If you have been to any protestant church longer than a year in the United States, it’s virtually guaranteed that you have heard the line that “Catholics are not Christian”. Other claims include that they ‘Worship Mary’, ‘Worship Statues’, ‘Don’t know the Gospel’, are ‘Heretics’, and are ‘Mystery Babylon’. The claim is made boldly and without remorse, but is it true?
Well for those of you who don’t know (Which is all of you at this point), I asked these same questions last year when I had a ‘midlife spiritual crisis’ in 2024. I discovered that one of my most cherished deeply held beliefs was so wrong, I was in danger of hellfire itself. So I examined every single religion from the ground up with a fair and objective eye. Nobody got preferential treatment, and nobody got a free pass. Each denomination was given a fair shot and allowed to explain their position.
Now as a Baptist of 25 years, believe me when I said I had some reservations about Rome and her church. But I held my nose and tried to get to the truth of the matter. I refused to be deceived again.
What I had discovered was that I had been deceived twice. When I cut through the propaganda and got to the truth of the matter, I was able to refute the idea that “Catholics are not Christians”. It was embarrassing to discover how wrong I was. In fact anyone who makes this claim is brainwashed and wrong as well. I don’t care who that offends, it’s true.
Here are 5 irrefutable claims that I discovered that prove Catholics are Christians too.
Jesus Founded the Catholic/Orthodox Church
Kind of the biggest one. You see this part is in the Bible itself. Peter was given the Authority to build Christs church here on Earth. This isn’t up for debate. Here is the passage from the KJV Bible.
Matthew Chapter 16:18 & 19
(18) And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(19) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Peter was given the authority to start Jesus Christs church and was given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, as we know, Jesus is crucified, resurrects, and then ascends into heaven. From there, Pentecost happens, and the church is officially formed upon the arrival of the holy spirit. But what happens to Peter? Well believe it or not, the Bible doesn’t say where Peter went in his latter days. After Peter is freed from jail, the story switches to Paul.
So, what happened to Peter? Well, the early church fathers write about it.
– Clement of Rome (96AD)
– Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD)
– Irenaeus (180 AD)
They are all unanimous that Peter traveled to Rome and was martyred in the aftermath of the Fire of Rome in 64AD. Emperor Nero blamed Christians for starting the fire, and it is said that sometime between 64 AD to 68 AD Peter was crucified as a result.
But what was Peter doing in Rome? Setting up the Church headquarters in Rome. You see back in the first century church, each region had their own leader called a bishop. He was the guy in charge of all the priests and churches for a specific geographical area. Peters official title was “The Bishop of Rome”. When Peter died, they elected a new bishop to continue the work. Then when he passed away, they elected a new guy, so on and so on. Do you know who the Bishop of Rome is today?
Pope Leo the 14th.
Just saying.
The Catholic Church compiled and canonized the Bible
Protestants love to claim, “The Bible Alone” is sufficient for authority. Catholics don’t disagree that the Bible is an authority. But you have to ask a more fundamental question. Where did the Bible come from? Well you see the Bible that you and I know today was not fully canonized until 380 AD at the council of Rome.
So what does that mean? It means that bishops and church leadership from all over the Roman Empire arrived at Rome and debated about which books were legitimate and which were not. Many books claimed to be ‘scripture’ were forgeries written way past their proclaimed time, or had massive theological contradictions. These books were removed because they were fake. The real scripture ended up in 73 books total.
Although Martin Luther removed 7 books, he still respected the Catholics churches decision on what was cannon by keeping 66 of the original books. So when Protestants say “Bible Alone”, ironically they are de facto acknowledging Romes authority on what the Bible is supposed to be.
The Catholic Church established theology used today
Show me in the Bible where the word the “Trinity” exists?
What about the path to salvation?
What about justification?
Many theological concepts that protestants use today, were first invented by the Catholic Church. Ironically, despite their differences, there are many similarities. Both churches agree that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, that he died, rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended to heaven. That is why many people can either go from Catholic to Protestant or Protestant to Catholic, because despite the differences, they share a common history and common theology.
Despite setbacks, the Catholic church remains unbroken
Yes, the Catholic church has had its difficulties. The church suffered persecution and martyrdom, has been invaded by armies, suffered a massive schism, suffered a indulgence scandal, and a second major schism, political and cultural attacks and even shamefully, a child sex abuse scandal. Yet despite all this, the church remains unbroken from the time of Peter until today.
Christ himself even said that “I will build my church, and the gates of hellshall not prevail against it.” He didn’t say that it wouldn’t be under attack, or that people would not do terrible things, but that the institution would survive. So far, 2000 years later it still stands.
In fact, the Catholic church is recognized as the oldest organized institution in the world.
Demons respond to Catholic Priests
If your house is haunted, who is the first person everyone thinks of calling? A Catholic priest. Why? Because Catholic priests are ordained in the priesthood, handed down by apostolic succession, by the apostles themselves. Why do demons panic when priests arrive?
Some argue that these demons could be cast out with the power of Satan, but watching any exorcism for 5 minutes and the amount of times Christ is invoked puts that lie to bed.
In Matthew Chapter 12, Jesus even addresses this as “Satan cannot cast out Satan.”
Demons respond to Catholic priests, because they are given authority by God himself. The answer was always that simple.
When you combine all these facts, it paints a clear picture, that not only are Catholics ‘Christians’, but they were the first ones. It important to be accurate in all things, even those things we don’t like.