Catholicism’s Rise and Endurance

Catholic Christianity exploded across the ancient world because it did something revolutionary: it

welcomed everyone. While Roman religions demanded citizenship or ethnic bloodlines, the Catholic Church

opened its doors to slaves, women, and outsiders as spiritual equals.

This radical idea spread faster than any military conquest. When Emperor Constantine converted in 312

AD, everything changed. Christianity went from persecuted minority to state

religion overnight. The Church became the glue holding Western civilization together,

preserving classical knowledge through monastery libraries while empires crumbled around them.

Medieval popes crowned kings and commanded armies, wielding power that made monarchs kneel.