Priesthood in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church teaches that when a man participates in priesthood after the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he acts in persona Christi Capitis, representing the person of Christ.

[5] Unlike usage in English, "the Latin words sacerdos and sacerdotium are used to refer in general to the ministerial priesthood shared by bishops and presbyters.

[7] A priest of the regular clergy is commonly addressed with the title "Father" (contracted to Fr, in the Catholic and some other Christian churches).

Institutes of consecrated life, or monks, can be deacons, priests, bishops, or non-ordained members of a religious order.

The ceremony of Eucharist, which can only be confected by priests, in particular derives from the story of the Last Supper, when Jesus Christ distributed bread and wine in the presence of the Twelve Apostles, in some versions of the Gospel of Luke commanding them to "do this in memory of me".

The diaconate evolved as the liturgical assistants of the bishop and his delegate for the administration of church funds and programmes for the poor.

The doctrine is interpreted in various ways by different Protestant denominations, with some dropping apostolic succession and holy orders as a sacrament, as per example the Church of Norway and Denmark who keep their respective Monarchs as Pontifexes, sovereign heads of the church-hierarchy.

In contrast to the Evangelical-Lutheran religion of Denmark and Norway, the Church of Sweden practices Apostolic Succession, and holds Ordination as a sacrament.

This has resulted in some African and Asian priests being recruited to European and American churches, reversing the historical practice of Catholic missionaries being sent from Western countries to the rest of the world.

[20][21] Public anger was fueled by the revelation that many accused priests were transferred to another parish rather than being removed from ministry or reported to police.

The scandal caused some Catholics to leave the church, made recruitment of new priests more difficult, and resulted in billions of dollars in lawsuit settlements and bankruptcies that increased financial pressure to close parishes with declining membership.

Jewish priesthood which functioned at the temple in Jerusalem offered animal sacrifices at various times throughout the year for a variety of reasons.

Before his death on the cross, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples (the Last Supper) and offered blessings over the bread and wine respectively, saying: "Take and eat.

The Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation, which states that the substances, or underlying reality, of the bread and wine is supernaturally changed by the Words of Consecration of the priest in the ritual of the Mass.

"[29] Properly speaking, in Catholic theology, as expressed by Saint Thomas Aquinas, "Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.

As a general rule, education is extensive and lasts at least five or six years, depending on the national Programme of Priestly Formation.

[32] Regardless of where a person prepares for ordination, the process includes not only academic but also human, social, spiritual and pastoral formation.

The Rite of Ordination is what makes one a priest, having already been a deacon and with the minister of Holy Orders being a validly ordained bishop.

Each promises to diligently perform the duties of the Priesthood and to respect and obey his ordinary (bishop or religious superior).

The essential part of the rite is when the bishop silently lays his hands upon each candidate (followed by all priests present), before offering the consecratory prayer, addressed to God the Father, invoking the power of the Holy Spirit upon those being ordained.

After the consecratory prayer, the newly ordained is vested with the stole and chasuble of those belonging to the Ministerial Priesthood and then the bishop anoints his hands with chrism before presenting him with the chalice and paten which he will use when presiding at the Eucharist.

Celibacy for Roman Catholic priests was not mandated under canon law for the universal church until the Second Lateran Council in 1139.

Within a century of the Great Schism of 1054, the Churches of the East and West arrived at different disciplines as to abstaining from sexual contact during marriage.

In the East, candidates for the priesthood could be married with permission to have regular sexual relations with their wives, but were required to abstain before celebrating the Eucharist.

Additionally, the Christian East required that, before becoming a bishop, a priest separate from his wife (she was permitted to object), with her typically becoming a nun.

According to canon law, a parish priest or bishop, or another priest or deacon delegated by them, ordinarily performs ("assists") Holy Matrimony, but the role can be delegated to a layperson if that is impractical and the arrangements are supported by the conference of bishops and the Holy See, and in an emergency a couple can perform the ceremony themselves as long as there are two witnesses.

In the Americas and Australia, this tension led to bans on married Eastern Catholic priests, all of which were overturned by Pope Francis in 2014.

This stagnation is due to a balancing of large growth in Africa and Asia and a significant decrease in North America and Europe.