Various Different Churches and Communities

Christendom in the world is divided into three principal branches:

- the Catholic Church: 

with the Pope as successor of the Apostle St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ;

- the Orthodox Churches: 

(born during the separation of the Byzantine Church from Rome in 1054) grouped with respective Patriarchs and Metropolites;

- the many Protestant Communities: 

resulting from the Reform initiated by a dissenting Catholic monk - named Luther - at the end of XV century; the Reform was "rekindled" by Calvin, a few dozen years after the advent of the Lutheranism, at the beginning of XVI century.

The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches have the same faith about Mary, Mother of Jesus "conceived by the Holy Spirit", immaculate because saved from original sin and forever virgin (before, during and after her divine maternity); Mother of God, Mother of the Church and Mother of all men.

The Protestant communities, on the other hand, recognize Mary as the Mother of Jesus, Word of God Incarnate, but they do not recognize the Marian dogmas of the Church.

Protestantism, in general, rejects the concept of the "Immaculate Conception" of the Mother of Christ and denies the fact that she always remained a virgin. 

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MDN Team