Colonialism

Colonialism is the force that sealed the Catholic Church into its status as a dominant world religion. Colonialism came in force in the 14th century, when the Church already held extreme power in Europe, but little worship outside Europe. Colonialism encouraged exploration and conquest, and manufactured an environment where groups of natives felt powerless against a larger, more unified, invading force. This created a feeling of powerlessness, repentance, so then to hear that these invaders feared an almighty force above them created awe and terror of god, plus practical pressure from the invaders.

Natives were put in an extremely difficult position, they were defeated by small armies with superior weapons, then threatened with the wrath of a being to which those armies knelt. In "exchange" for abandoning their traditional culture, they were given freedom from the extreme and rampant persecution. For many it was a small enough price to pay. Once enough individuals in a community had made the switch the pressure was even greater, having many voices say something makes it sound more credible, in addition to the further prosecution that inevitably happens to shrinking minorities.

Colonialism was fast moving though, so another facet of the doctrine of the Catholic church was responsible for keeping the reign of the church over these places, even after the colonizers had moved on to continue colonizing more 'new' places. Heresy was strictly punishable in the church, and even in lesser cases being labeled a heretic could sour community relationships, and ruin business, this meant that people who had made a Faustian bargain with god earlier in life now had to remain devout, with even higher punishments for dissent. Inevitably some of these people would become parents, and would then be forced to indoctrinate their kids with these foreign beliefs, cementing the church in every nook that was even once colonized.