Fantastic Catholicism: Difference between revisions

Enter [['''Fantastic Catholicism]]''', wherein creators spice up the [[The Church]] with fantastic elements, making it out to be the coolest, most badass organization around. Most typical of [[Fantasy]], [[Science Fiction]] and [[Alternate History]], this trope applies the [[Rule of Cool]] to that fusty old Catholic Church, coming out with a Holy Grail full of awesome. See also [[Christianity Is Catholic]] for when it's not ''explicitly'' stated to be Catholic, but uses elements unique to Catholicism anyways.

=== Common elements used to turbo-charge the Church's awesomeness factor include: ===

{{quote|Far from just praying and allowing circumstances and the Holy Spirit to guide them in determining God's will, this Church need do nothing so roundabout. Angels, Saints, even Jesus himself may routinely materialize before clergy or certain people, and try to guide them on the right path or act as mentors or [[Guardian Angel|Guardian Angels]]s. God probably won't show up, but the Big Man will definitely be mentioned by beings who know him personally and act as his messengers.}}

Compare [[Anime Catholicism]], which is also Catholicism meets [[Rule of Cool]] but has [[Japanese Media Tropes]] mixed in. Unlike [[Anime Catholicism]], [[Fantastic Catholicism]] is usually much more accurate at least in terms of religious beliefs are concerned, not to mention main characters in their thirties and older are common occurrences and there isn't a particular amount of emphasis on being good looking. [[Fantastic Catholicism]] may also be mixed with social commentary on the church while [[Anime Catholicism]] never is, at least not on purpose.

* The Church ''is'' Technologically advanced, after a fashion -- farfashion—far from being death on science, the Church has always had a hand in science. <ref>Galileo's punishment was not, as commonly believed, because the Church thought heliocentrism was a heresy -- if that were true they would have smacked down Copernicus a century earlier -- but instead because Galileo was making an enormous [[Jerkass]] of himself by not holding off on publishing some of his documents to be sure they were free of ''other'' things that might have been doctrinally iffy.</ref> The Vatican has two state-of-the-art observatories (one in Italy, the other in the United States), and the scientist who conceived of the Big Bang Theory was Fr. Georges [[Le Maitre]], a Jesuit. The only time the Church really injects itself in a negative sense into science -- andscience—and, no, the Catholic Church does not teach a literal seven-24-hour-day creation that took place some 5,000 years ago or a necessary incompatibility between evolutionary processes and a Creator -- theseCreator—these days is when it runs against moral teachings, such as embryonic stem-cell research<ref>The Church believes human life has value regardless of legal/philosophical 'personhood', so Catholics believe embryonic stem cell research is basically [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]].</ref> (note that the Church heartily ''endorses'' adult stem-cell research).