Catholicism vs Shia

Catholicism versus Shia comparison chart
	Catholicism	Shia
Place of worship	Church, chapel, cathedral, basilica.	Mosque, Imambarah or Ashurkhana, Eidgah
Clergy	Heirarchial clergy in Holy Orders Deacons, monks, nuns, Priests and Bishops, other ranks are only offices (archibshop, cardinal Pope etc. although several other offices also exist)	Imaam (divinely guided), Ayatollah, Mujtahid, Allamah, Maulana, Hojatoleslam, Sayed, Mollah (colloquial)
Marriage	Marriage is sacrament between one man and one woman. Divorce does not exist in Catholicism, but there is annulment (that the marriage was invalid to begin with) by competent church official.	Man may marry up to 4 women.
Second coming of Jesus	Affirmed.	Affirmed
Founder	Jesus Christ, St. Peter the Apostle.	The Prophet Muhammad and Ali, his son in law.
Belief of God	One God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Apostles and Nicene's Creed states beliefs	One God
Literal Meaning	catholic - from the Greek adjective καθολικός, (katholikos) meaning "general" or "universal".	party of Ali
Holy days	Sundays; Solemnity of Mary, January 1; Ascension of Jesus, May 13 — Celebrated on the sixth Thursday after Easter Sunday; Solemnity of All Saints, November 1; Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8; Christmas, December 25	Ashura, Eid al Fitr, Eid al Adha, Eid al ghadeer, Ashura, Mawlid
Population	1.33 Billion Globally	200 million
Scriptures	Holy Bible, a collection of 73 canonical books in two parts, 46 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New Testament.	The Quran
Birth of Jesus	Virgin Birth, through God.	Virgin Birth
Belief	Believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the King of Heaven, and Saviour of the entire world.	One God, and Muhammad is his prophet.
Day of worship	Worship should be a continual process in the lives of Roman Catholics. Sunday is not the only day Catholics can attend Church for Mass.	Friday.
Resurrection of Jesus	Affirmed	Denied. Jesus did not die on the cross. Jesus will come back down from heaven in the future.
Death of Jesus	Death by Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascended into Heaven	Denied. Jesus did not die on the cross, but his body went up to heaven.
View of other Abrahamic religions	According to Catholic doctrine, Catholicism is the original Christian Church. Christianity is the true religion, and Catholicism is true Christianity.	Christianity and Judaism are "People of the Book."
Use of statues	Permitted. Statues are not worshipped.	Forbidden.
Offshoot religions	Protestant denominations and many others.	Baha'i - a separate religion
Religion which atheists may still be adherents of	None. Faith is integral to Catholicism, a christian who rejects Christianity altogether is considered an Apostate. Atheism is a sin against Faith.	No.
Identity of Jesus	God Incarnate. Son of the Father. The Messiah saviour of mankind sole mediator between God and man.	Prophet.
Life after death	Eternal Salvation in Heaven; Eternal Damnation in Hell; Temporal third state before Heaven for those who desire purification, known as Purgatory.	Eternity in Heaven or Hell.
Practices	Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life, celebrate and revere Jesus' sacrifice on the cross at Mass. The celebration of seven sacraments Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Anointing of Sick, Holy Orders and Confession.	Latm, arbaeen walk.
View of other Dharmic religions	N/A	N/A
Authority of Pope	Successor of St. Peter.	N/A.
Goal of religion	To give glory to God and share Eternal Life in Him.	To love God and obey his commandments through the Progeny of the Prophet Muhammad.
Geographical distribution and predominance	Roman Catholic church is located in Vatican City, an independent City-state. Catholicism is geographically dispersed throughout the world. 69% of Catholics are located in Latin America.	Majority in Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Syria and Lebanon. Minority across the globe.
Use of statues and pictures	Crosses, statues and pictures are acceptable in Catholicism. Catholics widely use them as depictions of Christ, Mary, and the Saints.	Not permitted, although pictures permitted as long as the imams are painted respectfully.
Angels	Angels are God's messengers. Spirits seen as immortal and always praising God. They never disobey God except for Lucifer (Satan) and the angels who follow him (demons).	Angels obey God's commandments. They have limited free will, though no drive to sin.
View of the Buddha	N/A	N/A.
Position of Mary	The Queen of all Saints. View is similar to the Orthodox church - the title 'Mother of God' being used more commonly than Theotokos. In addition, it is claimed that at various points in history, Mary has revealed herself to the world in apparitions.	Mother of Jesus. Although Mary receives far more exultation from Muslims than she does from the average Protestant, Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, is venerated more than Mary, in Shia.
Authority of Dalai Lama	N/A.	N/A.
Promised Holy one.	Second Coming of Christ	Mahdi
Branches	Latin rite & Eastern rite and as of 2008 the Anglo-Catholic derivative of Latin Rite; Orthodox Christianity.	Ismaili, Druze, Seveners, Twelvers
View of other Oriental religions	N/A.	N/A.
Status of Muhammad	False Prophet.	The seal of the prophets.
View of God	Trinitarian: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.	One God.
Praying to Saints, Mary, and Angel	Allowed. They can intercede with God on your behalf.	They visit the graves of Fatimah, Ali, Husayn, and other holy men and women so that they may intercede for you.
Original Language	Ecclesiastical Latin and Greek; also Aramaic and Hebrew historically. Vernacular languages are permitted.	Arabic.
View of Animistic religions	Pagan Idolatrous.	Pagan, Idolatrous.
Denomination of which religion	Christianity	Islam
Status of Brahama	N/A	N/A

Place of worship

Church, chapel, cathedral, basilica.

Mosque, Imambarah or Ashurkhana, Eidgah

Clergy

Heirarchial clergy in Holy Orders Deacons, monks, nuns, Priests and Bishops, other ranks are only offices (archibshop, cardinal Pope etc. although several other offices also exist)

Imaam (divinely guided), Ayatollah, Mujtahid, Allamah, Maulana, Hojatoleslam, Sayed, Mollah (colloquial)

Marriage

Marriage is sacrament between one man and one woman. Divorce does not exist in Catholicism, but there is annulment (that the marriage was invalid to begin with) by competent church official.

Man may marry up to 4 women.

Second coming of Jesus

Affirmed.

Affirmed

Founder

Jesus Christ, St. Peter the Apostle.

The Prophet Muhammad and Ali, his son in law.

Belief of God

One God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Apostles and Nicene's Creed states beliefs

One God

Literal Meaning

catholic - from the Greek adjective καθολικός, (katholikos) meaning "general" or "universal".

party of Ali

Holy days

Sundays; Solemnity of Mary, January 1; Ascension of Jesus, May 13 — Celebrated on the sixth Thursday after Easter Sunday; Solemnity of All Saints, November 1; Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8; Christmas, December 25

Ashura, Eid al Fitr, Eid al Adha, Eid al ghadeer, Ashura, Mawlid

Population

1.33 Billion Globally

200 million

Scriptures

Holy Bible, a collection of 73 canonical books in two parts, 46 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New Testament.

The Quran

Birth of Jesus

Virgin Birth, through God.

Virgin Birth

Belief

Believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the King of Heaven, and Saviour of the entire world.

One God, and Muhammad is his prophet.

Day of worship

Worship should be a continual process in the lives of Roman Catholics. Sunday is not the only day Catholics can attend Church for Mass.

Friday.

Resurrection of Jesus

Affirmed

Denied. Jesus did not die on the cross. Jesus will come back down from heaven in the future.

Death of Jesus

Death by Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascended into Heaven

Denied. Jesus did not die on the cross, but his body went up to heaven.

View of other Abrahamic religions

According to Catholic doctrine, Catholicism is the original Christian Church. Christianity is the true religion, and Catholicism is true Christianity.

Christianity and Judaism are "People of the Book."

Use of statues

Permitted. Statues are not worshipped.

Forbidden.

Offshoot religions

Protestant denominations and many others.

Baha'i - a separate religion

Religion which atheists may still be adherents of

None. Faith is integral to Catholicism, a christian who rejects Christianity altogether is considered an Apostate. Atheism is a sin against Faith.

No.

Identity of Jesus

God Incarnate. Son of the Father. The Messiah saviour of mankind sole mediator between God and man.

Prophet.

Life after death

Eternal Salvation in Heaven; Eternal Damnation in Hell; Temporal third state before Heaven for those who desire purification, known as Purgatory.

Eternity in Heaven or Hell.

Practices

Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life, celebrate and revere Jesus' sacrifice on the cross at Mass. The celebration of seven sacraments Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Anointing of Sick, Holy Orders and Confession.

Latm, arbaeen walk.

View of other Dharmic religions

N/A

Authority of Pope

Successor of St. Peter.

N/A.

Goal of religion

To give glory to God and share Eternal Life in Him.

To love God and obey his commandments through the Progeny of the Prophet Muhammad.

Geographical distribution and predominance

Roman Catholic church is located in Vatican City, an independent City-state. Catholicism is geographically dispersed throughout the world. 69% of Catholics are located in Latin America.

Majority in Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Syria and Lebanon. Minority across the globe.

Use of statues and pictures

Crosses, statues and pictures are acceptable in Catholicism. Catholics widely use them as depictions of Christ, Mary, and the Saints.

Not permitted, although pictures permitted as long as the imams are painted respectfully.

Angels

Angels are God's messengers. Spirits seen as immortal and always praising God. They never disobey God except for Lucifer (Satan) and the angels who follow him (demons).

Angels obey God's commandments. They have limited free will, though no drive to sin.

View of the Buddha

N/A

N/A.

Position of Mary

The Queen of all Saints. View is similar to the Orthodox church - the title 'Mother of God' being used more commonly than Theotokos. In addition, it is claimed that at various points in history, Mary has revealed herself to the world in apparitions.

Mother of Jesus. Although Mary receives far more exultation from Muslims than she does from the average Protestant, Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, is venerated more than Mary, in Shia.

Authority of Dalai Lama

N/A.

Promised Holy one.

Second Coming of Christ

Mahdi

Branches

Latin rite & Eastern rite and as of 2008 the Anglo-Catholic derivative of Latin Rite; Orthodox Christianity.

Ismaili, Druze, Seveners, Twelvers

View of other Oriental religions

N/A.

Status of Muhammad

False Prophet.

The seal of the prophets.

View of God

Trinitarian: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One God.

Praying to Saints, Mary, and Angel

Allowed. They can intercede with God on your behalf.

They visit the graves of Fatimah, Ali, Husayn, and other holy men and women so that they may intercede for you.

Original Language

Ecclesiastical Latin and Greek; also Aramaic and Hebrew historically. Vernacular languages are permitted.

Arabic.

View of Animistic religions

Pagan Idolatrous.

Pagan, Idolatrous.

Denomination of which religion

Christianity

Islam

Status of Brahama

N/A

Catholicism vs. Shia

Comparison chart

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