Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 all separated primarily over differences in Christology. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope. Since the 20th century, the majority have resided in the southern hemisphere, partially due to secularisation in Europe and increased persecution in the Middle East. Catholics live all over the world through missions, diaspora, and conversions. The Catholic Church has profoundly influenced Western philosophy, culture, art, music and science. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organisations. The Catholic Church operates thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Catholic social teaching emphasises voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Perpetual Virgin, Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven she is honoured in dogmas and devotions. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The Latin Church, the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, and institutes such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium of the church. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small enclave of the Italian city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state. The bishopric of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The church consists of 24 particular churches and almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world. As the world's oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilisation. The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2019.
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