History Main / FantasticCatholicism

Compare AnimeCatholicism, which is also Catholicism meets RuleOfCool but has {{Japanese media tropes}} mixed in. Unlike AnimeCatholicism, Fantastic Catholicism is usually more accurate... at least as far as religious beliefs are concerned if not elsewhere, the main characters are often in their thirties and older and there isn't a particular amount of emphasis on good looking characters. FantasticCatholicism may also be mixed with social commentary on the church while AnimeCatholicism almost never is.

Enter FantasticCatholicism, wherein creators spice up TheChurch with fantastic elements, making it out to be the coolest, most badass organization around. Most typical of {{Fantasy}}, ScienceFiction and AlternateHistory, this trope applies the RuleOfCool to that fusty old Catholic Church, coming out with a Holy Grail full of awesome. See also ChristianityIsCatholic for when it's not ''explicitly'' stated to be Catholic, but uses elements unique to Catholicism anyways. Compare CrystalDragonJesus, where a fantasy universe features a religion with superficially Christian ([[ChristianityIsCatholic usually Catholic]]) trappings. Supertrope to AnimeCatholicism.

Compare AnimeCatholicism, which is also Catholicism meets RuleOfCool but has {{Japanese media tropes}} mixed in. Unlike AnimeCatholicism, FantasticCatholicism is usually more accurate... at least as far as religious beliefs are concerned if not elsewhere, the main characters are often in their thirties and older and there isn't a particular amount of emphasis on good looking characters. FantasticCatholicism may also be mixed with social commentary on the church while AnimeCatholicism almost never is.

* Brother Theo and his group of Cistercian monks working on Series/BabylonFive are very tech savvy. This is an important plot point in several episodes as they help identify saboteurs and conduct espionage against the fascist EarthGov.

* ''SandmanSlim'' by Rihcard Kadrey features prevalently a secret organization funded and run by the church, which has a crazy Angel at the head of it. They are in on TheMasquerade and fight demons and other people who piss them off.

* SisterClaire lives in a nunnery that knows that God's supernatural power has been invested in the world, can be used for various purposes like kung-fu, or misused by witches. We don't talk about the psychic twin nuns.

* The French comic ''ComicBook/{{666}}'' combines just about all the subtropes along with a healthy does of AmericaWinsTheWar. When Hell invades, it falls to an [[EagleLand all-American]] BadassPreacher to save the world using holy relics, ridiculously large guns (and a combination thereof), and ''nuking Hell'' isn't even the endpoint of the series.

* An background plot point in Netflix's ''Series/AlteredCarbon'' live-action adaptation (and the original book) is the Neo-Catholics, who believe that having their Cortical Stack "re-spun" (and thus be resurrected if killed) is a sin and affront to God (FinalDeath should be just that, followed by eternal judgment or reward of your soul) and thus refuse this kind of treatment and consider people who have used it to be TheSoulless (and understandably, with the ubiquitousness of BodySurfing on the setting, people believe them to be crazy kooks). This plot point becomes increasingly important as the story goes on.

** Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (more commonly known as {{the Knights Hospitallers}})

** Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (more commonly known as UsefulNotes/{{the Knights Templar}})
** Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem (more commonly called UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}})

* Brother Theo and his group of Cistercian monks working on BabylonFive are very tech savvy. This is an important plot point in several episodes as they help identify saboteurs and conduct espionage against the fascist EarthGov.

* In the ''Literature/HeirsOfAlexandria'' HistoricalFantasy series, priests and nuns can be magicians, and the Church apparently includes some non-humans, with one Venetian church having a "water chapel" for undines. This is all [[TheMasquerade hidden from most ordinary folk]], though.

-> Often the Church will fight and destroy all manner of unholy creatures (or creatures they have deemed as such), either overtly, or covertly in a MildlyMilitary sub-organization of the church. Demons, Vampires, Werewolves and ravenous spirits seem to be the most popular villains, but when the Church is fighting Fey creatures, witches and other things that are nice or cute, then it's a sign they are being portrayed as {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s or KnightTemplar types. See: ChurchMilitant.

* The Catholic Church is also one of the few Christian faiths that still trains exorcists, so movies such as TheExorcist are rather TruthInTelevision. In the rare cases that a priest from another faith tradition believes that someone is under DemonicPossession (not unknown, but ''vanishingly'' rare - and a subject of controversy as to whether it's real at all - in RealLife), they'll ask the nearest Catholic priest for help. That priest, however, will refer the person to the local Bishop or Archbishop, who then will demand a battery of physical and psychological tests to exclude any illness that would produce similar effects to a possession. It is only after that, having exhausted any possible temporal causes, that the person will be allowed to see one of the Church's trained exorcists.

* The French comic ''{{ComicBook/666}}'' combines just about all the subtropes along with a healthy does of AmericaWinsTheWar. When Hell invades, it falls to an [[EagleLand all-American]] BadassPreacher to save the world using holy relics, ridiculously large guns (and a combination thereof), and ''nuking Hell'' isn't even the endpoint of the series.

** That does not include the growing Pentecostal/Charismatic movements whose explicit distinctions involve literal beliefs in miracles and the supernatural, with many running "Deliverance Ministries" for the dual purpose of expelling demons from an individual and bringing that individual to Christ.

->Far from just praying and allowing circumstances and the Holy Spirit to guide them in determining God's will, this Church need do nothing so roundabout. Angels, Saints, even Jesus himself may routinely materialize before clergy or certain people, and try to guide them on the right path or act as mentors or {{Guardian Angel}}s. God probably won't show up, but the Big Man will definitely be mentioned by beings who know him personally and act as his messengers.

* DanBrown features the church involved in intrigue and conspiracies:

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' is a Catholic demon-hunter who uses guns and magic to send demons back to hell in a world where {{God}} and the Devil are in a bet over who can influence mankind the most. Roger Ebert on the movie:

* The French comic ''{{ComoicBook/666}}'' combines just about all the subtropes along with a healthy does of AmericaWinsTheWar. When Hell invades, it falls to an [[EagleLand all-American]] BadassPreacher to save the world using holy relics, ridiculously large guns (and a combination thereof), and ''nuking Hell'' isn't even the endpoint of the series.

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* ''Film/{{Priest 2011}}'' is an example of badass church priests. The church is pretty much the controlling government and the only people shown are the downtrodden, voluntary exiles, the priests, cops controlled by the church and the controlling priests (magisters). (Also, the {{Manhwa}} it is based off of).
** Priest. Where the New Testament never happened. Remarkably, this point could be made of most Orwellian depictions of the Church.
* ''Film/VanHelsing'' - The title character works as an agent of the Vatican's Knights of the Holy Order (who are ''not'' all Catholic; there are also Muslim and Buddhist clerics shown in the Order's HQ) to hunt down monsters and other abominations. He might also be an AngelUnaware.
* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' is a Catholic demon-hunter who uses guns and magic to send demons back to hell in a world where {{God}} and the Devil are in a bet over who can influence mankind the most. Roger Ebert (on the movie ''Constantine''):
-->Why do movies about {{Satan}} always have Catholics? You never see Methodists or Episcopalians putting down demons.
* Roger Ebert [on the movie ''Film/JohnCarpentersVampires'']
-->When it comes to fighting vampires and performing exorcisms, the Roman Catholic Church has the heavy artillery. Your other religions are good for everyday theological tasks, like steering their members into heaven, but when the undead lunge up out of their graves, you want a priest on the case. As a product of Catholic schools, I take a certain pride in this pre-eminence.
** Additionally, of course, when dealing with vampires the cross is the holy symbol of preference. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Or not]].

* In ''ArsMagica'', the Catholic Church's authority over medieval Europe is called The Dominion, and stifles the power of demons, faeries and Hermetic wizards. The devout have a chance of calling on a miracle as well.

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[[folder:Web Originals]]

* In the WhateleyUniverse, the Roman Catholic Church runs a small group (the 'Roses and Thorns') who actively fight demons, dark mages, and such.

* "The Special Clergy" from ''LucyTheDaughterOfTheDevil''.

** Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (more commonly known as {{the Knights Templar}})
** Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem (more commonly called {{the Teutonic Knights}})

* Katherine Kurtz's ''{{Deryni}}'' novels. Despite lacking the Papacy, the Western Church is Catholic in liturgy, there's intrigue (sometimes against secular rulers), psionic magic users and fights against them, even powerful summoned beings called by the names of archangels (and most participants think they are in fact Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel). They don't call their church Catholic, in part because the books are alternative histories set several centuries before Protestantism, and there is Eastern Orthodoxy (mostly in Torenth), Islam, and even Scandinavian paganism in a tiny minority. Most of the action is in the West. In the "Camber" trilogy, you'll find the Michaelines (Order of Saint Michael the Archangel), a fearsome combination of the Templars and the Jesuits, with many members who can use magic. Oh, and many active characters/protagonists are in their 30s and 40s.

* In the ''HeirsOfAlexandria'' HistoricalFantasy series, priests and nuns can be magicians, and the Church apparently includes some non-humans, with one Venetian church having a "water chapel" for undines. This is all [[TheMasquerade hidden from most ordinary folk]], though.
* SergeyLukyanenko

->The Church has a lot of gun-toting, sword-swinging, kung fu fighting Badasses. Maybe they are part of that magic fighting organization mentioned earlier, but if not then they may be out to punish sinners, fight for the glory of the church and otherwise protect people, or get rid of heretics. These badasses usually work as lone warriors or small groups, and may be part of a higher order or sub-organization in the church, which may be either overt or covert.

* The Church of Abel in ''TabletopGame/{{Anima Beyond Fantasy}}'', even if its central figure is a CrystalDragonJesus, has many elements of both real Catholicism and fantastic one as described in this trope, such as organization, dogma (parts of it at least), prosecution of the supernatural, use of magic -considered a gift of God-, and being the most powerful (visible) organization of the game's setting. It has, too, some AnimeCatholicism mixed in.