of their discipline to Friar Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (1445 - 1517). While accounting has been in use since earliest civilization (and in fact it is widely believed that writing itself was invented to keep records for merchants) Pacioli made significant contributions to the discipline.

Pacioli produced several books on mathematics including several sections on mathematics for merchants. He also described methods of bookkeeping including double entry accounting. His work included the entire accounting cycle and formed the basis of virtually all subsequent accounting practices. He also laid out methods to check the accuracy of one's work and warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until their credits balanced with their debits. 

One reason his methods proved popular, aside from the fact they worked, was that the Catholic Church was a major landowner across Europe. Churches and monasteries held lands that were rented and farmed or otherwise turned to profitable use, and those assets had to be managed. Pacioli's methods became the standard for monks and church officials across Europe and later around the world. 

Science, Astronomy and the "Big Bang" theory
About 35 craters on the moon have been named in honor of mostly Jesuit scientists and mathematicians who distinguished themselves by their work. And the Big Bang theory of creation was conceived and developed by Father Georges Lemaitre, a priest and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. 

Many secularists, and even some Catholics think the Church is hostile to science. It is a popular misconception. Believers in this error point to the purported persecution of Galileo, among other claims, to portray the church as opposed to scientific knowledge. 

Much of this is detailed in the book by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. 

However, insofar as science is used to discern the truth, the Church has no qualms since the Church is an embodiment of Truth. Many may be surprised to know the Catholic Church maintains and operates an observatory and that Catholic researchers around the world continue to contribute to our knowledge of astronomy, cosmology, and physics, while keeping steadfast in their faith. 

In fact, according to Woods, it was Jesuit missionaries that delivered the scientific method to Asia, contributed to the development of pendulum clock, barometers, telescopes, microscopes, and more. 

Jesuit astronomers also made a wide range of astronomical observations, being the first to note colored bands on Jupiter, rings around Saturn, and connecting the moon to the tides. 

The early study of earthquakes was in fact so closely related to the Jesuits, that seismology has been referred to as "the Jesuit science." 


Human rights and the dignity of every person
Okay, this one shouldn't be a surprise at all, but it will be to some, especially non-believers. Until the advent of Christianity, inequality among people was regarded as a fact of life and not as something to be addressed. The teachings of Jesus Christ were radical precisely because they stressed the brotherhood and equality of all men and women before God, because we are all created in His Image. 

And while this should not be interpreted as an invitation to undermine God-given differences and distinctives given to men and women, it does indeed form the first basis for the foundational western understanding of equal rights. In fact, the Church professes the existence of a Natural Law, which can be known by all through the exercise of reason, upon which all truly just human laws must be based.

Out of this vision of the equality and dignity of all human persons grew movements such as women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and modern movements aimed at protecting human rights by securing them in the civil law. The Church insists upon the dignity of all people, from the moment of conception until natural death.  This Christian vision of the dignity of the human person has influenced what is considered a very secular document, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And while the UNUDHR is considered an important declaration, it does not fully protect the first and most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life from the moment of conception. Church teaching does recognize this fundamental human right. In fact, the Catholic Church insists that without the recognition of this fundamental human right to life, the entire infrastructure of human rights is placed in jeopardy. 

Without the influence of the Catholic Church, it is easy to imagine a world that is much different, much less enlightened, and much less advanced and truly free than the one we have today. 

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM. 

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Catholic Church, history, facts, law, astronomy,

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