Western Church

The Latin Church is part of the Catholic Church. It is described as an autonomous or sui iuris particular church. There are several such autonomous particular churches within the Catholic Church. Other examples are the Maronite Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. They differ from each other in liturgy (ceremonies, vestments, chants, language), devotional traditions, theology, canon law, and pastors (even if in the same territory as another), but they all hold the same faith, and all see union with the bishop of Rome, the pope, as essential to being a Catholic.

Western Christianity consists of the particular Latin Church of the Catholic Church, and since the Reformation in the 16th century also a variety of Protestant denominations with origins in the former one in Europe.