Asking because i want to write a story with christian themes and i wanna delve into nihilism and so i’m wondering how far it really goes. Obv i’m gonna argue against it and show its wrong as christians as a whole, affirm life completely and say it has plenty of meaning, overflowing with it even, but yea just wanted to know if i’ve got the jist of nihilism right

Is substance and essence the same thing? If not, what is the difference between substance and essence?

What would you suggest to someone who wants to start studying Catholicism on a deeper, philosophical level?

As science discovers more answers, the "gaps" where God is supposed to fit become smaller and Critics view it as a logical error (argument from ignorance) because a lack of current evidence for one thing does not prove another specific claim is true

If you’re a new Catholic, you’ll probably notice that Luke 1:28 is often translated as “highly favored,” while Catholic translations traditionally say “full of grace.”
**The Greek word is κεχαριτωμένη (**kecharitōmenē), a perfect passive participle related to charis, meaning grace. The perfect form points to something completed with an ongoing result.
So Gabriel isn’t merely saying, “God likes you” or “you’ve been favored.” The wording describes Mary as someone who has been graced and remains in that state of grace.
That doesn’t mean this one word proves every Marian doctrine by itself. But it does show why Catholics have traditionally seen something significant in Gabriel’s greeting.
So when you hear “Hail, full of grace”, remember: that’s not just a random Catholic wording. There is real Greek behind it.

If Adam and Eve were created to live infinitely Without pains or suffering, how is the fact that when man was created there were already several parist bacteria and catastrophes? Doesn't make SENSE?????

So i've been interested in utilitarianism lately and while i disagree with such ethics i thought to myself would it really be all that bad to remove our ability to suffer.

The definition of suffering that im using is having an expirience that is contrary to the will or wants of a person.

Manifesto of the Catholic Integral Monarchy

A Program for Catholic Government, Social Order, Economic Justice, and National Sovereignty

I. The Foundation of the State

The State shall recognize the Catholic Faith as the spiritual foundation of public life and shall order its laws and institutions toward the common good, natural law, and the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

The State shall reject the liberal conception of a completely secular government in which religion is confined exclusively to private life. Civil authority shall recognize that man possesses both temporal and eternal ends, and government shall therefore respect the moral order taught by the Catholic Church.

This system shall be explicitly Catholic and integralist. Civil and ecclesiastical authority shall retain their proper spheres, while the temporal government recognizes the superior authority of the Church in matters concerning faith and morals.

The State shall not establish a racial hierarchy. Human beings shall possess equal fundamental human dignity regardless of ancestry or ethnicity. Opposition to religious doctrines considered contrary to Catholic teaching shall not be transformed into racial hostility or collective punishment.

II. The Crown

The nation shall be governed by a hereditary Catholic monarchy.

The King shall serve as the supreme temporal authority of the realm and shall be responsible for:

• National administration;
• Defense and foreign affairs;
• National economic policy;
• Appointment and dismissal of provincial governors;
• Preservation of public order;
• Appointment of officials where constitutionally provided;
• Protection of the Church and the Catholic character of the nation; and
• Advancement of the common good.

The monarchy shall not be an unrestricted personal dictatorship. The King's authority shall be exercised according to the Constitution, fundamental law, natural law, and the legitimate authority of the Catholic Church.

Succession to the Throne

The Crown shall pass through the male line of the royal dynasty.

Only male members of the royal house shall be eligible to inherit the throne according to the constitutionally established order of succession.

The hereditary character of the Crown shall provide continuity and stability while the King's authority remains subject to the constitutional order and the superior spiritual authority of the Church.

III. The Church and the Crown

The Catholic Church shall stand above the temporal government in matters of faith and morals.

The King shall possess genuine and substantial authority over temporal affairs while recognizing the authority of the Pope and bishops concerning the spiritual and moral order.

The Church shall not administer ordinary governmental departments. Rather, the constitutional order shall recognize distinct spheres of authority: the King shall govern temporal affairs, while the Church shall possess superior authority in matters properly belonging to faith, morals, and the spiritual welfare of the nation.

The Crown shall defend the Church, while the Church shall serve as the moral guardian of the nation.

IV. The National Episcopal Council

A formal constitutional mechanism shall exist through which the Church may challenge actions of the civil government.

If the Pope, or at least one-half of the Catholic bishops of the nation, formally determines that an action of the State violates Catholic faith, morals, or the legitimate authority of the Church, they may demand the convocation of a National Council of Church and State.

The Council shall include:

• The King;
• The relevant bishops;
• Provincial governors;
• Relevant municipal mayors; and
• Other officials designated by constitutional law.

The Council shall examine the disputed action and determine whether it is compatible with the Catholic constitutional order.

The purpose of this institution shall be to ensure that the temporal government does not exercise authority contrary to the Church's legitimate spiritual jurisdiction.

V. Provincial Government

The realm shall be divided into provinces.

Each province shall be administered by a Governor appointed by the King.

The Governor shall:

• Represent the Crown within the province;
• Administer provincial government;
• Supervise provincial officials;
• Implement national law;
• Coordinate infrastructure and economic development;
• Maintain public administration; and
• Work with municipal authorities and the local bishop.

The Governor shall remain subordinate to the King and serve as the Crown's principal representative within the province.

Dismissal of Governors

Because Governors are appointed by the King, the King shall possess the constitutional authority to dismiss a Governor for stated cause.

Such dismissal may occur when a Governor:

• Seriously threatens the security or stability of the State;
• Acts against the constitutional order;
• Threatens the legitimate authority or freedom of the Catholic Church;
• Seriously violates Catholic moral principles incorporated into fundamental law;
• Abuses his office;
• Engages in grave corruption; or
• Demonstrably acts against the common good.

The King shall provide a formal reason for dismissal, preventing the power from becoming merely arbitrary.

VI. Municipal Government

Municipalities shall retain a greater degree of popular participation.

Each municipality shall elect its own Mayor by popular vote.

The Mayor shall administer:

• Municipal services;
• Local infrastructure;
• Local economic development;
• Municipal administration;
• Community projects; and
• Applicable civil regulations.

Thus, the system shall not abolish all elections. National authority shall be hereditary, provincial authority shall be appointed by the Crown, and municipal executive authority shall be locally elected.

Royal Authority Over Mayors

Although Mayors shall be elected by the people, their authority shall remain subordinate to the Constitution and Crown.

The King shall possess constitutional authority to dismiss a Mayor for stated and legally recognized cause when the Mayor's actions constitute a serious threat to:

• The security or stability of the State;
• The constitutional order;
• The legitimate authority or freedom of the Catholic Church;
• The moral and common good of the municipality;
• Public order; or
• Proper administration.

A dismissal shall require a formal statement of reasons and shall be subject to the judicial or constitutional review established by law.

VII. Episcopal Authority in the Provinces and Municipalities

Every province and municipality shall fall within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the appropriate Catholic bishop.

The bishop shall possess a constitutionally recognized authority to veto actions of a Governor or Mayor when those actions fall within the Church's defined spiritual or moral jurisdiction and contradict Catholic law or the constitutional settlement between Church and State.

The bishop's veto shall not make him the ordinary administrator of civil government. Civil administration shall remain principally the responsibility of Governors and Mayors.

The bishop shall instead serve as guardian of the Church's legitimate authority within local government.

VIII. The Hierarchy of Government

The constitutional order shall therefore be:

The Catholic Church / Pope
Supreme spiritual authority

↓

National Episcopal Council
National ecclesiastical oversight

↓

The King
Supreme temporal authority

↓

Provincial Governors
Appointed and dismissible by the King

↓

Municipal Mayors
Elected by the people, subject to constitutional royal dismissal for stated cause

↓

Local administration

At the local level, the bishop possesses ecclesiastical oversight, while the Mayor or Governor retains responsibility for ordinary civil administration.

This creates a system combining hereditary monarchy, appointed provincial government, elected municipal government, royal supervisory authority, and ecclesiastical oversight.

IX. Catholic Corporatism and Distributism

The economic order shall be founded upon Catholic social teaching, combining the principles of distributism, corporatism, subsidiarity, solidarity, private property, and the common good.

The State shall reject both unrestricted economic individualism and the abolition of private property under state socialism.

Widespread Ownership

The State shall encourage the widest practical distribution of productive property.

Families, independent farmers, craftsmen, small businesses, cooperatives, and local enterprises shall be encouraged to own productive property rather than allowing economic life to become concentrated among a small number of enormous corporations or financial institutions.

The State shall encourage:

• Family farms;
• Independent workshops;
• Small businesses;
• Cooperatives;
• Employee ownership;
• Apprenticeships;
• Local manufacturing; and
• Independent trades.

Private property shall be protected, while its use shall recognize obligations toward the family, workers, community, and common good.

Corporative Organization

Workers and employers shall be organized into recognized occupational corporations, guilds, and professional associations.

These bodies shall:

• Represent workers and employers;
• Establish professional standards;
• Provide apprenticeships and training;
• Mediate labor disputes;
• Encourage cooperation between labor and capital;
• Protect legitimate occupational interests; and
• Advise the government on economic policy.

The economic order shall reject class warfare and instead seek cooperation between workers, employers, families, and the State.

Subsidiarity

Economic decisions shall be made at the lowest competent level.

The family shall retain its proper economic authority. Local associations and guilds shall handle matters they can reasonably administer. Municipal and provincial authorities shall intervene only where necessary, with the national government acting where genuinely national interests require it.

X. Opposition to Monopoly and Excessive Financial Concentration

The State shall oppose the excessive concentration of economic and financial power.

No private corporation, banking institution, financial organization, or industrial combine shall be permitted to acquire such dominance that it can effectively control essential portions of national economic life or exercise undue political power.

The government may therefore:

• Regulate monopolies;
• Break up unlawful concentrations of economic power;
• Require financial transparency;
• Prevent abusive market practices;
• Protect small enterprises;
• Prevent predatory practices against workers and consumers; and
• Ensure that strategic industries remain subject to legitimate national oversight.

The purpose shall not be to abolish banking or private enterprise, but to prevent financial power from becoming concentrated beyond the limits compatible with the common good.

XI. Political and Financial Integrity

Political authority shall not become an instrument of private financial interests.

The following principles shall govern the political order:

1. Foreign governments shall not finance domestic political parties or candidates.
2. Foreign agents shall disclose their political and financial affiliations.
3. Foreign governments shall not secretly purchase political influence.
4. Political donations shall be subject to strict transparency requirements.
5. Government officials shall disclose substantial financial interests creating conflicts of interest.
6. Bribery, political corruption, and undisclosed financial influence shall constitute serious offenses.
7. Strategic national industries shall be protected from improper foreign control.
8. Banks and financial institutions shall be subject to appropriate national regulation.
9. No foreign state shall receive special political privileges through secret financial arrangements.
10. These rules shall apply equally to every foreign power and every citizen regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion.

The State shall maintain particular vigilance against foreign political interference, including attempts by Israel or any other foreign government to improperly influence domestic political affairs.

Opposition to the political actions of a foreign state shall not constitute hostility toward that state's people, ethnicity, or religion. The same standard shall be applied to every foreign government.

XII. The Courts

Justice shall be administered according to a Catholic conception of law and justice, drawing upon the historical relationship between canon law and civil law.

Ecclesiastical courts shall retain jurisdiction over matters properly belonging to the Church, while civil courts shall administer ordinary temporal justice.

The judicial system shall recognize:

• Natural law;
• Catholic moral principles;
• Due process;
• Hierarchical courts;
• Appeals;
• Legitimate ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and
• The distinction between spiritual and temporal authority.

Punishment shall seek justice, protection of society, restitution where possible, and rehabilitation.

XIII. Rehabilitation and the Correctional Order

The nation shall reject a correctional system concerned merely with locking offenders away without attempting to restore them to productive social life.

The State shall establish a national rehabilitation program in which suitable prisoners may receive:

• Agricultural training;
• Livestock training;
• Construction skills;
• Carpentry;
• Metalworking;
• Mechanical trades;
• Other legitimate vocational instruction;
• Basic education; and
• Catholic religious instruction conducted by authorized clergy and volunteers.

The purpose shall be to transform imprisonment from mere isolation into an opportunity for discipline, education, repentance, vocational development, and eventual reintegration into society.

Punishment shall remain subject to law, humane treatment, due process, and the dignity of the human person.

XIV. Catholic Culture and Public Morality

The nation shall recognize the importance of public morality.

Education, family policy, public institutions, and civil law shall be ordered toward the protection of:

• Marriage and family life;
• Children;
• Human dignity;
• Religious practice;
• Sexual morality according to Catholic teaching;
• The sanctity of human life; and
• The common good.

The State shall favor Catholic education and catechesis while respecting the legitimate spiritual jurisdiction of the Church.

The nation shall oppose cultural practices and religious doctrines that it considers contrary to Catholic faith and natural law.

Such opposition shall concern beliefs and practices rather than racial or ethnic identity.

XV. National Sovereignty and Foreign Influence

The nation shall maintain its political independence.

No foreign government, international financial institution, corporation, or political organization shall possess authority over the nation's government greater than that granted by the legitimate constitutional order.

Foreign treaties shall be examined according to:

• National sovereignty;
• Catholic moral law;
• The common good;
• Economic independence; and
• The security of the nation.

The government shall maintain peaceful relations with foreign peoples while refusing improper foreign political control.

The principle shall be universal:

No foreign power shall secretly govern the nation through money, political influence, or economic domination.

XVI. The Principle of Subsidiarity

The nation shall reject unnecessary centralization.

The Crown shall govern matters genuinely national in character.

Provinces shall administer matters appropriate to provincial authority.

Municipalities shall administer genuinely local concerns.

Families, churches, guilds, associations, and other legitimate social institutions shall retain their proper spheres.

The State shall therefore be hierarchical without requiring every decision to originate from the capital.

XVII. The Constitutional Balance

The Constitution shall establish a permanent balance between:

Faith and temporal government.
Royal authority and ecclesiastical authority.
National unity and local government.
Hereditary monarchy and limited popular participation.
Central authority and subsidiarity.
Private property and social obligation.
Capital and labor.
National sovereignty and peaceful international relations.

The King shall possess substantial temporal authority but shall not place himself above God, the Church, or fundamental law.

Governors shall administer the provinces in the name of the Crown.

Mayors shall represent their communities through popular election.

Bishops shall protect the Church's spiritual and moral authority.

The King shall retain the power to remove civil officials who seriously threaten the State, Church, constitutional order, or common good, while the Church shall retain superior authority concerning faith and morals.

XVIII. The Purpose of the State

The State exists not merely to maintain order, collect taxes, or administer territory.

It exists to serve the common good, protect the family, defend the innocent, preserve social peace, uphold justice, protect the Church's legitimate freedom, promote widespread economic ownership, and establish conditions in which citizens may pursue both temporal prosperity and their eternal destiny.

Government shall therefore reject the proposition that politics is morally neutral.

Government must recognize objective moral truth and govern accordingly.

The Catholic monarchy shall seek a society in which:

The family is protected.

Property is widely distributed.

Labor is dignified.

Capital serves the common good.

Political corruption is restrained.

Foreign interference is resisted.

The Church is protected.

The King governs with justice.

Local communities retain legitimate authority.

And every human person possesses inherent dignity.

The nation shall proclaim:

Christ is King.

The Church is guardian of the spiritual order.

The King governs the temporal realm.

The governors administer the provinces.

The people elect their municipal representatives.

The bishops guard the moral and spiritual order.

The economy serves the family and common good.

And every authority is bound by the law of God, the Constitution, and justice.

Viva Cristo Rey.

Suppose you witnessed someone being raped or murdered and had the power to stop it, would you stop it? Would not stopping it make you a bad person, and the blame be on you when you had the power to do so? If you would have an obligation to stop it and did not, thus, making you a bad person, why is God different and He doesn't have to stop it, while we do?

In my opinion as a thomist Roman Catholic I can’t really think of one good argument against theism, I have had a few arguments such as animal suffering, inconsistent revelation and divine hiddenness that have left me wondering but none have genuinely made me question existence of a deity especially the Christian god.

Is there any intuitive way to grasp the essence of QM, without the math. I know I may sound very ridiculous, since math is essential. But if one understands the Schrodinger equation to some extent, will he be able to grasp the absolute essence of quantum mechanics. I am more inclined to think of the philosophical interpretation of QM than doing it in the traditional way. I am sorry if this sounds awful of me (I was a Science student, but now I am more into philosophy). Any help, would be greatly appreciated.

I know this question has been answered a lot of times, I haven’t yet found an answer that sits well with me. As Catholics we are required to believe a historical Adam was the first human. Science tells us there almost certainly wasn’t one singular ancestor (evolution). I hate to be a pessimist or ‘question’ Catholic moral teaching but it almost seems like it’s mental gymnastics to say “Oh yeah, well, God gave Adam a soul and he was the first ensouled human”.

Is there any other explanation out there? Is there a chance that Catholic teaching on this subject is wrong and that perhaps there wasn’t a historical Adam and he was just another Genesis allegory to teach that sin entered the world?

I'm a Turkish Catholic, and other Catholics are very racist towards me. At first, I didn't care, but then it really started to upset me. Like, why is the fall of Constantinople my fault, lol. Today's Turks have nothing to do with past events. Both the muslims in my own country and Catholics in other countries exclude ppl like me these days. Also, last week, I went to Italy and visited churches. When I talked to a few people there and said I was Turkish, they looked at me in a weird way, like I was even lying abt being a Catholic. I wish people hated Turkey's president instead of hating Turkish people. I am curious about other people's opinions on this topic.

É basicamente Oque o título diz, se Deus é onisciente e sabe o passado presente e o futuro, o futuro já seria pré-definido então não teríamos realmente livre arbítrio quanto as nossas escolhas.

Like imagine lying in the lap of your wife/husband as they gently run their hands through your hair and explain transubstantiation with perfect simple easy to understand metaphors? Like as a bed time story, then lay you to sleep, give you a gentle kiss on your forehead, tell you goodnight and God bless you then let you sleep?

(Lowkey a joke,lowkey not. Depends on u, dear reader

Come è possibile che, passati nell’ aldilà, in comunione con Dio, si possa sopportare, senza soffrire, la consapevolezza che un tuo caro - non credente - non sia anche lui, come te, a cospetto della bontà Divina, che ha rifiutato ostinatamente in vita e, così, rifiuta dopo la morte, soffrendone purtroppo le conseguenze?
Non mi interessano le risposte polemiche dei non credenti. Quindi evitate. La domanda è per i soli credenti, che possano aver avuto il mio stesso dubbio e che hanno raggiunto una loro risposta.