AS A CATHOLIC, SHOULD I BELIEVE IN THE “RAPTURE”?
“We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16) Prologue: The word, Protestant. The doctrine, biblical. But what exactly does the Catholic Church believe? “The Rapture!” For many Catholics, the word immediately conjures up images of Protestant preachers announcing that Christians will suddenly vanish from the earth: cars crashing because their drivers have disappeared, empty aeroplanes falling from the sky, clothes lying abandoned on beds, and terrified unbelievers wondering: “Where did everybody go?” But here is the surprise: The Catholic Church does believe that the faithful living at Christ’s coming will be “caught up” to meet Him. St. Paul says it plainly: “We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16) And the Latin Vulgate says: “simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in ae...