Yes, Catholics are not only Christians, but we were the first Christians. The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest Christian Church founded by Jesus Christ in AD 33, and planted in Rome in about AD 421, when Saint Peter established his Apostolic see in Rome after planting a church in Antioch.2 Peter was later crucified in Rome, upside down, in the year AD 67.3 His direct successors became the popes.
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:1:1 (AD 180); Eusebius of Caesarea, The Chronicle (AD 303
- Clement of Rome, The First Epistle of Clement, 5 (AD 96); Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:1:1 (AD 180); Eusebius, Church History, 2:14,5 (AD 325)
- Gauss, fragment in Eusebius’ Church History, 2:25 (AD 198); Tertian, Against Marcion, 4:5 (AD 210); Tertullian, Scorpiace,15:3 (AD 212); Peter of Alexandria, The Canonical Epistle, Canon 9 (AD 306); Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 6:14-15 (AD 350)
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