Question: "What is the origin of the Roman
Catholic Church?"
Answer: The Roman Catholic Church contends
that its origin is the death, resurrection, and
ascension of Jesus Christ in approximately AD
30. The Catholic Church proclaims itself to be
the church that Jesus Christ died for, the
church that was established and built by the
apostles. Is that the true origin of the Catholic
Church? On the contrary. Even a cursory reading
of the New Testament will reveal that the
Catholic Church does not have its origin in the
teachings of Jesus or His apostles. In the New
Testament, there is no mention of the papacy,
worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate
conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of
Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-
redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in
heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession,
the ordinances of the church functioning as
sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to
a priest, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal
authority of church tradition and Scripture. So, if
the origin of the Catholic Church is not in the
teachings of Jesus and His apostles, as
recorded in the New Testament, what is the true
origin of the Catholic Church?
For the first 280 years of Christian history,
Christianity was banned by the Roman Empire,
and Christians were terribly persecuted. This
changed after the “conversion” of the Roman
Emperor Constantine. Constantine provided
religious toleration with the Edict of Milan in AD
313, effectively lifting the ban on Christianity.
Later, in AD 325, Constantine called the Council
of Nicea in an attempt to unify Christianity.
Constantine envisioned Christianity as a religion
that could unite the Roman Empire, which at
that time was beginning to fragment and divide.
While this may have seemed to be a positive
development for the Christian church, the
results were anything but positive. Just as
Constantine refused to fully embrace the
Christian faith, but continued many of his pagan
beliefs and practices, so the Christian church
that Constantine promoted was a mixture of
true Christianity and Roman paganism.
Constantine found that, with the Roman Empire
being so vast, expansive, and diverse, not
everyone would agree to forsake his or her
religious beliefs to embrace Christianity. So,
Constantine allowed, and even promoted, the
“Christianization” of pagan beliefs. Completely
pagan and utterly unbiblical beliefs were given
new “Christian” identities. Some clear examples
of this are as follows:
(1) The Cult of Isis, an Egyptian mother-goddess
religion, was absorbed into Christianity by
replacing Isis with Mary. Many of the titles that
were used for Isis, such as “Queen of Heaven,”
“Mother of God,” and theotokos (“God-bearer”)
were attached to Mary. Mary was given an
exalted role in the Christian faith, far beyond
what the Bible ascribes to her, in order to
attract Isis worshippers to a faith they would
not otherwise embrace. Many temples to Isis
were, in fact, converted into temples dedicated
to Mary. The first clear hints of Catholic
Mariology occur in the writings of Origen, who
lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be
the focal point of Isis worship.
(2) Mithraism was a religion in the Roman
Empire in the 1st through 5th centuries AD. It
was very popular among the Romans, especially
among Roman soldiers, and was possibly the
religion of several Roman emperors. While
Mithraism was never given “official” status in
the Roman Empire, it was the de facto official
religion until Constantine and succeeding
Roman emperors replaced Mithraism with
Christianity. One of the key features of
Mithraism was a sacrificial meal, which involved
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a bull.
Mithras, the god of Mithraism, was “present” in
the flesh and blood of the bull, and when
consumed, granted salvation to those who
partook of the sacrificial meal (this is known as
theophagy, the eating of one’s god). Mithraism
also had seven “sacraments,” making the
similarities between Mithraism and Roman
Catholicism too many to ignore. Church leaders
after Constantine found an easy substitute for
the sacrificial meal of Mithraism in the concept
of the Lord’s Supper/Christian communion. Even
before Constantine, some early Christians had
begun to attach mysticism to the Lord’s Supper,
rejecting the biblical concept of a simple and
worshipful remembrance of Christ’s death and
shed blood. The Romanization of the Lord’s
Supper made the transition to a sacrificial
consumption of Jesus Christ, now known as the
Catholic Mass/Eucharist, complete.
(3) Most Roman emperors (and citizens) were
henotheists. A henotheist is one who believes in
the existence of many gods, but focuses
primarily on one particular god or considers one
particular god supreme over the other gods. For
example, the Roman god Jupiter was supreme
over the Roman pantheon of gods. Roman
sailors were often worshippers of Neptune, the
god of the oceans. When the Catholic Church
absorbed Roman paganism, it simply replaced
the pantheon of gods with the saints. Just as
the Roman pantheon of gods had a god of love,
a god of peace, a god of war, a god of strength,
a god of wisdom, etc., so the Catholic Church
has a saint who is “in charge” over each of
these, and many other categories. Just as many
Roman cities had a god specific to the city, so
the Catholic Church provided “patron saints” for
the cities.
(4) The supremacy of the Roman bishop (the
papacy) was created with the support of the
Roman emperors. With the city of Rome being
the center of government for the Roman
Empire, and with the Roman emperors living in
Rome, the city of Rome rose to prominence in
all facets of life. Constantine (AD 272–337) and
his successors gave their support to the bishop
of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. Of
course, it is best for the unity of the Roman
Empire that the government and state religion
be centralized. While most other bishops (and
Christians) resisted the idea of the Roman
bishop being supreme, the Roman bishop
eventually rose to supremacy, due to the power
and influence of the Roman emperors. When
the Western half of the Roman Empire
collapsed in 476, the popes took on the title that
had previously belonged to the Roman emperors
—Pontifex Maximus . Pope Gregory I, ruling from
590–604, is usually considered the first bishop
to truly wield papal authority.
Many more examples could be given. These four
should suffice in demonstrating the origin of the
Catholic Church. Of course, the Roman Catholic
Church denies the pagan origin of its beliefs and
practices. The Catholic Church disguises its
pagan beliefs under layers of complicated
theology and “church tradition.” Recognizing
that many of its beliefs and practices are utterly
foreign to Scripture, the Catholic Church is
forced to deny the authority and sufficiency of
Scripture.
The origin of the Catholic Church is the tragic
compromise of Christianity with the pagan
religions that surrounded it. Instead of
proclaiming the gospel and converting the
pagans, the Catholic Church “Christianized” the
pagan religions, and “paganized” Christianity. By
blurring the differences and erasing the
distinctions, yes, the Catholic Church made
itself attractive to the people of the Roman
Empire. One result was the Catholic Church
becoming the supreme religion in the Roman
world for centuries. However, another result was
the most dominant form of Christianity
apostatizing from the true gospel of Jesus
Christ and the true proclamation of God’s Word.
Second Timothy 4:3–4 declares, “For the time
will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of
teachers to say what their itching ears want to
hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths.”
