The Catholic Church was the largest body of followers of Christianity.
Vatican City was the central government of the Catholic Church. (PROSE: "Earth" [+]Part of Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse, Simon Guerrier, Una McCormack and Jonathan Morris, BBC Books (2023).)
History[]
As late as the early 20th century, the Church kept many books which they deemed heretical in the secret Library of St John the Beheaded in London. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire [+]Andy Lane, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) One of the books suppressed by the Church was the Necronomicon. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy [+]Andy Lane and Justin Richards, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).)
In the 14th century, the author and poet Geoffrey Chaucer often mocked the Church in his work. (AUDIO: The Doctor's Tale [+]Marc Platt, The Early Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2014).)
In the 16th century, many Christians split from the Catholic Church to become Protestants. Some Catholic rulers persecuted them, such as Mary I of England with the Heresy Laws in the 1550s and Catherine de Medici of France with the St Bartholomew's Day massacre on 24 August 1572. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy [+]Jacqueline Rayner, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000)., TV: The Massacre [+]John Lucarotti and Donald Tosh, Doctor Who season 3 (BBC1, 1966).)
At the time of the Reformation King Henry VIII declared himself as the head of the English church. His daughter Elizabeth I later persecuted priests and followers of the Catholic Church. However the Catholics built secret rooms and passages in their houses so that the priests could hold their services in secret and escape. That was why the St Agnes Abbey also had some secret passages. (PROSE: Eye of the Gorgon [+]Phil Ford, adapted from Eye of the Gorgon (Phil Gladwin and Phil Ford), The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations (Penguin Character Books, 2007).)
By 1605, there were three assassination attempts, including the Gunpowder Plot led by Robert Catesby, by Catholics on the Protestant King James I. (GAME: The Gunpowder Plot [+]Phil Ford, The Adventure Games (BBC Wales Interactive, 2011).)
In 1609, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine of the Catholic Church, who had been mistaken for the First Doctor to whom he bore a resemblance, moderated the Armageddon Convention. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Andy Lane, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1995).)
Following the Great Fire of London in September 1666, many Protestants, including King Charles II, blamed the English Catholics for setting the conflagration.
Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded his younger brother James II. Given that James II was a Catholic, his accession to the throne of Protestant England created discontent among the English nobility and public, which ultimately led to him being overthrown in the Glorious Revolution in November 1688. (AUDIO: The Glorious Revolution [+]Jonathan Morris, The Companion Chronicles (Big Finish Productions, 2009).)
In July 1936, the Spanish Civil War began when a group of conservative generals revolted against the democratic government out of fear that traditional Catholic values were being undermined and the government was leaning towards Communism. (AUDIO: Fiesta of the Damned [+]Guy Adams, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2016).)
In Croatia during the 1940s, Catholic partisans captured, shot, and buried the vampire Yarven. (PROSE: Goth Opera [+]Paul Cornell, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).)
John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic to serve as President of the United States, being inaugurated on 20 January 1961. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Chris Farnell, BBC Children's Books (2020).)
Sir Toby Kinsella, a senior British civil servant with the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s, was Catholic. (AUDIO: Artificial Intelligence [+]Matt Fitton, Counter-Measures: Series 1 (Counter-Measures, Big Finish Productions, 2012)., The Fifth Citadel [+]James Goss, Counter-Measures (Big Finish Productions, 2013).) The same was true of the Seventh Doctor's companions Hex (AUDIO: Gods and Monsters [+]Mike Maddox and Alan Barnes, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2012).) and Sally Morgan, (AUDIO: Signs and Wonders [+]Matt Fitton, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) UNIT soldier Francis Cleary, (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy [+]David Bishop, Virgin Books (1996).) and the 2000s Deputy Prime Minister Meena Cartwright. (AUDIO: The Longest Night [+]Joseph Lidster, UNIT (Big Finish Productions, 2005).)
In the 26th century, Claire Summerfield, the mother of Bernice Summerfield, was Catholic. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Paul Cornell, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1992).)
In the 2640s, Pope Beatrix II led the Catholic Church in the Beatrician Crusade against the Mal'akh. (PROSE: De Umbris Idearum [+]Philip Purser-Hallard, Burning with Optimism's Flames (Faction Paradox, Obverse Books, 2013).)
By the 28th century, the Catholic Church had re-established itself and become a major space power with jurisdiction over numerous worlds. (PROSE: Companion Piece [+]Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, Telos Doctor Who novellas (Telos Publishing, 2003).)
The Fourth Doctor believed the official papal seat for the Church was in the Betelgeuse system in the 33rd century. A renegade branch, known as the Catholic Church Apostolic, controlled Europa during this time. (PROSE: Managra [+]Stephen Marley, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1995).)
In a Shadow World, the Twelfth Doctor met a group of Catholics, one offering him a chance for confession. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
Alternate timelines[]
Speaking during the English Civil War, the Second Doctor acknowledged an invading Catholic army taking advantage of England's crisis to take over most of the known world as one possible future. (PROSE: The Roundheads [+]Mark Gatiss, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).)