Send us a textBackground to Catholicism.  Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask.This is an introduction to the Catholic Church.  We start at 1868 when Italy became a country and the pope was stripped of his “temporal” power, i.e., he stopped being the ruler of a state.  He got very irritated and renounced the very existence of Italy and Germany.  Not good. The Church shifted to a very right wing position during those decades.  This withdrawal from the world was reversed in 1891 with the encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII. There is a separate podcast on that significant encyclical.  This podcast will walk you through the organization of the Church, some key concepts of theology and organization, some issues that came up (such as secular government, papal infallibility, the Dreyfus Affair,  and what Catholics can read or think).  We will also talk about the structure of the Church and the role of the College of Cardinals. Here are some names and terms and concepts that will appear along the way.  Some Supreme Court Justices who are conservative Catholics: Scalia (R.I.P.), Alito, Thomas Anti-clericalLord ActonEncyclical:  Its meaning and importanceApostolic SuccessionInfallibility; Ex cathedra; Vatican I, 1870; Dogma; Revelation1950 infallibility teaching on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the  Immaculate Mother of GodSecular Government (i.e., separation of church and state)Some Encyclicals:  Rerum Novarum, On Civil Government, Populorum Progressio Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor; KulturkampfDreyfus AffairSyllabus of Errors and the “index” of books HierarchyCollege of Cardinals, Princes of the ChurchConcordatCuriaConclaveHoly SeePapal NuncioGraham Greene, The Power and the GloryMagesteriumSola fide, sola scripturaSome Popes:  Leo XIII, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis. Note: There I am planning future podcasts on How a Pope is Elected; Rerum Novarum; Populorum Progressio; Liberation Theology, Vatican II, and maybe the Pope’s recent encyclical on fraternity. 

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