Is the catholic church of today more of a political entity than a spiritual entity?

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

Pastor Billy says: a lot of confused answers here.

I have a question can't religious people be involved in forming the policies of their nation? The only time a Catholic was President in the USA we all know what happened don't we, how did you feel about that? It was the early 1960s and we had not only the non-religious but fundamentalists like Norman Vincent Peale preaching hatred against JFK explained America was going to be ruled from St. Peters
(at this point visualize Pastor Billy rollin this eyes)

To Allen regarding his view on Vatican City, isn't Israel a Jewish state?

General question, is this an atheist or deist convention?

To answer your question the Catholic Church advises it's members to vote their spiritual and moral conscience. The Church has never stopped being a spiritual entity as you put it but when did we change from a society to an economy? Think on that for awhile. Priests are not allowed to run for government. The few times this has happened the herearchy of the Church was not pleased at all.

In knowing my ancient history, after the fall of the Roman empire in the west there was a void created by the barbarian tribes and to pick up the slack the people (Christians) looked to the Pope to guide them not only as a spiritual authority but as a civil authority as well. The barbarians had destroyed the civil organisation, its commerce and magistrates.

Perhaps some of you are unaware of the fall of Communism in Western Europe. I'll assume you were all in diapers and don't know how instrumental the Catholic Church was it.

Based on the answers given I sense either envy or a feeling of superiority to the religious who understand society without God is not the plan.

Answer 3

The Roman Catholic Church effectively ceased being a "spiritual" entity and morphed into primarily a political/corporate entity when Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 AD although it took to 380-381 before Christianity was made the State religion .

Up to then and as the early historical record attestChristianity was a passivist faith in which believers simply martyred themselves instead of either denouncing their faith or causing any physical harm to other humans even when their very lives were in the balance.

Once becoming a state religion and sharing the all important secular powers and no longer being a persecuted group,the Catholic Church through a series of proclamations transformed Christianity into something it never was.

Now that they were "equals" in political/secular powers ,the Church had to change it's dogmas on numerous things .For example,war (violence etc) which was an anathama to the early Churchand some say,the right Church,had to be declared acceptable in support of the secular powers who gave the Church it's new powers.Hence the doctrine of "Just War" .Many other previously held Christian beliefs were automatically thrown in the garbage as they did not reflect the wishes/wants of the secular powers.

In fact the Catholic Church's main purpose just like any corporation ,is to stay viable,stay in existence and like others who have the same goal,will do whatever is necessary to keep existing .Lying,cheating,trashing one's own beliefs,hypocricy,double standards etc etc etc is what it is all about .Just look at the historical record.

Having said all this,make no mistake all other institutionalized religions are EXACTLY the same as the Catholic Church and EVEN more so the Southern Baptist Convention which was founded in 1845 for purely secular/political/economic reasons and NOTHING to do with theology.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church has been more of a political entity than a spiritual entity for hundreds of years.

Answer 5

The Church is primarily a spiritual body. But she is also a moral teacher.

When you look at the 1.1 billion believers worshiping in over 200,000 parishes worldwide you can see that the Catholic Church is a spiritual entity.

However the Church is also a moral teacher and has been teaching the world what it believes God thinks is right and wrong for almost 2,000 years.

The Church looks to protect human dignity and human rights and does not for look for political power. Church leaders are barred from political office by Church law (not civil law).

Jesus said, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:18-20)

The Catholic Church has been teaching world governments what it believes is right and wrong since the ancient Romans stopped persecuting it and long before anyone heard of the freedom of speech.

The Catholic Church protested about the blood sports in the Roman Colosseum and they were stopped.

The Catholic Church supported the Polish Solidarity movement and the Soviet Union fell apart.

I don't think the Church is going to (or should) stop teaching the world governments what is right or wrong now.

Remember the Catholic Church proposes. It does not impose.

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

The Catholic Church has always had a political agenda. It has the best Secret Service in the world and is the envy of the CIA. The spiritual side of the church is clearly evident whereas the political machinations are somewhat more discreet. The Vatican City, a City State, has to know what is going on in the world down to the smallest detail. Whilst The Pope may be apolitical, the Cardinals most certainly are not.

Answer 7

While the catholic church does have a political agenda these days, it has a much less profound effect on world-wide decision making than it did in the past. Gone is the ability to select monarchs and excomunication is something of an empty gesture these days. This is not to say that it is toothless:

The number of Catholics in the world is around 1.1 billion and continues to increase, particularly in Africa and Asia. The increase between 1978 and 2000 was 288 million. In most industrialized countries, church attendance has decreased since the 19th century, though it remains higher than that of other "mainline" Churches. In Europe, Romance-speaking countries are historically Catholic, northern Germanic-speaking countries Protestant, and Slavic countries split between Orthodox and Catholic, although there are exceptions. Catholicism's presence in the rest of the world is due to the work of missionaries mainly from Spain, Portugal, and France, as well as immigrants from these countries and other Catholic parts of Europe such as the Irish, who planted Catholicism throughout the English-speaking world. In Latin America, where it once had a virtual monopoly, Catholicism has suffered increasing competition from Protestantism, particularly in parts of Central America and the Caribbean. In Africa, it is most dominant in the central part of the continent, while in Asia, there are only two majority-Catholic countries: the Philippines (due to 300 years of Spanish colonial rule) and East Timor (due to Portuguese missionaries).

(above sourced from wikipedia)
Such numbers, and on the increase. I'd say that indicates a pretty big voice among the populace. That's political power.

Spiritually... I'm not the right person to ask about such things as personally I would say that the church is a big lie perpetuated to benefit but a few. It's serverd it's purpose - to make the upper echelons of the clergy rich and powerful.

Answer 8

Since the begining the Catholic Church was and always will be a political entity, what do you think religion is? religion is control. faith on the other hand is all about spirituality. It's about what you belief in

Answer 9

The Catholic Church was always a political entity, right from the time the Emperor Constantine switched religions because of political considerations.
It's a gigantic organised quasi-political entity, with the vatican and having ambassadors to several countries, so it is political in nature.

Answer 10

Personally, I would say the Catholic Church has always tried to be as much of a political entity as a spiritual. For me, politics shouldn't be about religion as it should serve a multi-reigious country - anywhere in the world.

Answer 11

It has always been as much political as religious. For the last 1500 years, at least. The reason why priests can't marry isn't due to religious piety, it was originally changed so that when a priest died his property went to the church. Pope's have been very influential in wars and foreign policies. Pope's helped unite Italy as a nation. The Catholic church has serious money and influence globally.