Catholic Church

The Catholic Church was the largest body of followers of Christianity.

To enforce their religion, the Church kept many books which they deemed heretical in the secret Library of St John the Beheaded in London. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire) One of the books suppressed by the Church was the Necronomicon. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

In the 16th century, many Christians split from the Catholic Church to become Protestants. Many faithful Catholics 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, TV: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve)

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)

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)

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)

In Croatia during the 1940s, Catholic partisans captured, shot, and buried the vampire Yarven. (PROSE: Goth Opera)

Sir Toby Kinsella, a senior British civil servant with the Ministry of Defence in 1964, was Catholic. (AUDIO: Artificial Intelligence) The same was true of the Seventh Doctor's companion Hex (AUDIO: Gods and Monsters) and the 2000s Deputy Prime Minister Meena Cartwright. (AUDIO: The Longest Night)

In the 26th century, Claire Summerfield, the mother of Bernice Summerfield, was Catholic. (PROSE: Love and War)

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)