Western Christianity

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The western Christianity ( Latin Occidens Christianus ) or West Church refers to the part of Christianity, its traditional origins to the ancient church patriarchy Rome and from this area of the Western Roman Empire developed Latin Church go back and stands in contrast to the eastern Christianity .

From the tradition of the Roman Latin Church, which is also known as the Western Church as the largest rite church of the Roman Catholic Church , various other branches have emerged, in particular the Protestant churches dating back to the Reformation in the 16th century , but also Old Catholic churches and apostolic communities as well as others Catholic churches and communities .

History and expansion

Already in early Christianity different formed in Christian communities rites and traditions , which further developed as a result. The patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Rome, known as the pentarchy, held a special position in the ancient church .

In late antiquity, the divided Roman Empire in Western Roman ( Rome ) and Eastern Roman Empire ( Constantinople Opel ) and from the Roman Empire Church different religious traditions, whose division in developed in the Latin West and the Greek East Oriental schism manifested. In Western Europe and Western North Africa, the Latin Church with the Pope as head, as well as the resulting churches of the Reformation and later secession , emerged from the old church patriarchate Rome .

However, since the Middle Ages at the latest, the geographical allocation is no longer clear; Among other things through the Crusaders , Latin, Western Christianity also came to the Middle East. Since the Islamic expansion , North Africa has been predominantly Muslim. In modern times, European expansion also led to the missionary work and settlement of North and South America, southern Africa, the Far East and Australia by Western Christians. Later the Eastern Church Diaspora was added in the ancestral and mission areas of the Western Church, especially in Western Europe , North America and Australia, and the Western Churches also spread to the original areas of Eastern Christianity.