Why is it that when they actually give characters a religion, they are always Catholic?

Question

Everybody in the world is not Catholic. lol

Answer 1

Catholicism has many well-known characteristics; saints, the Pope and his ring, priests and celibacy, kneeling during mass....

The writers are able to add to their story lines easily by making the characters Catholic because the audience knows about the religion already. If the characters were Buddhists instead the writers would have to actually learn something about the religion to use it in the scripts.

Answer 2

For 'always' substitute 'often' and then it becomes a very interesting question. Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh both used the dilemmas inherent in Catholicism in some of their best books. I would guess that there is something in the strength of the dogma, the extent to which Catholicism penetrates the whole of the life of one of its adherents, that makes the conflicts that much stronger. It's rare to find another Christian religion that attempts to control so strongly and to claim that it can command Heaven or Hell. So the drama is similar to that of a child rebelling against very controlling parents; it wouldn't be as interesting as a child rebelling against middle-of-the-road parents.

Very interesting question. Good material for a student thesis, I'd think.

Answer 3

The majority of the practitioners of Christianity are adherents to Catholicism though, so making a character Catholic would make that character apply to a broad range of people. Over 1.2 billion to be exact.

Answer 4

That's an interesting question. I guess it's just the most obvious choice and the most universal denomination. Most people know what it is to be Catholic when it's less obvious what a Presbyterian is.

Answer 5

The corruption and guilt, the Virgin Mary, the Saintlyhood, the many facets of the religion can be twisted and tormented to idealize a story.

Answer 6

Because it's the true and original Christian Faith.