Catholic Trivia
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100 free Catholic trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
15 free Catholic trivia questions with answers. Catholic trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is Catholic Church trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many sacraments does the Catholic Church recognise?
Seven
Peter Lombard drew up the list, and the Fourth Council of the Lateran confirmed it in 1215.
Q 02What is the name of the closed assembly in which the College of Cardinals elects a new pope?
Conclave
Conclave comes from the Latin cum clave, 'with a key': Gregory X decreed in 1274 that the cardinal electors be locked away until they had chosen a pope.
Q 03During a papal election, what colour of smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney announces a pope has been chosen?
White
Ballots are burned after each vote. Black smoke means the ballot failed; white smoke means the Church has a new pope.
Q 04Cardinals lose the right to vote in a papal conclave once they pass which birthday?
80
Paul VI's 1970 document Ingravescentem aetatem barred cardinals who have turned 80 from voting in a conclave. They keep their rank and remain eligible for election themselves, but they cannot cast a ballot.
Q 05Which Rome church, rather than St Peter's, holds the Bishop of Rome's chair and ranks as his cathedral?
The Archbasilica of St John Lateran
The Lateran archbasilica houses the cathedra of the Roman bishop and carries the title of mother church of the Catholic faithful. St Peter's is the papal basilica in Vatican City, but it is not the cathedral.
Q 06The Second Vatican Council opened in 1962; when did it close?
1965
The council ran from 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1965, spanning the pontificates of John XXIII and Paul VI.
Q 07Who painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512?
Michelangelo
Botticelli was among the artists who had painted the chapel's walls in the late 15th century, but the ceiling fresco is Michelangelo's.
Q 08The Vulgate, largely the work of St Jerome, translated the Bible into which language?
Latin
Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to revise the older Latin gospels, and the resulting late-4th-century version became the Vulgate.
Q 09Which saint, whose 4 October feast day became World Animal Day, is invoked at ceremonies blessing animals?
Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi's feast day, 4 October, draws blessing-of-the-animals services, and the date has since been adopted as World Animal Day.
Q 10In the Rosary, what is the name for a set of ten Hail Marys?
A decade
Each group of ten Hail Marys is a decade, preceded by an Our Father and traditionally followed by a Glory Be.
Q 11In Western churches, which day marks the start of Lent?
Ash Wednesday
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and runs roughly six weeks. Maundy Thursday and Palm Sunday fall near its end, not its beginning.
Q 12Which corps, established in 1506 under Pope Julius II and called 'the world's smallest army', protects the pope?
The Swiss Guard
The Swiss Guard dates from 22 January 1506, when Julius II welcomed 150 Swiss mercenaries into Rome; it guards the pope and the Apostolic Palace and is one of the oldest military units in continuous existence.
Q 13Who wrote the Summa Theologiae?
Thomas Aquinas
Q 21How many countries did John Paul II visit during his pontificate?
129
John Paul II made 104 trips outside Italy between 1979 and 2004, visiting 129 countries.
Q 22When Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, he became the first pope to do so since which predecessor in 1415?
Gregory XII
Gregory XII resigned in 1415 at the Council of Constance to help end the Western Schism; Benedict XVI's 2013 abdication was the first since then, and he took the title pope emeritus.
Q 23What share of cardinal electors' votes is needed to elect a pope?
Two-thirds
A two-thirds majority of the cardinal electors is required. Benedict XVI restored that rule in 2007 after John Paul II had allowed a simple majority once a conclave deadlocked.
Aquinas began the work at Santa Sabina and left it unfinished; it is dated 1265-1274 and was intended as a guide for beginning students of theology.
Q 14Papal infallibility was defined as dogma in 1870 at which gathering?
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council, convened by Pius IX, defined papal infallibility on 18 July 1870 in the constitution Pastor aeternus.
Q 15Who does the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception say was preserved free of original sin?
The Virgin Mary
The doctrine is regularly confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, but it concerns Mary's own conception.
Q 16The Catholic Church comprises the Latin Church and how many Eastern Catholic Churches?
23
There are 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome, each with its own hierarchy and rite; the largest are the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and India's Syro-Malabar Church.
Q 17Vatican City became an independent state in 1929 through the Lateran Treaty, signed with which country?
Italy
Italy, then a kingdom under Victor Emmanuel III, signed the Lateran Treaty with the Holy See on 11 February 1929, recognising Vatican City as a sovereign state.
Q 18Between the fall of the Papal States in 1870 and 1929, the pope's unresolved status was known as what?
The Roman Question
The Roman Question was the dispute over papal sovereignty after Italy seized Rome in 1870; each pope styled himself a 'prisoner in the Vatican' until the 1929 Lateran Treaty, signed for Italy by Mussolini, settled it.
Q 19Pope Francis was the first pope from which religious order?
The Jesuits
The Jesuits had never produced a pope before Francis, who was also the first born outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III in the 8th century.
Q 20Pope Leo XIV, elected in 2025, is the first pope born in which country?
United States
Robert Prevost, born in Chicago in 1955, is the first pope from the United States; elected on 8 May 2025, he took the name Leo XIV.
Q 24Which pope set the maximum number of cardinal electors at 120 in 1975?
Paul VI
Paul VI capped the electors at 120 in the 1975 constitution Romano Pontifici eligendo, having already barred cardinals over 80 from voting; later popes have exceeded the cap at times.
Q 25Construction of the present St Peter's Basilica began in 1506 and was completed in which year?
1626
Urban VIII consecrated the new St Peter's on 18 November 1626, 120 years after Julius II laid the foundation stone; Bramante, Michelangelo and Maderno were its principal architects.
Q 26Which Roman emperor built the original St Peter's Basilica in the fourth century?
Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great began Old St Peter's around 320 over the apostle's traditional tomb; that basilica stood for more than a thousand years before the Renaissance rebuild.
Q 27Which two sacraments are classed as the 'sacraments of healing'?
Penance and anointing of the sick
The Catechism groups penance and anointing of the sick as the sacraments of healing; baptism, confirmation and Eucharist are the sacraments of initiation, and holy orders and matrimony the sacraments of service.
Q 28The word transubstantiated first appeared in a conciliar decree in 1215, at which gathering?
The Fourth Lateran Council
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, under Innocent III, used 'transubstantiated' in its first canon; the doctrine holds that the substance of bread and wine changes while the appearances remain.
Q 29In how many sessions did the Council of Trent meet between 1545 and 1563?
25
Trent met in 25 sessions across three periods, 1545-47, 1551-52 and 1562-63, and its closing decrees were signed by 255 members in December 1563.
Q 30The 'devil's advocate' who argues against a canonisation is the popular name for which Vatican office, created in 1587?
Promoter of the Faith
The Promoter of the Faith was established by Sixtus V; John Paul II sharply reduced its power in 1983, and it survives as the Prelate Theologian.