The time before the Catholic Space Empire is fractured with only pivotal events with a little bit of the surrounding context being known. Some of the history was lost to conflict, forgotten, or simply disposed of if it didn't seem important. The Ecclesia Aeternam is known to have vast libraries filled with knowledge of the past and history for all to say though some from other empires say that the history that the Church tells is either inaccurate or false. This has been what other religions have said about the Church for ages with both sides either correcting or destroying the other's version of history. This timeline is a summary of events given by the Ecclesia Aeternam.
Establishment of the Ecclesia Aeternam: 1RCC - 150RCC
Humanity has established itself across many galaxies and planets. Despite the advancement in tech and medicine, they still continue to wage wars against each other and worship old idols with new names. This has angered Pope Peter XX who thought that the opportunity for space travel and discovery would make mankind work for a common goal, but instead, it did the opposite. People became greedy over resources and planets and did whatever they could to have all the glory and riches the universe had in store. With the power at his disposal, Pope Peter XX encouraged his faithful to act. Many Catholics were in positions of power at this time and were able to sway the people under them to convert especially since most Catholics lived in the original galaxy humanity came from. They were so numerous that they were the majority in the Milky Way galaxy. Because of this, Earth was converted within a month, the moon was converted a week after that, and Mars was converted a month after that.
The Church now had an army, resources, space ships, and the attention of other empires. Empires from other galaxies wanted to make an example of the Church since the Catholics within their galaxy were starting to move away or rise up and convert others to the true faith. Each one of the empires launched attacks on the Milky Way galaxy only to be thwarted. Despite having more advanced tech because of their resources, every empire that fought the Church fell. While the Church was conquering the galaxies of enemy empires, other faiths rose up against the weakened empires that controlled their galaxies and created their own. Soon after, the secular and heathen empires were brought to ruin. The remnants of these empires fled to faraway unknown galaxies and planets to settle there.
This marks the start of the Reign of Christ's Church era. The peace that the Church won doesn't last long as empires of other faiths start attacking it when they refuse to convert. Pope Peter XX isn't disturbed or surprised by this and promptly counterattacks while making plans for the future. He later dies at the age of two-hundred and two. His bishops didn't notice at first when he died since he appeared to be alive while he was sitting in his chair that overlooked St. Peter's square. Later, he is entombed in a glass coffin sitting up with his hands in prayer. Pope Fortier II takes over shortly after and follows Pope Peter XX's suggestions for the future, but later relaxes the Church's aggressive nature towards the other empires because of their willingness to trade and their many gifts that they send the Church.
Over Confidence and Inactivity: 151RCC - 253RCC
The events of Freedom At What Cost take place because of how lazy the leadership of the Catholic planets has become. Besides the internal struggles, trade is good between Ecclesia Aeternam and the other empires. What isn't good is that the empire looks weak compared to what it once was not too long ago. Under Pope Fortier II, some crimes have gone unpunished not only within the Church, but he has also let the other empires take the better end of their trade agreements with the excuse that the Church has taken enough from them. There may be relative peace in the galaxy, but there are rising tensions. Catholics are discriminated against on planets they don't own and are the frequent target of pirates, criminals, and bounty hunters hired by the people of other empires.
This tension reaches a breaking point when the pope is accidentally the target of a group of bounty hunters. He was flying a simple space ship and not the one given to him since he wanted to appear humble. The small group of guards he had with him is killed and the bounty hunters bring Pope Fortier II to the people that hired them since they didn't know what to do. With the pope in their possession, the Jewish Empire saw a golden opportunity to further take advantage of the Church and strike a deadly blow to her. They wanted to make her fear and fall apart and with the public execution of the pope. The execution of the pope takes place on the public broadcasting channel available across the galaxy. Before his execution, Pope Fortier II apologizes for causing so much trouble for the faithful. His head was then blown off and the new trade terms were being given. This was going to be a deadly blow to the Church, but what most people forget is that the Church is strongest when it is persecuted and seemingly dead.
Unbreakable Wall: 253 RCC - 380RCC
While the Church is deciding on who to make the new pope, they are losing planets and galaxies, and before they know it, they are being attacked by various empires who want to take advantage of the weak Church. The Orthodox Empire is so bold in its attack of the Church that it launch an assault on the Milky Way Galaxy. They get past the defenses of other planets and go straight for Earth. To show that they are the true church of Christ, they launch a missile at the statue of Pope St. Peter XX. A miraculous event happens as the statue and everything and everyone around it are unharmed. Instead, a missile blows up on the attacking ship blowing it up from the inside. The faith and strength of Pope St. Peter XX seem to burst from the statue as the Church's fighting spirit is reignited in the faithful, especially the new pope, Pope Ferrum who makes an invigorating speech. The Orthodox Empire is then driving from the Milky Way Galaxy within days when it was thought that they would be at war for at least a month.
Pope Ferrum encourages the faithful to pray all the mysteries of the rosary among other practices to ensure the Church's victory. From there, the Church seemed to win every battle she fought with a few minor defeats here and there. A mystic of the time receives a vision from the Blessed Virgin Mary who says that because of all the rosaries being said, she will guarantee the Church victory, and also mentions that this is the most rosaries she's ever heard said. No more is the Church and her faithful taken advantage of. Her enemies are executed and those who remain have to pay their fair share in the damage they did to her. The Church gains control over what she lost and more. Wars are still being fought as the other empires refuse to lose and even form alliances, but it is all for nothing as they never manage to get the foothold they once had.
Near the end of this era, Pope Ferrum died of natural causes while in the adoration chapel praying a rosary. He is entombed just like Pope St. Peter XX and put next to him. The body of Pope Fortier is brought back to Earth and he is given a proper funeral and respected for his apology, mercy, and effort in trying to make the universe peaceful. Pope Kanja takes over where Pope Ferrum left off and keeps the pressure on the other empires as the great man before him.
War and Peace: 381RCC - 549RCC
Not wanting to be made fools of, the enemies of the Ecclesia Aeternam go back to their tactic of pretending to want peace while infiltrating the Church with their lies. Pope Kanja is quick to act against them and wages an undeclared war against its infiltrators, traitors, and the outside threats. Because of this, small wars take place for territory, influence, revenge, and justice. The events of Good vs Right take place as this a time of passive-aggressive and aggressive action. There are small periods of peace and war to the point that the populations of all empires can't keep track of them all and the reasons behind them. It is assumed that war and conflict are the norm. It is even said that this is a time of pseudo-peace since there are no large scale wars going on.
Meanwhile, Pope Kanja and the faithful under him stay vigilant and fight their many foes and try to keep their steady stream of progress going. Hundreds of billions of rosaries are continuously said throughout the Ecclesia Aeternam as more and more planets fall to them. Because of the Church's ever-growing progress while the other empire decay, a secret alliance is formed between the several enemies of the Church. This alliance is formed by Protestants, the Orthodox, Jews, and people of other faiths from the unknown regions. As Pope Kanja passes away and Pope Dolce V takes his place, they see their opportunity to strike.
Pope Dolce V is a kind and gentle man despite being so large and his history as a field medic. Blessed Archibishop Cadmen is credited as one of his influences in the way he thinks and acts. Another influence is the death of his childhood friend, Onoro, who sacrificed himself to save him from criminals when they were still children. This event made Pope Dolce V focus on caring for orphaned children, children's education, and law enforcement. His focus on these things has made other crimes and corruption slip by. It also allows the alliance to act without worrying too much and gather what they need to attempt to assassinate the pope.
At this point, the events of Infinitus Anathema start. This assassination takes place when the pope visits an orphanage named after Onoro. Most of the assassins take over the orphanage in secret and rig it with explosives while a small detachment tries to assassinate the pope by themselves. Even though they fail and are captured by the authorities, the pope still falls into the trap set by the alliance though he is not killed in the explosion. Instead, all the orphans and staff are killed. Despite this attempt, the assassins who were captured aren't executed nor does the pope declare war on the alliance. Instead, he tries to be merciful to them and tries to publicly broadcast this message of mercy, but is then shot in the face by a sniper in a far away building. His helmet protects him and he quickly changes his papal staff into a sniper and takes out his assassin by himself. The people around him were panicking and the guards were trying to get him to safety, however, Pope Dolce V wanted to continue the broadcast with a different message. A message of war. A message that immediately ended this era.
Gentle Extermination: 549RCC - 700RCC
Pope Dolce V was already tired of the wars and crimes going on in the universe and the assassination attempt on his life and the destruction of the orphanage dedicated to his friend pushes him over the edge. He publicly declares that everyone who isn't submitted to God and His Holy Church is infinitely cursed. They must either submit or face execution. To show that he's serious about this, he executes the assassins that came after him and their co-conspirators. He then warns his enemies that their planets will face immediate destruction if they don't submit the next day. His message isn't taken seriously and because no empire submits themselves to the Church, he sends out specially armed space ships with a small escort to thirty planets and put them in a Purgatorial state that eradicates all life on the planets while also craving the face of Jesus or the cross with Jesus on it on the planets. This attack couldn't be countered and even the planetary defenses and groups of defense ships were destroyed by these ships and their few escorts. The fire that these ships rained down pierced through everything in its path and everything around it.
This is just the start of what is known as the Gentle Extermination by non-Catholics and Catholics alike as the Ecclesia Aeternam is on a relentless assault. Whoever refuses to convert is executed. The enemies of the Church try their best to fight back only to be crushed or win a small victory only to lose their winnings and more the next day if not the next hour. Civilians and soldiers alike start converting out of fear of the Church and fleeing their empires. With so many losses happening consistently across the many years, the other empires are forced far into the unknown regions of the galaxy where they struggle to find shelter. The Ecclesia Aeternam has essentially conquered the universe with every galaxy and planet bowing before God and His Church. Remnants of the other empires and heretics are constantly hunted down if they haven't fled while special groups within the Church hunt down and capture survivors of their enemies in the unknown regions while also keeping an eye on them.
Finally, peace is established in the universe. Pope Dolce V works with the construction workers and laborers to build back destroyed orphanages and schools in penance for the sins of his enemies, the sins of the Church, and any sins he might've committed through this war. When Pope Dolce V passes away, it's in the garden in the orphanage dedicated to his childhood friend. It is said that flowers were growing around him and still grow around him near his grave. Pope Extollo III takes his place and continues in his predecessor's ways. The known universe may be at peace, but in the unknown regions, the enemies of the Church make their next plot as they always do. This is where the book, Unholy Terrors From Beyond, starts.
Stability and Order: 701RCC - 1000RCC
This is an era of relative peace when the events of Far From Faith take place. Despite having control of the known galaxy, the Church still has battles to fight within. Petty politics and useless debates about Church teachings weigh down the Church's attention in caring for their own and the possible threat from the unknown regions. Groups of the Church continue to explore the depths of unknown space to find mostly inhospitable planets, shattered remnants of dead empires, and hostile wildlife. There is even a planet that is a living organism that the Cleaners destroy. Technology continues to advance in complexity along with discoveries in medicine though it seems that the advances will reach a dead end as the newly discovered materials in the unknown regions are mostly unusable or too toxic to be used for anything good.
Pope Extollo III continues the hard work of his predecessor and Pope Fèngxiàn II continues to do the same but doesn't continue the practice of immediately executing heretics and heathens who refuse to submit to the Church. Instead, they are sent to jail to be evangelized and if they prove to be loyal to the Church, they are allowed to live as normal citizens. This stirs up controversy and further divides the faithful even though the opposing side begrudgingly accepts this new ruling. From there, Pope Chaleureux IV takes over. By this time, the infighting of the Church has gotten worse despite the pope's best efforts to calm them down. One side wants to be more gentle on the non-Catholics while the other side wants them either executed, in jail, or put on their own planet. Meanwhile, the remnants of the other empires have formed one alliance and have people within the Church to spread their lies and cause more infighting.
War in Heaven: 1001RCC - 1200RCC
Infighting within the Church reaches a boiling point and one side separates itself from the other. The Fidelis ad Dogma are the traditionalists who want every heathen, heretic, and traitor to the Church executed if they haven't yet repented while the Fidelium in Ecclesia want to be more merciful and open to them while still educating the non-Catholics to convert. Pope Chaleureux IV takes the side of the Fidelium in Ecclesia and because of this, he is declared an anti-pope by the Fidelis ad Dogma and they elect their own pope who is called Pope Arcanus. The Dogmatists are the first to strike and the Ecclesia are forced to retaliate. Both sides fight and pray against the other in a back and forth war that dominates the majority of this era. The book War in the Divine Family begins here and ends in the next era.
Because of the civil war, crime increases along with the influence of the alliance from the unknown regions. The Church's enemies from the outside steal precious resources and convert stray souls to their cause while the faithful are busy killing and discriminating against each other. After years of fighting, Pope Chaleureux IV challenges Pope Arcanus to a duel of swords that he wins. Because of this defeat, the Dogmatists are forced to submit back to the Church and do penance for their rebellion. Pope Chaleureux IV passes away shortly after and his successor, Pope Venganza V takes his place and continues where his predecessor left off. As the Church licks its self-inflicted wounds, the alliance from the unknown regions mobilizes its forces.
Judgment: 1200RCC
Knowing the Ecclesia Aeternam's weakness and their ability to rally and come back from defeat, the alliance from the unknown regions does something unexpected. Using unstable technology that can only be made using materials from the unknown regions, the alliance sends out various suicide ships with a small escort that explode themselves into the suns of galaxies to wipe it out in its entirety. This happens for every galaxy that the Church owns as untold numbers of people are wiped out in a single instant. By the time the Church catches on to what is happening, the Milky Way Galaxy is the only one left and is under siege by the entire population of the alliance. It is announced to Church what has been done and that they should submit to the alliance or face death.
Most of the faithful are in a panic, but Pope Vengaza V reassures them that God has not yet abandoned them and rallies them to fight back. Everything that the Church has left is deployed. Everyone who can fight joins in the battle while those unable to fight pray their rosaries instead. The resulting battle is one that is devastating to both sides. It seems that the alliance might be getting ahead once they start deploying their planet-killing weapons inspired by the same ones the Church used to put planets in a Purgatorial state. To counter this, the Church reveals its special defense of mechs that rise from the churches in the ground. The mechs unleash their barrage of lasers and missiles on the ground forces and the ships above as choirs sing hymns of praise to God. What happens is mutual destruction as both the Church's forces and the forces of the alliance are destroyed, however, the people on earth are still alive. The other planets in the Milky Way Galaxy are inhabitable now because of the damage done to them. All the futuristic technology that humanity has enjoyed is destroyed and beyond repair. The age of the future is over as humanity to confined to living on Earth again. Despite this, the faithful raise their voice in prayer and praise to give thanks to God.
"Veritas Aeterna! Catholicism est ut Aeternum! Truth is eternal! Catholicism is eternal! Praise and glory be to God for all eternity!"
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