Catholic Church The Catholic Church was the largest body of followers of Christianity . As late as the early 20th century , the Church kept many books which they deemed heretical in the secret Library of St John the Beheaded in London . ( PROSE : " All - Consuming Fire " ) One of the books suppressed by the Church was the " Necronomicon " . ( PROSE : " The Banquo Legacy " ) In the 14th century , the author and poet Geoffrey Chaucer often mocked the Church in his work . ( AUDIO : " The Doctor ' s Tale " ) In the 16th century , many Christians split from the Catholic Church to become Protestant s . Some Catholic rulers persecuted them , such as Mary I of England with the Heresy Laws in the 1550s and Catherine de Medici of France with the St Bartholomew ' s Day massacre on 24 August 1572 . ( AUDIO : " The Marian Conspiracy " , TV : " The Massacre of St Bartholomew ' s Eve " ) At the time of the Reformation King Henry VIII declared himself as the head of the English church . His daughter Elizabeth I later persecuted priests and followers of the Catholic Church . However the Catholics built secret rooms and passages in their houses so that the priests could hold their services in secret and escape . That was why the St Agnes Abbey also had some secret passages . ( PROSE : " Eye of the Gorgon " ) By 1605 , there were three assassination attempts , including the Gunpowder Plot led by Robert Catesby , by Catholics on the Protestant King James I . ( GAME : " The Gunpowder Plot " ) In 1609 , Cardinal Robert Bellarmine of the Catholic Church , who had been mistaken for the First Doctor to whom he bore a resemblance , moderated the Armageddon Convention . ( PROSE : " The Empire of Glass " ) Following the Great Fire of London in September 1666 , many Protestants , including King Charles II , blamed the English Catholics for setting the conflagration . Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded his younger brother James II . Given that James II was a Catholic , his accession to the throne of Protestant England created discontent among the English nobility and public , which ultimately led to him being overthrown in the Glorious Revolution in November 1688 . ( AUDIO : " The Glorious Revolution " ) In July 1936 , the Spanish Civil War began when a group of conservative generals revolted against the democratic government out of fear that traditional Catholic values were being undermined and the government was leaning towards Communism . ( AUDIO : " Fiesta of the Damned " ) In Croatia during the 1940s , Catholic partisans captured , shot , and buried the vampire Yarven . ( PROSE : " Goth Opera " ) Sir Toby Kinsella , a senior British civil servant with the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s , was Catholic . ( AUDIO : " Artificial Intelligence " , " The Fifth Citadel " ) The same was true of the Seventh Doctor ' s companions Hex ( AUDIO : " Gods and Monsters " ) and Sally Morgan ( AUDIO : " Signs and Wonders " ) and the 2000s Deputy Prime Minister Meena Cartwright . ( AUDIO : " The Longest Night " ) In the 26th century , Claire Summerfield , the mother of Bernice Summerfield , was Catholic . ( PROSE : " Love and War " ) In the 2640s , Pope Beatrix II led the Catholic Church in the Beatrician Crusade against the Mal ' akh . ( PROSE : " De Umbris Idearum " ) By the 28th century , the Catholic Church had re - established itself and become a major space power with jurisdiction over numerous worlds . ( PROSE : " Companion Piece " ) The Fourth Doctor believed the official papal seat for the Church was in the Betelgeuse system in the 33rd century . A renegade branch , known as the Catholic Church Apostolic , controlled Europa during this time . ( PROSE : " Managra " ) In a Shadow World , the Twelfth Doctor met a group of Catholics , one offering him a chance for confession . ( TV : " Extremis " )