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45,000 Christian Denominations: Which One Is Right (If Any)?
During my research, I wanted to know how many Christian denominations there were. I expected maybe a hundred or something, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out that there are over 45 thousand Christian denominations!! Here’s a graphic of the main branches.
Here’s a Wiki on this subject with data on how many people belong to each denomination world-wide.
The largest denomination of them all is the Catholic church at 50 percent, and the largest denomination within this is the Latin Church or the Roman Catholic Church at 1.2 billion members.
To quote from this wiki:
“The Catholic Church teaches that its bishops are the successors of Jesus’ apostles, and that the Pope is the successor to Saint Peter upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ.[5]”
“The Keys of Heaven refers to the image of crossed keys used in ecclesiastical heraldry, to represent the metaphorical keys of the office of Saint Peter, the keys of Heaven, or the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. It is explicitly referenced in the Bible in Matthew 16:19.”
So, at least they are saying these are metaphorical keys to heaven and not actual keys to heaven. I had not heard of the pallium before. I will find that out next. Google found this next quote from Britannica:
“pallium, liturgical vestment worn over the chasuble by the pope, archbishops, and some bishops in the Roman Catholic church. It is bestowed by the pope on archbishops and bishops having metropolitan jurisdiction as a symbol of their participation in papal authority.”
