Q 01/05

How many sacraments does the Catholic Church recognise?

A) Two

B) Seven

C) Fifteen

D) Thirty

Answer · why

B) Seven

Seven: the Council of Trent declared anathema anyone who said the sacraments were more or fewer than seven.

Q 02/05

In which Catholic sacrament do people confess their sins to a priest?

A) Confirmation

B) Penance

C) Baptism

D) Holy Orders

Answer · why

B) Penance

Penance comes with the seal of confession, a secrecy that admits no exceptions, so a priest who directly breaks it is automatically excommunicated.

Q 03/05

Which Dominican friar wrote the Summa Theologiae?

A) Albertus Magnus

B) Thomas Aquinas

C) Bonaventure

D) Duns Scotus

Answer · why

B) Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas left it unfinished: after a reported mystical experience at Mass in December 1273, he stopped writing, calling his work of little worth...

Q 04/05

In the Rosary, what is each group of Hail Marys said after an Our Father called?

A) A station

B) A novena

C) A chaplet

D) A decade

Answer · why

D) A decade

A decade is ten Hail Marys, and the traditional Rosary's 150 Hail Marys probably grew up as a substitute for the 150 psalms that monks recited.

Q 05/05

Which pope added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary in 2002?

A) John Paul II

B) Francis

C) Benedict XVI

D) Paul VI

Answer · why

A) John Paul II

John Paul II added them to cover Jesus's public life, from his baptism to the institution of the Eucharist, which the older mysteries passed over.