History of Catholicism

According to the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, Catholicism was born thanks to Saint
Peter when he created the first universal church in the name of Jesus Christ. The
command of the Catholic Church corresponds to the bishop of Rome, that is, the pope,
who is considered the successor of the apostle Peter, who, according to Catholic
tradition (in conjunction with its history) was the first pope.

During the first 280 years of its history, Catholicism was banned by the Roman Empire,
causing Catholics to be irremediably persecuted. But, thanks to the conversion of
Constantine, who was Roman emperor during that time, everything changed for the
better for Catholics. One of his actions was to legalize Catholicism and this was known
through the Edict of Milan in the year 313. Finally, in 325, the emperor convened the
Council of Nicaea to try to unify Catholics.

The purpose of the Council of Nicaea was to eliminate confusion and conflict
within the church over certain doctrines because as the early church
flourished, many doctrinal disputes arose that caused conflict within the
church.

One of the main doctrines in dispute was the nature of Jesus Christ. Within
the church at that time there were several questions regarding the deity of
Christ. Is it more divine or more human? Was Jesus begotten or created?
What does that mean? Is he equal to God the Father, or of an inferior status?
They also wondered about the Trinity. What is the Trinity? Is the Father the
only true God, or are the Spirit, Jesus Christ, and the Father the only true
God together in some way?

The Council of Nicaea answered these questions based on biblical teachings.

A priest named Aryan argued that Jesus Christ was not an eternal being, but
was instead created by the Father at a certain point in time. Other bishops,
especially Alexander and a deacon named Athanasius, argued the opposite:
Jesus is eternal and was with the Father "in the beginning" and was the
agent by which all things were created (John 1:1-5). Constantine told them to
decide the matter by majority vote. Three hundred bishops were included in
the council, and the decision was (by an overwhelming majority) that Jesus
Christ is truly God, based on what is found in the Scriptures. His decision
and statement of faith became a guide for Christianity, called the "Nicene
Creed."

Constantine's vision was to use Catholicism to unite the Roman Empire, in this way, it
would not end up fragmenting (but it was too late, it was already divided). Furthermore,
not everything was as Constantine made us believe. He never wanted to adopt Catholic
customs completely, so far from having a productive result for the religion, he actually
mixed the Catholic faith with the pagan practices of ancient Rome. On the other hand,
he knew that, after the Roman Empire managed to spread and became expansive and
diverse, not all people were going to renounce their religions and practices to adopt
Catholicism.

So their most viable option was to convert pagan beliefs to Catholicism. The origin of
Catholicism is a sad compromise of this religion with the pagan beliefs that abounded
and surrounded it at that time. There was no intention to make the gospel the main
belief, much less for the pagans to adopt this faith. He only “paganized” Christianity by
mixing the differences and completely eliminating those characteristics that
distinguished both religious beliefs.

Of course, one of the memorable things or aspects in the history of Catholicism is that
Constantine managed to make the Catholic Church the supreme religion in the “Roman
world” for many centuries.

For practitioners of the Christian religion the situation improved. On February 27, 380,
the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius (347-395) signed, in the presence of the
Western Roman emperor Valentinian (371-392) and his co-ruler half-brother Gratian
(359-383) a decree with the who declared Christianity the state religion and stipulated
punishment for those who practiced pagan cults. The decree “Cunctos populos” not only
gave a predominant place to Christianity, but also entailed persecution against those
who practiced another faith.

With the same fanaticism with which Christians and Jews were previously persecuted,
those who practiced another faith were now harassed. The performance of pagan cults
was considered high treason and the temples and sacred places were destroyed, such
as the Oracle of Delphi, the sacred precinct where the Greeks went to consult the gods.