Catholic Church in Rumahoki

Catholic Church in Rumahoki
; Catholic Church in Rumahoki
Latin: Ecclesia Catholica Rumahociae; Pelaxian: Iglesia Católica en Rumajoqui; Reform Tainean: Glais Kataulik des Roumahauki
	Patriarchal Cathedral of Los Rumas in Los Rumas
Type	National polity
Classification	Catholic
Orientation	Levantine
Scripture	Bible
Theology	Catholic theology
Polity	Episcopal
Governance	CEV
Pope	Gregory XVII
Primate of All Vallos	Hernan Almeida
Primate of Rumahoki	Ernesto Ocampo
Apostolic Nuncio	Joan Gasquet
Region	Rumahoki
Language	Latin, Pelaxian, Reform Tainean
Headquarters	Santa Maria
Founder	Afonso Ocampo
Origin	15th Century ; Los Rumas, Pelaxia
Separations	Protestantism in Rumahoki; Marian Kapuhenasa; Delepasian National Church
Members	33,908,880

The Rumahokian Catholic Church, or the Catholic Church in Rumahoki, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope in Urceopolis, under the governance of the Episcopal Collegiate of Vallos, the main governing body of the Catholic Church in Vallos. It is the largest religion in Rumahoki as well as its former state religion prior to 1994. The Constitution of Rumahoki recognises the role and significance of the Catholic Church as part of the nation's history and heritage, which has existed since the founding of the first archdiocese in Los Rumas in the 15th Century during the years of the viceroyalty, and establishes a cooperative relationship between the Rumahokian state and the Church.

According to the most recent census, over 33 million people (nearly 65% of the population) identify as being in communion with the Catholic Church. These 33 million adherents are spread across six ecclesiastical provinces (Los Rumas, Las Joquis, Natalia, Salvador, New Albalitor, and Tainia) and one apostolic vicarate (located within the two Loa-majority states). The Catholic faith in Rumahoki has syncretised heavily with various folk customs in certain parts of the nation, and in one case has even led to the emergence of a fully-fledged syncretic faith, that being Marian Kapuhenasa, the faith of those of the Loa who have occidentalised.

The main ecclesiastical province is in Los Rumas, headed by one of the few patriarchs within the Levantine Church. Unlike the heads of the particular churches in communion with the Pope in Urceopolis, the patriarchal title for the archbishop of Los Rumas is merely ceremonial and titular and confers no authority over other metropolitan bishops; it was conferred to the Archdiocese of Los Rumas on the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas. What does confer authority is the primatial title of the Primate of All Vallos, a title that denotes the president of the Episcopal Collegiate of Vallos, and was conferred to the Archdiocese of Los Rumas in the 15th Century shortly after the investiture of its first archbishop Afonso Ocampo.

History

Although Christianity in one form or another was introduced to Vallos centuries before the arrival of Mauricio Delepas through Caphiria, the existence of an organised Catholic presence would not begin until the establishment of the Diocese of Los Rumas late 15th Century and the investiture of Afonso Ocampo, who henceforth was conferred the title of Primate of All Vallos as the first archbishop in the region. Throughout the early colonial era, the highest priority of the Church and the Pelaxian Crown was to incorporate the existing non-Pelaxian populations into the organised Catholic structure and to establish and expand the episcopal hierarchy into the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas. The Diocese of Las Joquis was established in 1553, initially as a suffragan diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Rumas; it became the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Las Joquis when it was established in 1682, soon becoming the holder of the viceregal primatial title in 1698.

The 18th and 19th Centuries were when the episcopal structure of the Church in the Viceroyalty came to resemble the episcopal structure as it exists to this day. The Los Rumas archdiocese was conferred the title of Patriarch of Los Rumas in 1798 to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of Mauricio Delepas; the minor patriarchal title is honourary and does not affect the archbishop's status in relation to the rest of the Levantine Church in any way. The newest of these ecclesiastical provinces was the Ecclesiastical Province of New Albalitor, established in 1905, with dioceses that date back to shortly after the collapse of the Loa Empire in the 1870s. Although the areas that comprise the New Albalitor province had a Catholic presence for centuries, these areas had underwent a campaign of de-Christianisation when the Romany kingdoms were conquered by the Loa Empire in the 18th Century, and it was not until the arrival of the Navidadians that Christianity was introduced to these lands, soon culminating in the rise of a syncretic religion in the Loa-majority areas known as Marian Kapuhenasa which holds sway over the entirety of Rumahoki's Loa population to this day.

With the rise of Delepasian exceptionalism in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the Catholic Church became one of the key tenets of the Delepasian identity. Many of the constitutions of the Delepasian polities were amended to exhalt the role of the Catholic Church in both the history and the heritage of the Delepasian people, oftentimes even making the Catholic Church the state religion. However, it was also during this time that opposition towards clericalism began to emerge, mostly from liberals and socialists who protested the supposed merging of church and state. The establishment of the [[Estado Social] (Rumahoki)|Estado Social]] in Rosaria and the Delepasian Commonwealth both led to the further entrenchment of the role of Catholic Church within the state. Under the ideals of the Estado Social, the Church was the torch-bearer of civilisation and that anyone who refuses to acknowledge its supremacy were deemed to be traitors to the Delepasian people. The establishment of the Delepasian Commonwealth also saw the establishment of a personal ordinariate designed to ensure that the imperial family, although raised in the Chantrist faith, would be in full communion with the Pope while still retaining their practices for the time being.

The early 1990s saw the Estado Social toning down the role of the Church within the state as part of a series of liberalising reforms designed to breathe new life into the aging and decrepit system. These reforms were mostly reversed, but these reversals ultimately proved to be fruitless after the Velvet Revolution in 1994 and the subsequent Rumahokian transition to democracy. Although the new socialist government in Rumahoki that arose after the transition officially declared that the state would be secular in nature, the new constitution still recognises and acknowledges the role and significance of the Catholic Church as part of the nation's history and heritage and has provisions in place to maintain a cooperative relationship between both entities. These provisions were added to quell the fears of the nation's faithful that the new socialist government will instill anti-clerical measures against the Church, and as part of Francisco Carvalho's policy of reconciliation and religious freedom during his first term as prime minister.

Subdivisions

Ecclesiastical Province of Los Rumas

Ecclesiastical Province of Las Joquis

Ecclesiastical Province of Natalia

Ecclesiastical Province of Salvador

Ecclesiastical Province of New Albalitor

Ecclesiastical Province of Tainia

Apostolic Prelatures of Loaland

Military Ordinariate

Military Ordinariate of Rumahoki

Personal Ordinariate

Much of the imperial family were raised in the Chantrist faith and thus necessitated the establishment of a personal ordinariate. This personal ordinariate ensures that the imperial family is allowed to retain their religious practice while at the same time be in full communion with the Pope, is immediately subject to the Pope and not the Primate of All Vallos or the Primate of Rumahoki, and is canonically within the Levantine Church and is not a particular church:

the Ænglish Catholic Imperial Personal Ordinariate of Saint Brendan the Navigator (established in 1976)

Other Catholic jurisdictions

There exists a very small minority of Catholics in Rumahoki that adhere to one of the particular churches in communion with the Pope in Urceopolis, mostly from minority groups that exist throughout the nation, but a small portion of Delepasians are adherents to the Caphiric Catholic Church, these are known as Isurites (not to be confused for Isurians):

the Western Caphiric Catholic Eparchy of Saint Pontius Pilate in Los Rumas (established in 1997; immediately subject to the Patriarch of Venceia and All Sarpedon)
the Southern Coscivian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Maria (established in 1996; immediately subject to the Archbishop of Valēka)

Regular (monastic) Catholic jurisdictions

The Sacred Brothers and Sisters of Saint Bruno - Carthusians
The Blessed Sisters of the Immaculate Conception - Conceptionists
The Hermetical Brothers of the Principled Rules of Saint Augustine - Hieronymites
The Holy Brothers and Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Adouka - Adouka Cruzados
The Visitation Sisters of the Holy Virgin Mary - Visitandines