ritus
Rite (Latin and Eastern)
A liturgical and spiritual tradition within the one Catholic Church — the Roman Rite is the largest, alongside Byzantine, Maronite, Chaldean, Coptic and other Eastern traditions, all equally Catholic and in communion with the pope.
a religious custom or usage
The Catholic Church is not only the Roman Catholic Church. Around the Roman rite that most Western Catholics know, there are some two dozen Eastern Catholic Churches — Ukrainian, Melkite, Maronite, Syro-Malabar, Chaldean, Coptic and more — each with its own liturgy, law, theology and spiritual heritage, all in full communion with Rome. The Catechism says the mystery of Christ is so rich that it cannot be exhausted by any single liturgical tradition, and that these traditions are of equal dignity. A Latin Catholic may attend their liturgies and receive Communion from their Catholic ministers. “Rite” also means a particular ceremony, as in “the rite of Baptism.”
Councils
Where the Church settled or debated this. Follow a council to read our article on it, or the decrees themselves.
- 1431–1445Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florencethe decrees
- 1962–1965Second Vatican Councilthe decrees
Sources
Church teaching
- Orientalium EcclesiarumSecond Vatican Council, decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum (21 November 1964), nn. 1–6, on the Eastern Catholic Churches and the equal dignity of their rites.
Sources checked 29 September 2026