ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

The church of Christians of the Latin rite, who accept the authority of the bishop of Rome (the pope). It is one of the three major branches of Christianity, the other two being the Eastern Orthodox churches and Protestantism. Although Roman Catholics are often referred to simply as Catholics, this is ambiguous, as in Arabic "Catholic" refers to the Melkites and some Anglican churches consider themselves Anglo-Catholic.

The Roman Catholic Church came into existence as a result of the schism between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity that occurred in 1054. Under Pope Urban II it launched the First Crusade to take Jerusalem from the Muslims, who in 1009 had destroyed the Holy Sepulcher there; it succeeded in doing so in 1099 and a hierarchy under a Latin partriarchate was established in Jerusalem. More Crusades against the Muslims followed, with varying degrees of success, until 1291 when the Crusaders were driven out by the Mamluks. After that, only the Franciscan Brothers remained as custodians of Christian shrines.

The Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem was reestablished in 1847, and during that era missionaries engaged in education and nursing were sent to Ottoman Palestine. In 2004, a Roman Catholic community of over 60,000, with its own patriarch and diocesan clergy, exists in the West Bank and Jordan, although most other Roman Catholics in Palestine are scattered in small groups. There are many Catholic schools, most of them established in the nineteenth century, as well as a Catholic University in Bethlehem. As Palestine is the Christian Holy Land, it is a center for several Roman Catholic religious orders.

The Holy See (the papal headquarters, or Vatican) is an independent state that maintains diplomatic relations with sovereign nations. In June 1994 it established full formal relations with the State of Israel. Among the reasons for the long negotiations that preceded this event were the desire of the Roman Catholic Church to maintain control over, and access to, the Holy Places in Israel; its desire to protect the interests of Catholic communities there; concern over the legal status of the church under Israeli law; and fear that recognition of Israel would provoke retaliation against Catholics in the Arab world. On 10 November 1997 a formal agreement addressing some of these issues was signed in Jerusalem.

SEE ALSO Christianity;Eastern Orthodox Church;Melkites;Protestants.