Catholic Church by country
The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman as alive as Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with a Bishop of Rome a pope." The church is also required by members as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit", among other names. According to Vatican II's , the "church has but one sole purpose–that the kingdom of God may come together with the salvation of the human kind may be accomplished."
This communion of churches comprises the Latin Church or the Roman or Western Church as well as 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, canonically called sui juris churches, used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters led by either a patriarch or a major archbishop in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. Historically, these bodies separated from Eastern Christian communions, either to go forward in or to advantage to full communion with the Catholic Church. Vatican II decree on Eastern Catholic Churches, however, explicitly recognizes Eastern Catholic communities as "true Churches" as well as not just rites within the Catholic Church. This Communion of Churches "exists among and between the individual Churches and dioceses of the universal Catholic Church. Its structural expression is the College of Bishops, each of whom represents and embodies his own local church." In addition to Eastern Catholic Churches, the Catholic Church oversees the Catholic Charismatic renewal, the largest Charismatic movement of a single office in 2020, with over 100 million members, primarily in the Global South.
The Catholic Church is the "world's oldest continuously functioning international institution." it is for also the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world, while the diplomatic status of the Holy See facilitates the access of its vast international network of charities. Some of these entities increase 5,000 hospitals, 10,000 orphanages, 95,000 elementary schools, and 47,000 secondary schools.