Eastern Rite

What are the Eastern Rite churches? Are they considered part of the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church is made up of a number of largely autonomous churches (also called rites), all of which recognize the pope as their head.

These churches can be broadly divided into the Western church (also called the Latin church) and the various Eastern churches, most of which broke away from the Catholic Church around the time of the Great Schism but later ended their schism by recognizing the authority of the pope. Most Eastern Catholic churches have counterparts in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The rites (that is, liturgies and other methods of religious observance) of Eastern Catholic churches differ from those of the Western church.

While Eastern Catholic churches had their origins in specific geographic regions, various Eastern-rite parishes can be found worldwide, including in the United States.