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Hi Lilly,
The Catholic Church from the very beginning has understood and professed
that Jesus Christ will return at the End of Time.
As for the rapture, there is no universal agreement among
Protestant Churches on this subject. In fact, they've got so many variations
on that issue, that you can't find agreement even amongst those who profess
a rapture.
The Catholic Church rejects the heresy that Christ will rapture the
Church prior to the Second Coming. This doctrine is a relatively new invention
that dates back to the early to mid 1800's.
It is based on a complete misreading
of Scripture and has no historical roots in Catholicism or Protestantism.
That said, the Church believes what Scripture actually teaches. That is,
at the end of time Christ will return. At that time, the dead in Christ
shall be raised and those Christians still living will be transformed in
the twinkling of an eye. Immediately following this event there
will be the Last Judgment. Now if you want to call the transformation
of the living, at the time of the Resurrection of Dead, a rapture, that's
fine, but the term isn't found anywhere in Scripture or in the writings
of the Early Church.
- Will there be a period of tribulation and persecution prior to the
end?
Scripture seems to imply it, as does Church teaching, but the seven
year period some Protestants get hung up on, may well have already been
fulfilled just prior to 70 AD.
The bottom line is this: since the beginning, the Church has faced various
types of persecution and tribulation at various times. It is said, in the last century
more Christians were put to death for their faith than in the previous
(19) nineteenth centuries put together so idea that Christ is going to take His Church
out of the world to spare them persecution is not only unbiblical, it's
unhistoric.
I hope this helps.
John
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