BeginningThe Beginning: PentecostThe Church begins at Pentecost (c. AD 33), when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and Peter preached to the crowds. About three thousand were baptized that day. The community of believers shared the apostles' teaching, the breaking of the bread and prayer, and soon spread beyond Jerusalem; in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).Open · translate to any language
Time JourneyTime Journey: AD 33 to TodayA short timeline. 33: Pentecost. 64: Nero's persecution; Peter and Paul martyred in Rome. 313: Edict of Milan grants freedom of worship. 380: Christianity becomes the Empire's religion. 1054: East–West Schism. 1517: the Reformation begins. 1545–63: Council of Trent. 1962–65: Second Vatican Council. 2013: Francis elected. 2025: Leo XIV elected.Open · translate to any language
Important EventsImportant EventsMoments that shaped the Church: the martyrs of the first three centuries; Constantine and the freedom of the Church (313); the missionary work of Patrick, Boniface, Cyril and Methodius; the Crusades and their lasting wounds; the Reformation and Catholic renewal; the great missions to Asia, Africa and the Americas; and the social teaching that began with Rerum Novarum (1891).Open · translate to any language
CouncilsThe Ecumenical CouncilsNicaea I (325): the divinity of Christ, the Nicene Creed. Constantinople I (381): the Holy Spirit. Ephesus (431): Mary as Theotokos. Chalcedon (451): Christ's two natures in one person. Trent (1545–63): reform and doctrine. Vatican I (1869–70): papal primacy and infallibility. Vatican II (1962–65): renewal of the liturgy, the Church, revelation and dialogue with the modern world.Open · translate to any language
IndonesiaThe Church in IndonesiaCatholic faith reached the archipelago with Portuguese traders and missionaries in the 16th century; St Francis Xavier worked in the Moluccas in 1546–47. Missions grew in Flores, Timor, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua over the following centuries. Pope John XXIII established the Indonesian hierarchy on 3 January 1961, and the bishops gather in the KWI (Konferensi Waligereja Indonesia).Open · translate to any language