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Christianity Is Catholic: Difference between revisions
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Worldwide, over half of Christianity is Catholic (about 1.2 billion out of 1.5–2.0 billion, end of 2007). Also, most countries with a Christian majority have a Catholic majority. And in the United States where Protestant churches are in the majority, they are so fractured that the Catholic Church is the single largest denomination. Yet because of this Protestant majority, plus the many waves of immigrants from Catholic regions, Catholicism has often been seen as foreign, exotic, and strange...if not always benevolent. As a result of this, Hollywood Catholicism is often very far removed from the actual religion.
In many fiction, despite the portrayal of Christians as Catholics, most [[The Bible (Literature)|Bible]] [[As the Good Book Says...|quotations]] will be from the King James Version, a ''Protestant'' translation. Everything just sounds way more "[[Hollywood Apocrypha|biblical]]" [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe|with thee's and thou's]] (although Catholics have the Douay-Rheims, an English translation which came at about the same time). Still, the King James renderings are much more familiar in a highly "Protestant-by-default" culture. Psalm 23, for example, is usually rendered the "KJV way" ("The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.") even among English-speaking Catholics.<ref>The Douay rendering is "The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing." Also, a different division of chapters makes it the twenty-''second'' psalm.</ref>
This trope doesn't seem to apply to [[The Western|Westerns]], where any minister (or "preacher") will generally be a black-coated Evangelical Lutheran or Methodist type, when he isn't a Quaker or a Mormon. However, if the film shows the padre of a [[Useful Notes/Mexico|Mexican]] village, this trope will be played straight. It may also appear as part of an [[Establishing Shot]] for other traditionally Catholic places such as Italy or France. Black churches are almost always depicted as Baptist or Pentecostal (although some of the earliest black Americans in colonial times were Catholic/Voodoo practitioners from the French West Indies), as are white [[Deep South|Southern]] churches (the one exception being [[New Orleans]], home to the largest Catholic diocese in the US). And, of course, the ''upper-class'' [[White Anglo Saxon Protestant]], usually residing in the tonier precincts of [[Hollywood New England]] and belonging to a sufficiently venerable "mainline" church, is a stock character of long standing.
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If the writers want to use a generally Catholic depiction, but get around the pesky celibacy issue, they'll use an Episcopal priest (which, in the immortal words of [[Robin Williams]], is "Catholic Lite"), they could also use an Eastern Catholic priest, a branch of Catholicism which allows married men to become priests (not the other way around tho') but since Eastern Catholics are found mostly in parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, not many people know about them. Or for something else vaguely similar but non-Catholic they could use an Orthodox priest, who are often forgotten to exist ''at all''.
Compare [[Nuns
Before you worry about a [[Double Standard]], keep in mind most of Catholicism featured in media is usually made up or poorly researched, and usually resembles Protestantism. For example, Purgatory and Limbo are almost always confused.
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** Her informant is also blatantly breaking the rules of confidentiality regarding the confessional, which is something real clergy could get a ''lot'' of trouble for.
*** And nuns have no access to confessional secrets! Only male priests do and they can't even share them amongst themselves.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]],'' Hino Rei, a Shinto miko, attends an all-girls Catholic school. Named T*A, an [[Expy]] of the former highschool section of a famous women's college in Tokyo, the [
** T*A possibly stands for Thomas Aquainus.
* ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' is another [[Church Militant]] series set in the United States, which...sorta fits under this trope. [[Anime Catholicism|It's complicated]].
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*** Justified in that she's Vietnamese. Thanks to French colonialism, any Vietnamese who was Christian would almost certainly be Catholic. Of course, Buddhist or atheist would still be more likely.
* ''Evangeline'' from First Comics was about a futuristic assassin who was also a nun. Whose boss was named Cardinal Sin no less.
** This could almost be [[Truth in Television]], since a REAL [
* The 2000AD series ''Canon Fodder'' stars an [[Up to Eleven|extremely]] [[Church Militant|militant Catholic priest]], who appears to have unrestrained jurisdiction to deliver his particular brand of ass-kicking at will.
* Averted in the 2000AD series ''Defoe''. The titular character is an Independent, while the majority of other Christian characters are Independent and Anglican, as was typically of Restoration-era England.
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*** Especially since that means that [[Fridge Logic|every Catholic who has received the sacrament of Confirmation]] has been demonically possessed, since according to Catholic belief, the Holy Spirit enters the body during Confirmation.
* Subverted in ''[[The Blues Brothers]]''. While the orphanage where Jake and Elwood grew up is clearly Catholic (and run by [[Creepy Nuns]], no less), the only religious service the brothers attend is at the '''VERY''' evangelical Triple Rock Baptist Church. Then again, if [[James Brown]] was a pastor...
* ''[[For Your Eyes Only (Film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'' features James Bond and his associates disguised as Catholic monks (complete with brown cloaks, hoods and sandals) trying to fit in ... at [
** "Forgive me Father for I have sinned." "That's putting it mildly, 007!"
* Implied in the first ''[[Ghost Rider (Film)|Ghost Rider]]'' film. When Blackheart enters a church and talks to a priest, he is Italian, presumably because he's Catholic.
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** An exception is Stella of ''[[CSI: NY]]'', who is apparently Orthodox--she makes the Sign of the Cross top, down, right, left (Catholic is top, down, left, right).
*** However, this was depicted as happening in a Catholic church.
* ''[[
* Likewise, Booth, the token Christian on ''[[Bones (TV)|Bones]]'', is Catholic, and holds a deep-seated dread of nuns. Somewhat justified in that the actor, David Boreanaz, actually is Catholic, and was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools. Also justified in [[Nuns Are Spooky]].
** Booth is also an Irish name.
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== Web Original ==
* It is very common in Youtube videos and photo websites purporting to show photographic evidence of Vatican involvement in the Third Reich to include photos of Protestant Reich Churches, and Protestant clergy and worshipers, (often of the Deutsche Christen, DC, variety). Probably the most infamous person whose website features this would be [http://alamoministries.com/content/english/Antichrist/nazigallery/photogallery.html Tony Alamo] (though his infamy is for [
* In the [[Chaos Timeline (Literature)|Chaos Timeline]], there is no big Catholic-Protestant split (except for some minor, uninfluential movements). Instead, power gradually shifted to the governments of the Catholic nations - a bit like our Anglicanism, or Gallican church, while the rituals and most of the doctrine were kept unchanged. (In this world's Nippon, the tenno frex is head of the Nipponese Catholic church!) [[The Pope]] was gradually reduced to a mere figurehead - although this changed unexpectedly again when he had to go to Australia after the revolution in Britain.
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[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Christianity Is Catholic]]
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