40 Facts About Catholicism

Here are 40 Catholicism facts.

1-5 Catholicism Facts

1. European Royal Families had a “Court Jew” to handle finances and negotiate loans since usury was forbidden by the Catholic Church. – Source

2. Famous mathematician & scientist Blaise Pascal converted to Catholicism after having a 2-hour mystical experience. He spent the rest of his life mostly writing about theology and apologetics. – Source

3. JRR Tolkien initially fell in love with his future wife at 16 years old. His guardian, a Catholic priest ordered him to not have any contact until he was 21. He obeyed and met her under a railroad viaduct and she broke up her engagement, converted to Catholicism and married Tolkien. – Source

4. There are near about 80 married Roman Catholic priests. In almost all the cases, the priests were married before they joined the Catholic Church. Once they converted to Catholicism, they remained married and their vows are recognized by the Vatican. – Source

5. The last Incan emperor was captured by the Spanish and sentenced to execution by burning. A Spanish priest told him that if he converted to Catholicism his sentence would be commuted. He converted so instead the Spanish strangled him to death. – Source

6-10 Catholicism Facts

6. There is a subset of Catholicism, recognized by Vatican called Eastern Catholicism which instead of taking the Latin rite take the Eastern Rite or Byzantine rite which among many differences allows their priests to marry. – Source

7. The pre-Meiji Japanese government differentiated believers and nonbelievers of Catholicism by making them step on pictures of the Virgin Mary and Christ. Those found guilty were often executed by being thrown into a volcano. – Source

8. It is a mortal sin to withhold a just wage in Catholicism. Remuneration “should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level.” – Source

9. During the French Revolution, Leaders tried to replace Catholicism with a “Cult of Reason” where Truth, Liberty, and Reason were worshiped. – Source

10. St. Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland was really just a metaphor for converting pagans to Catholicism. – Source

11-15 Catholicism Facts

11. Sigismondo Malatesta was the only person ever canonized to Hell by the Roman Catholic church. – Source

12. Scientology founder, Ron L Hubbard, believes that Catholicism was created as a fake religion by Xenu, an alien dictator of a galactic confederacy. – Source

13. England’s Henry VIII break with Catholicism and confiscation of Catholic monasteries may have single-handedly delayed the Industrial Revolution by 200 years. – Source

14. “Hocus Pocus” may have been coined by Protestants to mock the Catholic transubstantiation incantation used to turn bread and wine into flesh and blood, “hoc est corpus.” – Source

15. In 1568, the entire population of the Netherlands was condemned to death as heretics after converting from Catholicism to Protestantism. – Source

16-20 Catholicism Facts

16. Catholics are forbidden from joining Masonic organizations and those who do are subsequently in a “state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.” – Source

17. The Filet o’ Fish was invented so Catholics could eat at McDonald’s on Fridays. – Source

18. If a Catholic priest reveals anything someone confessed to him for any reason at all, he is automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church and can only be forgiven by the Pope. – Source

19. In 1517, a nobleman offered to pay a corrupt Catholic monk for an indulgence in order to forgive him of a future sin. The monk quickly agreed and granted it, but as he rode out of town the nobleman attacked and beat him. He then told the monk that was the future sin he had in mind. – Source

20. Atheism was banned within the Nazi SS. All SS men were required to list themselves as Protestant, Catholic or “believer in God”. – Source