Great Schism of 1615

The Great Schism of 1615, also known as the Great Schism, the Caphiric Schism, and the Great Occidental Schism, was a split within the Levantine Catholic Church lasting from 1615 to 2017 in which the Caphiric Catholic Church broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. The schism was the culmination of theological and political differences developed during the preceding centuries between the wider Catholic community and Caphiria and the Imperators who sought to take advantage of the emerging Protestant Revolt in the early 16th century. These events were part of the wider Occidental Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity in the Occidental world.

During the late 15th century, the relationship between the Imperators of Caphiria and the papal authority began to decline. The Church became dependent on the tithes and prestige of the Caphiric Church, mainly as it dealt with The Anarchy. The power dynamic began to shift in Caphiria's favor, who took advantage of ecclesiastical division and the Pope's focus on crushing Protestantism to increase imperial authority. On 11 December 1615, Pius XII took the title pontifex maximus by acclimation of Caphirian bishops and formally broke communion with the Catholic Church.

This schism would last over 400 years until 2017, when the Eight Points Agreement was signed by the Imperator and Pope, facilitating the restoration of full communion and the preservation of the Caphiric church's autonomy and spiritual patrimony. The Agreement also formally erected the Caphiric Church as a particular church within Catholicism with its own canon law set and unique liturgical rite.