Eastern rite church, or Eastern Catholic church, Any of several Eastern Christian churches that trace their origins to ethnic or national Eastern churches but are united with the Roman Catholic church (see Roman Catholicism). A few of these churches became associated with Rome in the 12th century, but most trace their origins to the failure to unite Eastern and Western churches at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439 or to churches that rejoined Rome in the 16th century or later. Eastern rite churches acknowledge the authority of the pope but are allowed to use their own ancient liturgies and to maintain rites and customs more typical of Eastern Orthodoxy, such as allowing priests to marry and admitting infants to Holy Communion. The Eastern rite includes the Ukrainian Orthodox church, the Maronite Church, and some Armenians, Ruthenians, and Melchites (in Syria). Today Eastern Catholics number more than 12 million.
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