Church in the UK
What is the difference between Catholic and Protestant?
Catholics and Protestants share the core of the Christian faith: one God in three persons, and Jesus Christ who died and rose again. They differ mainly over where authority lies, how a person is put right with God, the sacraments, and the place of Mary and the saints.
Where the division came from
For its first thousand years and more, the church in western Europe was one body under the Pope. In 1517 a German monk, Martin Luther, publicly challenged some of its teaching and practice. The movement that followed is called the Reformation, and those who joined it came to be called Protestants. In England the break with Rome came under Henry VIII in the 1530s.
The main differences
- Authority. Catholics believe that God’s truth comes through Scripture and the Church’s tradition together, interpreted by the Church’s teaching office under the Pope. Protestants hold that the Bible is the final authority, and that all church teaching must be tested by it.
- Being put right with God. Protestants emphasise that a person is declared right with God by grace alone, through faith alone. Catholics also teach that salvation is by grace, and understand it as a process in which faith, baptism and a life of love all play a part.
- Sacraments. The Catholic Church recognises seven. Most Protestants recognise two, baptism and communion, as those Jesus directly commanded.
- Communion. Catholics believe the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Protestant views range from a real presence of Christ to a symbolic memorial.
- Mary and the saints. Catholics honour Mary highly and ask her and the saints to pray for them. Protestants respect them as examples and pray to God alone.
- Priests. Catholic priests are men and, in most cases, unmarried, and Catholics confess their sins to a priest. Protestant ministers may marry, many Protestant churches ordain women, and believers confess directly to God.
- Purgatory. Catholics believe in a state of purification after death for those who die in God’s friendship. Protestants do not find it in the Bible.
- The Bible. Catholic Bibles contain several books that Protestant Bibles leave out or print separately.
What they share
The list of differences can hide how much is held in common. Both say the same creeds. Both believe that Jesus is God the Son, that he died for our sins and rose bodily from the dead, that the Bible is God’s word, and that salvation is God’s gift and not a human achievement. In 1999 the Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches signed a joint declaration stating that they now share a common understanding of the basic truths of how we are put right with God.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
Where does the Church of England fit?
The Church of England describes itself as both catholic and reformed. It kept bishops, set forms of worship and the ancient creeds, and it adopted the Reformation’s teaching on the authority of the Bible and salvation by grace through faith. That is why its services can look quite Catholic while its official doctrine is Protestant.
Relations today
The two traditions have a painful history in Britain and Ireland, and the memory of it lingers in some places. Today, in most communities, Catholic and Protestant churches cooperate, pray together and regard one another as fellow Christians.
Which should I join?
This site does not set out to steer you to one tradition. The questions above are real ones and deserve thought. Read the Gospels, visit churches, talk to their leaders and ask them to explain what they believe and why.