Catholic
The Catholic Church is the Latin communion centered on Rome after 1054. On this tree it is the parent of the medieval dissent movements it expelled and of the Reformation families that separated from it between 1517 and 1534. Its religious orders and rites are annotations, not branches.
On the tree
Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.
Bodies in this family
The Latin communion centered on Rome after 1054, from which the medieval dissent movements were expelled and the Reformation fan later separated. Religious orders and rites are annotations, not branches.
Claimed lineage
What this tradition says about its own origin · apostolic see
Christ constituted Peter the rock and keeper of the keys (Matt 16:18–19); Peter was the first bishop of Rome; the papacy is an unbroken apostolic succession, and the Church of Christ 'subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter.'
Its own sources: Matthew 16:13–19; Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 8 ('subsistit in'); Annuario Pontificio papal list.
The documented record: The doctrine's development and the exegesis of Matt 16 are themselves fields of long dispute; Orthodox and Protestant counter-readings are stated on the linked both-sides explainer.
Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.