Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free Catholicism trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Catholicism is the faith of well over a billion people, organised into 24 autonomous churches under the bishop of Rome, with a calendar, a vocabulary and a set of rules that reward anyone who pays attention. It is also where a surprising amount of general knowledge lives: why conclaves are locked, why the Vatican has no taxes, why ashes come from last year's palms, and how a phrase like ex cathedra ends up in an argument about football referees. These 50 questions cover belief and practice rather than church politics. You will meet the seven sacraments and the council that fixed them, transubstantiation and the Fourth Lateran, the four Marian dogmas and the popes who defined them, the Rosary and the Luminous Mysteries added in 2002, Lent, Advent and Ash Wednesday, the seven deadly sins, the steps from Servant of God to saint, and the shrines at Lourdes and Guadalupe. The popes appear too: John Paul II and the 1981 shooting, Benedict XVI's resignation, Francis the first Jesuit, and Leo XIV from Chicago. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many sacraments does the Catholic Church recognise?
Seven
They are grouped as initiation, healing and service, and the list was confirmed at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.
Q 02The pope is held to be the successor of which apostle?
Peter
Catholic teaching says Jesus gave him the Keys of Heaven and named him the rock on which the Church would be built.
Q 03Which 1215 gathering confirmed the list of seven sacraments?
Fourth Lateran Council
Peter Lombard had set the seven out in his Sentences; Florence and Trent later reaffirmed them.
Q 04In the Rosary, each set of ten Hail Marys is called what?
A decade
Five of them are usually prayed in one session, each paired with a mystery from the life of Christ or Mary.
Q 05Which pope added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary in 2002?
John Paul II
That brought the total to 20 mysteries, with the new set prayed on Thursdays.
Q 06What does the Church call the change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ?
Transubstantiation
The term was used by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and is not tied to any particular metaphysics.
Q 07Latin-rite Catholics must fast from food and drink for how long before Communion?
One hour
Water and medicine are excepted; Eastern Catholics generally keep a longer fast.
Q 08The word Eucharist comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Thanksgiving
The Gospels describe Jesus giving thanks over the bread and cup at the Last Supper.
Q 09The English word 'Mass' most likely derives from which Latin dismissal formula?
Ite, missa est
The Latin missa was in use by the sixth century and entered Old English as maesse.
Q 10Who is the ordinary minister of the sacrament of confirmation in the Catholic Church?
A bishop
Eastern Christians call it chrismation and give it to infants immediately after baptism.
Q 11Holy orders comprise which three ordained ministries?
Bishop, priest, deacon
Titles such as cardinal, monsignor and archbishop are offices, not sacramental orders.
Q 12The Immaculate Conception teaches that who was conceived free of original sin?
Mary
It is often confused with the virgin birth; the feast falls on 8 December.
Q 13Which pope defined the Immaculate Conception as dogma in 1854?
Pius IX
The papal bull was Ineffabilis Deus; four years later Bernadette reported the apparitions at Lourdes.
Q 21The Catechism of the Catholic Church was promulgated in which year?
1992
He issued it on the 30th anniversary of Vatican II's opening; Cardinal Ratzinger had chaired the drafting commission.
Q 22Lent echoes the number of days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, which was how many?
40
The Latin name Quadragesima means fortieth; Moses and Elijah fasted for the same span.
Q 23The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning what?
Last year's palms
They are traced on the forehead with the words 'Remember that you are dust'.
Advent begins on which Sunday before Christmas?
Q 14The Assumption of Mary was defined as dogma in which year?
1950
Pius XII issued Munificentissimus Deus on 1 November after a century of petitions reached Rome.
Q 15Papal infallibility was defined as dogma at a council of 1869–70 known as what?
First Vatican
The 1870 document Pastor aeternus limits it to statements made ex cathedra, from the chair of Peter.
Q 16What Latin phrase describes the pope speaking with infallible authority?
Ex cathedra
It literally means 'from the chair', that is the seat of his episcopal authority in Rome.
Q 17The Council of Trent, the Church's response to the Reformation, met between which years?
1545–1563
Its 25 sessions spanned three popes and it was the last ecumenical council held outside Rome.
Q 18Which pope convoked the Council of Trent?
Paul III
He oversaw the first eight sessions; Julius III and Pius IV presided over the later ones.
Q 19The Second Vatican Council opened in which year?
1962
John XXIII convoked it for aggiornamento, bringing up to date; Paul VI closed it in December 1965.
Q 20How many documents did Vatican II produce?
Sixteen
Four constitutions, nine decrees and three declarations, covering liturgy, ecumenism and religious freedom.
Fourth
It always falls between 27 November and 3 December, and a candle is lit on the wreath each week.
Q 25Which of these is one of the seven deadly sins in the Church's standard list?
Sloth
The full list is pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed; Aquinas called them capital sins.
Q 26Which book of the Catholic Old Testament is cited as support for purgatory?
2 Maccabees
Protestants regard it as apocryphal, which is one reason the doctrine divides the churches.
Q 27Cardinals lose the right to vote in a conclave once they reach what age?
80
They remain cardinals for life; as of 2026 there were 240 cardinals, 116 of them electors.
Q 28What share of the vote is needed to elect a pope in a conclave?
Two-thirds
The Third Lateran Council first set the rule in 1179 and Gregory XV fixed it in 1621.
Q 29The word conclave comes from a Latin phrase meaning what?
With a key
Gregory X ordered electors locked in after the 1268–1271 interregnum, when Viterbo's magistrates did the same.
Q 30Papal conclaves are held in which Vatican building?
Sistine Chapel
It was built for Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1481, before Michelangelo painted its ceiling.