Other Faiths

A popular view holds that all religions are different paths up the same mountain, teaching the same basic truths. It sounds tolerant, but it does not do justice to what the religions themselves teach. Here is how the Catholic Church sees other religions: with genuine respect, honest disagreement, and hope.

Catholics and Orthodox Christians share almost everything: the sacraments, the priesthood, the early councils, devotion to Mary and the saints. Yet they have been divided for nearly a thousand years. Here is what they share, where they differ, and why the Pope is the central question.

Some Christians insist that Allah is a different god; others say Christians and Muslims worship the same God in different ways. The Catholic Church gives a careful answer. Here is what she teaches, what Christians and Muslims share, where they profoundly differ, and how Catholics should relate to Muslims.