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The Case · History

How far back does the Catholic Church go?

A sound like wind, a crowd from every nation, and three thousand people baptised in a day. That is where the line starts.

The short answer

To the apostles. By about 180, Christians could name the bishops of Rome in order back to the apostles, and that line continues today.12

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Christ Pantocrator, Byzantine icon: Christ blesses with his right hand and holds the Gospel book.

Byzantine icon, Christ Pantocrator, encaustic, 6th century. Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai. Public domain, source.

Jerusalem, the feast of Pentecost

The apostles are all together in one place when a sound comes from heaven, “as of a mighty wind coming.”3 They are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in other languages.4

Jerusalem is full of devout Jews “out of every nation under heaven,” and each one hears them in his own language.5 That same day, about three thousand people are baptised.6

That was the first day. The question is whether you can draw a line from that day to a parish down your street.

01Day one

Catholic from Pentecost

“And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles and in the communication of the breaking of bread and in prayers.”

Acts 2:427

The Catechism teaches that the Church was catholic “on the day of Pentecost” and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.8 Jesus promised that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”9

Within a lifetime, Christians were already using that word, catholic, for the Church.

02Around the year 110

The name

Ignatius of Antioch already wrote of “the Catholic Church.”13

And by the year 180, someone could trace the line by name.

03Around the year 180

The list

Irenaeus wrote of the Church “founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul,” and listed its bishops down to his own day.1

“In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us.”

St Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies III.31

He reached the twelfth name. The line did not stop there.

042025

The 267th

Pope Leo XIV, elected in 2025, is the 267th Successor of Saint Peter.2

From a house in Jerusalem to 2025, one line. Your nearest parish is part of it.

Careful with the facts

  • Age alone does not prove a claim: the Church grounds its claim in the apostolic succession of its bishops.1415
  • Early lists differ in small details of order, as Irenaeus and Tertullian show.116

Christian to Christian

Many Christian communities love the early Church and read the same Fathers. The invitation is simple: come and see the Church they wrote about.

Watch

Is the Catholic Church Really the One, True Church?Bishop Robert Barron · Bishop Robert Barron · about 1 minYouTube

Watch on YouTube

Day 117: The Church Is Catholic (The Catechism in a Year)Fr. Mike Schmitz · The Catechism in a Year · 22 minThis channel plays its videos on YouTube only.

From the official channels of the teachers named. Links checked 4 October 2026; an editor has not yet watched every video in full. Scripture and the Catechism cited on this page are the authority. All videos by topic.

Only one thing to do

Your one next step

Read Acts 2:1-42, the first day of the Church. It takes about five minutes. Then, if you would like to see the same Church today, find the nearest parish.

Read Acts 2

Keep going

Did the first Christians believe the Eucharist is really Christ?Next: Where did hospitals and universities come from?

Notes

  1. St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies III.3 (c. 180). Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1 (1885). newadvent.org
  2. Holy See, Biography of the Holy Father Leo XIV. vatican.va. vatican.va
  3. Acts 2:1-2, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  4. Acts 2:4, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  5. Acts 2:5-6, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  6. Acts 2:41, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  7. Acts 2:42, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 830. vatican.va
  9. Matthew 16:18, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  10. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 731. vatican.va
  11. Acts 2:1-4, Douay-Rheims. read the chapter
  12. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1001. vatican.va
  13. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 7-8 (c. 107-110). Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1 (1885). newadvent.org
  14. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 77. vatican.va
  15. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 861. vatican.va
  16. Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 32 (c. 200). Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3 (1885). newadvent.org

Translations of the Fathers and councils are public-domain 19th-century editions. Catechism links open vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching and history in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.