Catholicism

Biodata

Belief and Worship

• The Arian sect teaches that Jesus is subordinate to God and that God alone is the highest deity. The wider Church denounces Arianism as heresy 12 51.
• Saint Patrick converts to the Church’s faith during his captivity in Ireland. He later returns to preach there and hopes Duncan will also convert 129.
• The British Church retains some Celtic traditions, while the Roman Curia takes a harder line against polytheism 129 132.

Church and Political Influence

The Church’s missionary work extends into barbarian lands, including territory conquered by the Huns. Its Inquisition pursues surviving polytheistic practitioners such as Raven Queen Triss and Anya 12 14 15. Duncan later backs a British Church to counter the Roman Curia and argues that different faiths should be allowed to coexist 51 132.

Duncan uses imperial authority to install Patrick I as Pope and compel reform of the Roman Curia 169. Generations later, Church conservatives regain the papacy, and the imposition of a tithe provokes conflict in Britannia 186 187 188. Following Patrick V’s ascension, the Church begins abolishing tithes and indulgences and becomes more tolerant of other beliefs 194 195.

Supernatural Associations

• The Church possesses sacred relics, including a fragment of the True Cross held by Archbishop Saint James 187.
• Angels are described as acknowledging and purifying Duncan’s sword Oathkeeper, making it a Church holy relic 159.
• The passages do not depict God appearing in person. Triss says her sect’s records contain no sighting of a deity’s true form and identify the Son of God’s time among mortals as the closest such encounter in centuries 11.