotario de' Conti di Segni elected Pope Innocent III. Pontificate considered height of temporal power of the papacy.
• April 13, 1204: Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. Beginning of Latin Empire of Constantinpole.
• 1205: Saint Francis of Assisi becomes a hermit, founding the Franciscan order of friars.
• June 15, 1215: Magna Carta signed by King John of England.
• November 11, 1215: Fourth Ecumenical Lateran Council opened by Pope Innocent III.
• November 30, 1215: Fourth Ecumenical Lateran Council is closed by Pope Innocent III. Seventy decrees were approved, the definition of transubstantiation being among them.
• 1229: Inquisition founded in response to the dangerous Cathar Heresy, at the Council of Toulouse.
• 1231: Charter of the University of Paris granted by Pope Gregory IX.
• April 9, 1241: Battle at Legnickie Pole (Wahlstatt) near the city of Legnica (Liegnitz) in Silesia with a decisive victory for the Mongol diversionary force and the destruction of the combined Christian forces and death of Henry II the Pious.
• April 11, 1241: The Battle of Mohi, or Battle of the Sajó river, was the main battle between the Mongols and the Kingdom of Hungary during the Mongol invasion of Europe. Batu Khan and strategist Subotai of the Mongols defeat King Béla IV of Hungary.
• 1241: The death of Ogedei Khan, the Great Khan of the Mongols, prevented the Mongols from further advancing into Europe after their easy victories over the combined Christian armies in the Battle of Liegnitz (in present-day Poland) and Battle of Mohi (in present-day Hungary).
• 1245: First Ecumenical Council of Lyons. Excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II.
• 1274: Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons. Catholic and Orthodox Churches temporarily reunited.
• 1295: Marco Polo arrives home in Venice.
• February 22, 1300: Pope Boniface VIII published the Bull "Antiquorum fida relatio"; first recorded Holy Year of the Jubilee celebrated.
• November 18, 1302: Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam.
• 1305: French influence causes the Pope to move from Rome to Avignon.
• August 12, 1308: Pope Clement V issues the Bull Regnans in coelis calling a general council to meet on 1 Oct., 1310, at Vienne in France for the purpose "of making provision in regard to the Order of Knights Templar, both the individual members and its lands, and in regard to other things in reference to the Catholic Faith, the Holy Land, and the improvement of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons".
• August 17 - 20, 1308: The leaders of the Knights Templar are secretly absolved by Pope Clement V after their interrogation was carried out by papal agents to verify claims against the accused in the castle of Chinon in the diocese of Tours.
• October 16, 1311: The first formal session of the Ecumenical Council of Vienne begins under Pope Clement V.
• March 22, 1312: Clement V promulgates the Bull Vox in excelsis suppressing the Knights Templar.
• May 6, 1312: The Ecumenical Council of Vienne is closed on the third formal session.
• May 26, 1328: William of Ockham flees Avignon. Later, he was excommunicated by Pope John XXII, whom Ockham accused of heresy.
• 1347: The Black Death. The bubonic plague arrives in Europe.
• 1370: Saint Catherine of Siena calls on the Pope to return to Rome.
• 1378: Anti-pope Clement VII (Avignon) elected against Pope Urban VI (Rome) precipitating the Western Schism.
• 1440: Johannes Gutenberg completes his wooden printing press using moveable metal type revolutionizing the spread of knowledge by cheaper and faster means of reproduction. Results in the mass production of Bibles as well as other books.
• May 29, 1453: Fall of Constantinople.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus discovers the New World.
• 1493: With the Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI awards sole colonial rights over most of the New World to Spain.

Church of the Renaissance (1500 – 1629)

Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

• January 22, 1506: Kaspar von Silenen and first contingent of Swiss mercenaries enter the Vatican during the reign of Pope Julius II. Traditional date of founding of the Swiss Guards.
• April 18, 1506: Pope Julius II lays cornerstone of New Basilica of St. Peter.
• 1508: Michaelangelo starts painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
• October 31, 1517: Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses, protesting the sale of indulgences.
• 1516: Saint Sir Thomas More publishes "Utopia" in Latin.
• 1519: Spanish conquest of Mexico by Hernando Cortes.
• 1521: Baptism of the first Catholics in the Philippines, the first Christian nation in Asia. This event is commemorated with the feast of the Sto. Niño.
• May 6, 1527: Sack of Rome.
• 1531: Our Lady of Guadalupe is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico.
• November 16, 1532: Francisco Pizzaro captures Atahualpa. Conquest of Incan Empire.
• August 15, 1534: Saint Ignatius of Loyola and six others, including Francis Xavier met in Montmartre outside Paris to found the missionary Jesuit Order.
• October 30, 1534: English Parliament passes Act of Supremacy making the King of England Supreme Head of the Church of England. Anglican schism with Rome.
• 1535: Michaelangelo starts painting the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.
• 1536 To 1540: Dissolution of the Monasteries in England, Wales and Ireland.
• December 17, 1538: Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England.
• 1540: Pope Paul III confirmed the order of the Society of Jesus.
• 1543: A full account of the heliocentric Copernican theory titled, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium) is published. Considered as the start of the Scientific Revolution.
• December 13, 1545: Ecumenical Council of Trent convened during the pontificate of Paul III, to prepare the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation. Its rulings set the tone of Catholic society for at least three centuries.
• December 4, 1563: Ecumenical Council of Trent closed. The decrees were confirmed on January 26, 1564, by Pius IV in the Bull "Benedictus Deus".
• 1568: St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Athanasius and St. Thomas Aquinas are made Doctors of the Church.
• July 14, 1570: Pope St. Pius V issues the Apostolic Constitution on the Tridentine Mass, Quo Primum.
• October 7, 1571: Christian fleet of the Holy League defeats the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto.
• 1577: Teresa of Avila writes The Interior Castle, one of the classic works of Catholic mysticism.
• February 24, 1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues the Bull Inter gravissimas reforming the Julian Calendar.
• October 4, 1582: The Gregorian Calendar is first adopted by Italy, Spain, and Portugal. October 4 is followed by October 15 - ten days are removed.
• September 28, 1586: Domenico Fontana successfully finished re-erecting the Vatican Obelisk at its present site in St. Peter's Square. Hailed as a great technical achievement of its time.
• 1588: Philip II of Spain's plan to conquer England fails with the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
• 1593: Robert Bellarmine finishes his Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei.
• 1598: Papal role in Peace of Vervins.
• 1600: Pope Clement VIII sanctions use of coffee despite petition by priests to ban the Muslim drink as "the devil’s drink". The Pope tried a cup and declared it "so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it."
• April 19, 1622: Pope Gregory XV makes Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu a cardinal upon the nomination of King Louis XIII — becoming Cardinal Richelieu. His influence and policies greatly impact the course of European art, culture, politics, religion and war.
• November 18, 1626: Pope Urban VIII solemnly dedicates the New Basilica of St. Peter 1,300 years after the first Constantinian basilica was consecrated by Pope Sylvester.

Church in the Age of Reason (1630 – 1800)

• 1633: Trial of Galileo.
• 1638: Shimabara Rebellion leads to a repression of Catholics, and all Christians, in Japan.
• 1655: Queen Christina of Sweden confirmed in baptism by Pope Alexander VII.
• September 12, 1683: Battle of Vienna. Decisive victory of the army of the Holy League, under King John III Sobieski of Poland, over the Ottoman Turks, under Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha.
• 1685: Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes in hopes of currying Papal favor.
• 1691: Pope Innocent XII declares against nepotism and simony.
• 1713: Encyclical Unigenitus condemns Jansenism.
• 1715: Clement XI rules against the Jesuits in the Chinese Rites controversy.
• 1721: Kangxi Emperor bans Christian missions in China.
• April 28, 1738: Pope Clement XII publishes the Bull In Eminenti forbidding Catholics from joining, aiding, socializing or otherwise helping in any way shape or form the organizations of Freemasonry and Freemasons under pain of excommunication.
• 1738: Grey Nuns founded.
• 1769: Passionist order granted full rights by Clement XIV.
• 1769: Junípero Serra establishes Mission San Diego de Alcala, the first of the Spanish missions in California.
• April 11, 1770: Fourteen-year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart transcribes Miserere mei, Deus of Gregorio Allegri during his visit to Rome.
• 1773: Suppression of the Jesuits.
• 1789: John Carroll becomes the Bishop of Baltimore, the first bishop in the United States.
• 1793: French Republican Calendar and anti-clerical measures.
• 1798: Pope Pius VI taken prisoner.

19th century Catholic Church

• July 16, 1802: French Concordat of 1801. The Catholic Church re-established in France.
• December 2, 1804: Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of the French in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, in the presence of Pope Pius VII.
• August 6, 1806: The Holy Roman Empire is formally dissolved when its last emperor, Francis II, (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military defeat by the French Army under Napoleon.
• 1847: The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem resumes residence in Jerusalem.
• 1850: The Archdiocese of Westminster and twelve other dioceses are erected, reestablishing a hierarchy in the United Kingdom.
• 1852: The First Plenary Council of Baltimore was held in the United States.
• December 8, 1869: Pope Pius IX opens the First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican.
• July 18, 1870 - The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ from the fourth session of Vatican I, "Pastor Aeternus", issues the dogma of papal infallibility among other issues before the fall of Rome in the Franco-Prussian War causes it to end prematurely and brings an end to the Papal States. Controversy over several issues leads to the formation of the Old Catholic Church. This council was not formally closed until 1960 by Pope John XXIII in preparation for the Second Vatican Council.
• May 15, 1891: Pope Leo XIII issues encyclical Rerum Novarum (translation: Of New Things).
• November 30, 1894: Pope Leo XIII publishes the Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas (On the Churches of the East) safeguarding the importance and continuance of the Eastern traditions for the whole Church.
• 1898 - Secondo Pia takes the first photographs of the Shroud of Turin.

20th century Catholic Church

• October 2, 1928: Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei, a worldwide organization of lay members of the Roman Catholic Church.
• February 11, 1929: The Lateran treaties are signed by Benito Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri establishing the independent State of the Vatican City and resolving the Roman Question between Italy and the Holy See since the seizure of the Papal States in 1870.
• February 12, 1931: Vatican Radio is inaugurated. Set up by Guglielmo Marconi and inaugurated by Pope Pius XI. First signal broadcast is in Morse code: In nomine Domini, amen.
• July 20, 1933: Concordat Between the Holy See and the German Reich signed by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli and Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President Paul von Hindenburg, respectively.
• September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland. Start of the Second World War. The Vatican declares neutrality to avoid being drawn into the conflict and also to avoid occupation by the Italian military.
• 1944: The German Army occupies Rome. Adolf Hitler proclaims he will respect Vatican neutrality; however several incidents, such as giving aid to downed Allied airmen, nearly cause Nazi Germany to invade the Vatican. Rome is liberated by the Allies after only a few weeks of occupation.
• 1950: The Assumption of Mary is defined as dogma.
• January 20, 1961: John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. He becomes the first Roman Catholic and youngest president to be elected.
• October 11, 1962: Pope John XXIII opens the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. The 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic church emphasized the universal call to holiness and brought many changes in practices, including an increased emphasis on ecumenism; fewer rules on penances, fasting and other devotional practices; and initiating a revision of the services, which were to be slightly simplified and made supposedly more accessible by allowing the use of native languages instead of Latin. Opposition to changes inspired by the Council gave rise to the movement of Traditionalist Catholics who disagree with changing the old forms of worship.
• December 7, 1965: Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of His Holiness Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I. Mutual excommunication of the Great Schism of 1054 against Catholic and Orthodox is lifted by both parties.
• December 8, 1965: Pope Paul VI solemnly closes the Second Vatican Council.
• 1970: Revision of the Roman Missal, following on gradual introduction of vernacular languages in celebration of Mass.
• August 26, 1978: Pope John Paul I becomes the first pope to use a double regnal name. He reigns for only 33 days.
• October 16, 1978: Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pope in 450 years; influential in overthrowing communism in Europe.
• 1984: First World Youth Day instituted by Pope John Paul II celebrated in Rome. Celebrated between Rome and a different city in alternating sequence every year.
• June 30, 1988: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), consecrates four men as bishops at Ecône, Switzerland without the express permission of the Pope. Lefebvre et al. automatically incurs excommunication according to canon law. Traditionalist SSPX have been in schism ever since.
• December 31, 1991: The Soviet Union is officially dissolved. Persecuted Church re-emerges out of hiding.
• 1992: A Catechism of the Catholic Church is first printed in French.

21st century Catholic Church

Benedict XVI, the first Pope elected in the 21st century

The Catholic Church began the 21st century by celebrating the third Christian millennium with the motto "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."

It faces the challenge of upholding its religious doctrine in a typically liberal society, in which it comes under heavy criticism from some quarters for its traditional teaching on such issues as birth control, abortion, and women in the priesthood.

While still maintaining that the Church "is necessary for salvation", and that "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it",[3] it continues its dialogue with other religious traditions, even outside Christianity, in search of greater mutual understanding and in the hope of attaining greater visible unity among Christians.

It suffered a major scandal in the United States of America when, in 2002, widespread reports began to circulate of several priests who had been involved in molesting teenagers and in child abuse.

In the spring of 2005, the Catholic Church was placed in the centre of world attention following the death of Pope John Paul II. In the age of modern media, the Pope's death and funeral were broadcast for the world, while millions of Catholic pilgrims journeyed to Rome to pay final respects.

Key Dates

• January 1, 2001: The 21st century and the new millennium begin. The Church solemnizes the start of the third Christian millennium by extending into part of the year 2001 the jubilee year that it observes at 25-year intervals and that, in the case of the year 2000, it called the Great Jubilee.
• January 6, 2001: John Paul II issues Novo Millennio Ineunte, a program for the Church in the new millennium, wherein he placed sanctity through a training in prayer as the most important priority of the Catholic Church in consonance with its purpose.
• September 11, 2001: Muslim suicide bombers of al-Qaeda crash two hijacked Boeing 767s on the World Trade Center Tower I and Tower II eventually collapsing both and killing approximately 2,602 people and many others injured. Catalyst of invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Simmering tensions between Christians and Muslims surface worldwide.
• January 18, 2002: Former priest John Geoghan is convicted of child molestation and sentenced to ten years in prison. The Geoghan case was one of the worst scandals of the Catholic Church in modern times.
• April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies at the age of 84. His funeral is broadcast to every corner of the globe through the modern media. Millions of Catholic pilgrims journey to Rome, Italy to pay final respects.
• April 19, 2005: German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected by the College of Cardinals as Pope Benedict XVI, thus becoming the first Pope elected during the 21st century and the 3rd millennium.
• August 18, 2005: Pope Benedict XVI visits Cologne, Germany, his first outside Italy. Continues World Youth Day begun by his predecessor.
• September 12, 2006: Pope Benedict XVI delivers address "Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections" in University of Regensburg. Quoting Emperor Manuel II Paleologus: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." constituting a minimal part of the speech about faith and reason, the irrationality of violence, and the program of de-Hellenization sparks violent and deadly reactions among Muslims all over the world.

Further reading

Bokenkotter, Thomas. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. Revised and expanded ed. New York: Image Books Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51613-4

See also

• History of the Papacy
• Timeline of Christianity
• Ludwig von Pastor