Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest organizational body of Christians. Its membership is over one billion. 1,085,557,000 is the figure, rounded to the nearest thousand, given in the 2003 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, page 43. Because of obstacles to regular contacts, this figure does not include Roman Catholics in mainland China and perhaps in some other places. According to canon law, members are those who have been baptized in the Catholic Church or have been received into the Catholic Church after being baptized elsewhere, and who have not formally defected.

See also

• Other articles on the Catholic Church
• History of the Roman Catholic Church
• Christianity
• Christian apologetics
• Roman Catholic Church by country
• Catholic Worker Movement
• Primacy of the Roman Pontiff
• Traditionalist Catholic
• Neocatechumenal Way
• Personal Prelature of Opus Dei