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I. In General: The Roman Catholic Church is the largest of the three grand divisions of- Christendom (Greek, Latin, and Protestant), and in its own estimation the only church founded by Christ on earth. Bellarmin, one of its standard divines, defines the Church as consisting of all who (1) profess the true faith, (2) partake of the true sacraments, and (3) are subject to the rule of the pope as the head of the Church. The first mark excludes all heretics, as well as Jews, heathen, and Mohammedans; the second excludes the catechumens and the excommunicated; the third, the schismatics (i.e., the Greeks and Oriental Christians, who hold substantially " the true faith " and the seven sacraments, but refuse ouedience to the pope). The Protestants, without distinction, are excluded as being both heretical and schismatical. The members of the Anglican communion and of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States also belong in this category of heretics by the decision of Leo XIII., in an Apostolical Letter of Sept. 13, 1896, pronouncing Anglican orders invalid (Eng. tranal. is given in The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo X111., New York, 1903). But all who hold those three points belong to the church militant on earth, without regard to their moral eharaoter (etiamsi reprobi, scelesti et impii aint), though only the good members will be saved. Thus defined, the Church, says Bellarmin, is as visible and palpable as the (quondam) republic of Venice or the (quondam) kingdom of France. He denies the distinction between the visible and invisible Church altogether.* A recent Roman Catholic writer on canon law, Philipp Hergenrother (Lehrbuch des katholischen Rechts, p. 2, Freiburg, 1905), defines the Church as " the communion of those who are united under one Head, Christ, and his visible vicegerent for the confession of one faith and the participation in the same means of grace." One of the fundamental qualities of the Church is visibility (p.

R De conciliia d eccles;a, lib. iii. e. 2: " P roJeaaio veror fidei, aacramentorum commuaio, d eubjectio ad lepitimum padorem Romanum ponKfieem. . . Ealeeia ea cmtua homi num its vinWie d palpabslis, id eat cactus populi Romaai, rod Repnum Gallia nut Reapublica Vendontm" (the test is given by Mirbt, Q, pp. 274 sqq.).

22). The full name of the Roman communion is the " Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." It numbers over two hundred millions of souls, or about one-half of the entire Christian population of the globe.* It is found in all continents and among all nations, but. is strongest in southern countries, and among the Latin and Celtic races in Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Ireland, and South America. 'It agrees in all essential doctrines and usages with the Greek Church (except the papacy), but has more vitality and energy; while it is behind the Protestant communions in general culture, intelligence, and freedom. The Roman Church has a rich and most remarkable history, and still exercises a greater power over the masses of the people than any other body of Christians. It stretches in unbroken succession back to the palmy days of heathen Rome, has outlived all the governments of Europe, and is likely to live when Macaulay's New-Zealander, " in the midst of a vast solitude, shall take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's."

1. I)ootrlne t The Roman Catholic system of doctrine is contained in the ecumenical creeds (the Apostles', the Nicene with the Pilioque, and the Athanasian, qq.v., and also see SYMBOLICS), in the dogmatic decisions of the ecumenical councils (twenty in number, from 325 to 1870), and in the ex cathedra deliverances of the popes. The principal authorities are the canons and decrees of the Council of Tre4t (see TRENT, COUNCIL OF), the Profession of the Tridentine Faith, commonly called the " Creed of Pius IV." (see TRIDENTINE PROFESSION OF FAITH), the Roman Catechism (1566), the decree of the immaculate conception (1854), and the Vatican decrees on the Catholic faith and the infallibility of the pope (1870). A thesaurus of decisions on all sorts of doctrinal and disciplinary questions is af-

The number of Roman Catholics assigned to the United States is 10,879,950, the enumeration being of the total Catholic constituency, while the Protestant denominations count only their communicants.