Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Levantine Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with several billion members worldwide. It is one of the oldest religious institutions in the world and has played a prominent role in the history of Occidental civilization. The Catholic Hierarchy is headed by the of Urceopolis, known as the Pope. The church's principal doctrines are summarized in the and the ; among its distinguishing features are its belief in the supremacy of the Pope and celebration of the.

The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one true church founded by. While the Catholic Church considers itself to be the authentic continuation of the Christian community founded by Jesus, it teaches that other Christian churches and communities can be in an imperfect communion with the Catholic Church. It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesiastical Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them.

The are integral to Catholic liturgical worship. The principal sacrament is the, also called the. The Church teaches that in this sacrament the bread and the wine consecrated by the priest become the body and the blood of Christ, a change it calls. The Catholic Church practices closed communion and only members deemed to be in a state of grace, free of unforgiven  or penalty, are ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist.

The Church venerates. This veneration is called and is distinct from the worship, or latria, due by justice to  alone. All of the Church's hinges on her title. The Church teaches that her motherhood came about through divine intervention and she gave birth to him while still a virgin. It has defined four specific Marian dogmatic teachings: her without, her status as the Mother of God, her perpetual virginity and her bodily  into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. Numerous Marian devotions are also practiced.

The emphasizes support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the  and the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world. Catholic spiritual teaching emphasizes spread of the Gospel message and spiritual. The Catholic Church has influenced Occidental philosophy, culture, art, music and science. Catholics live all over the world through missions, diaspora, and conversions. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Caphiric Church until the Great Schism of 1615, disputing particularly the authority of the Pope and influence of Urcea, though this schism was mended with the Eight Points Agreement following the end of the Occidental Cold War. In recent decades, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines concerning sexual issues and the ordination of women as well as for its handling of sexual abuse cases.

Burgundie
The establishment of cults around the major figures of Catholic lore was almost immediate to the arrival of Catholicism in Burgundie. This was a carry over from similar practices in the Latinic polytheistic societies. The contemporary expression of these devotions are the various monastic orders (e.g. Order of the Obsidian Sparrow and the Ljydkruss Order). In Burgundie, this is still practiced, but less dogmatically then in ages past. The Cultes della Nostra Mare (Mother Mary) and Cultes della Fuster (Joseph the carpenter) are particularly widespread. Within even some of the smaller villages in Burgundie, a church of Nostra Mare and one of el Fuster will stand completely separate. There was an effort to unite the various cults during the Great Confessional War, in the later 16th century, and many smaller cults were absorbed into the mainstream practices. This also led to what many in Burgundie term, Urceopolis Catholicism or Monolithic Catholicism. This format of worship is the recognized style by the royal family and its greatest piece de resistance is the Cathedral of St. Mattius in Vilauristre.

While local parishioners differentiate between the three mainstream forms of practice, there is no contemporary difference between them aside from some of the iconography and local regalia. Priests, bishops, archbishops, and the Cardinal in Burgundie all identify as Levantine Catholic and are not instructed in any specificity of the differences between cults. The differences and unique traditions are therefore the responsibility of the parishioners to maintain and instruct their new clergy. This practice is called the curia of the apud curiam agni (the curia of the lambs), and only occurs in the churches ascribing to the cults of Notra Mare and le Fuster, not the standardized practice.