Transubstantiation is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into th
The Eucharist, which the Catholic Church teaches to be the real presence of Christ, exposed for adoration at Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno, Nevada
A 3rd-century fresco in the Catacomb of Callixtus, which Joseph Wilpert interprets as depicting Christ's multiplication of the loaves and fishes (a symbol of Eucharistic consecration) and the deceased attaining eternal happiness through participation in the Eucharist.
The Last Supper (upper image) and preparatory washing of feet (lower image) in a 1220 manuscript in the Baden State Library, Karlsruhe, Germany
Title page of Martin Luther's De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae
The Catholic Church, also called the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with an estimated 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptized members worldwide as of 2026. It consists of 24 autonomous
Transubstantiation
…Transubstantiation (Latin: transsubstantiatio, Greek: μετουσίωσις, romanized: metousiosis) is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood…
St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the largest Catholic church building in the world
The first use of the term "Catholic Church", meaning "universal church", was by the Church Father Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans in c. 110 AD. Ignatius of Antioch also is credited with the first recorded use of the term Christianity ten years earlier, in c. 100 AD. He died in Rome, with his relics located in San Clemente al Laterano.
A c. 1481–1482 fresco by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel showing Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter
The Last Supper in the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church in Milan, Italy, a late 1490s mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, depicting the Last Supper of Jesus and his twelve apostles, depicts the final meal of Jesus before his crucifixion and death.