Originally Posted by Guy_Person

The historical basis of the catholics is the apostolic communion, (that christ's presence is passed down by blessing from Jesus to Peter and the apostles and to bishops and then the bishops coverged in Nicea and created the concept of the Pope, for those who don't know). Well, that's all well and nice, but it doesn't really mean anything. The various groups of christians--coptics, cathars, gnostics, and several others that i just plain old don't know the name of--were who Paul wrote the epistles to well before the catholic church formed. Many of them got stamped out after the Romans went Christian becuase they did not believe in everything contained in the Nicean Creed.