Why did Constantine start Catholicism?
Constantine had been exposed to Catholicism through his mother and so was no stranger to it as he grew. He credited his victory over his rival, Maxentius, as being given to him from the Christian God – his soldiers went into battle with the chi rho symbol (“P” imposed on a “X”) after Constantine had had an apparent vision that with this sign he should conquer. Upon entering Rome he broke tradition by not sacrificing to the gods in the usual Pagan token of thanksgiving. Constantine politically supported the Church because he believed in it,; he believed that it was the true Faith. Constantine thus adopted the Church’s stances and politically aided the suppression of heresies, such as the Donatists, the Gnostics, the Arians and others that the Church had recognized as corruptions. With political force behind It, the Church now accelerated its growth and further establishment throughout the empire.
