The Catholic Faith
From the question of God to the last things
The Catholic app, made like Duolingo
The Catholic faith, five minutes a day.
Bite-size lessons through the whole tradition, the Rosary and today's readings, live trivia battles, and your diocese on the board. A streak makes it a habit.
Begin with today.
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Free to download, no account needed to start. English, Spanish, and Portuguese, lessons included.
Try a lesson
Don't take our word for it. Take the first lesson.
This is In the Beginning, the lesson everyone starts with, asked the way the app asks it. Three questions, about a minute. In the app it opens with a short illustrated telling and the passage itself, read aloud:
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
5
In the Beginning, question 1 of 3
Learn
A path through the whole faith, one lesson at a time.
More than 1,300 lessons across 38 courses. The main course carries you from the first question about God to the last things across twelve levels. Many lessons open with a short illustrated telling, then ask you to work. A saint walks the path beside you.
- Twelve levels, 72 topics
- Creation, the life of Jesus, the early Church, grace, the saints, Scripture, the end.
- Six kinds of question
- Word bank, match pairs, order events, story scene, picture round, multiple choice.
- A letter from Cato
- Each section opens with a voiced note that sets the scene.
- In three languages
- Every lesson, prayer, and saint in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
38 courses, 14 of them on the saints. Start anywhere.
Seeking God
The Bible's Big Story
How the Bible Speaks
Two Thousand Years
The seven sacraments
A course on each, from the font to the anointing.
Baptism
Born of water and the Spirit
Confirmation
Sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit
The Eucharist
The source and summit of the Christian life
Confession
Reconciled to God and to the Church
Anointing of the Sick
Strength, peace, and courage in serious illness
Holy Orders
Configured to Christ the head and shepherd
Matrimony
Two become one flesh, and the sign is Christ
Prayer
The Mass, the beads, and how to pray at all.
Praying the Mass
Understand every part of the Mass
The Rosary
Pray through every mystery
School of Prayer
Learning to pray, from the Our Father to contemplation
Apologetics
The reasons, with the objections heard fairly.
Why the Church?
From 'there is a God' to 'why Catholic'
The Moral Questions
Why the Church teaches what it does
Mary and Joseph
Beside the saints below.
Our Lady
Mary in Scripture, doctrine, and prayer
St. Joseph
Guardian of the Redeemer
The Church's year
Seven seasons in the order she keeps them, each timed to the calendar.
Advent
Preparing the way for the Lord's coming
Christmas
The Word made flesh, dwelling among us
In season now
Ordinary Time
Walking with Christ through the year
Lent
Forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving
Holy Week
From Palm Sunday to the empty tomb
Easter
Fifty days of resurrection joy
Pentecost
The fire of the Holy Spirit
Pray
A prayer life that grows with you.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me.
Every day the Prayer tab sets one prayer in front of you, like the Anima Christi above, read aloud if you like. Behind it is the whole prayer book: the Rosary with every mystery, a Bible you can highlight and search, the day's Mass readings, and the novenas the Church keeps coming back to.
- The Rosary, guided
- All four sets of mysteries, a light that travels the beads, and playback that keeps going with the screen locked.
- Today's Mass readings
- The Church's calendar in your pocket, with the season and its color.
- A full Bible
- Book and chapter picker, verse highlights, search, and your place kept.
- Twelve novenas
- Divine Mercy, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, St. Jude, St. Michael, and more, with reminders for each of the nine days.
- The Daily Examen
- St. Ignatius's five-minute review of the day.
- Classic prayers
- The Creed, the Memorare, the Angelus, the Anima Christi, in all three languages.
Play
Five minutes with something at stake.
Challenge a friend with an invite code or queue for a quick match: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or a free-for-all of up to twelve, fifteen seconds a question, and a rating that climbs. Between battles there is a daily word to solve, a quest to finish, and a streak to protect.
- Live trivia battles
- A dedicated question bank, ranked and friendly modes, and a ladder to climb.
- Verbo, the daily word
- One Catholic word a day, five guesses, in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Share the card.
- Hearts, XP, coins, quests
- A fresh quest every day. Streak freezes cover the busy ones.
- Dress Cato
- Spend coins on hats, capes, swords, and shields. He wears your progress.
Tap the box to see what else is in the wardrobe.
Diocese
Your five minutes count for your diocese.
Pick your diocese from more than three thousand worldwide, each many with their coat of arms. Your XP joins your neighbors' on a weekly board, and the diocese room is a place to ask for prayers and to give them.
- A weekly room
- A chat for your diocese that resets each week. Post a prayer request; a tap says someone prayed.
- Friends who pray
- Add friends by username or QR code, see their streaks, and pray for them by name.
- Real classes near you
- Ready for more than an app? Find catechesis at a parish near you and raise your hand from inside Cato.
- Your patron on your profile
- Rank medallions, your saint, and a share card for your progress.
Saints
Walk with a saint.
Choose a patron the moment you open the app. They stand along your path, speak at the end of a lesson, and have a course of their own on their life and teaching, in all three languages. Your patron's course is always free.
- Our Ladythe Mother of God
- St. JosephGuardian of the Redeemer
- Thomas Aquinasthe Angelic Doctor
- Augustine of Hippothe Doctor of Grace
- Thérèse of Lisieuxthe Little Flower
- Anselm of Canterburyfaith seeking understanding
- Francis of Assisithe Poverello
- Ignatius of Loyolafounder of the Jesuits
- Catherine of SienaDoctor of the Church
- Teresa of Ávilathe Doctor of Prayer
- Benedict of Nursiafather of Western monasticism
- Jerometranslator of the Vulgate
- John of the Crossthe Mystical Doctor
- Maximilian Kolbemartyr of charity
Every saint is hand-animated. Tap to meet the next one.
Look around
Have a look around.
Mass readings
The courses
Novenas
Friends and battles
A saint's page
Cato's wardrobe
Achievements
The Prayer tab
Swipe to see the rest.Every one is a real screen, nothing staged.
Free, and Pro
The whole main course stays free.
Cato is free to download and free to keep using. The main course, Seeking God, your patron saint's course, every prayer, the Rosary, the readings, battles, Verbo, and your diocese never cost anything. Cato Pro is for people who want the rest of the shelf, and it is what keeps the rest free.
Free, always
- The Catholic Faith, all twelve levels
- Seeking God, and your patron's course
- The Rosary, the Bible, readings, novenas
- Battles, Verbo, friends, your diocese
- Five hearts that refill on their own
Cato Pro
- Every course, including every saint's
- Unlimited hearts
A monthly or yearly plan, priced in the app for your country. Any single course can also be unlocked with the coins you earn.
Questions
Questions people ask first.
What is Cato?
Cato is a Catholic learning app. It teaches the whole Catholic faith in bite-size lessons of about five minutes, alongside the Rosary, the daily Mass readings, novenas, the lives of the saints, live trivia battles, and a leaderboard for your diocese. It is on iPhone, Android, and the web.
Is there a Duolingo for the Catholic faith?
Yes, that is what Cato is built to be. Like Duolingo, it walks you along a path of short lessons with questions to answer, keeps a daily streak, gives you hearts for mistakes, and lets you compete with friends. The difference is what you learn: Scripture, the Catechism, the sacraments, prayer, and the saints, instead of a language.
Is Cato free?
Cato is free to download and free to keep using. The main course on the Catholic faith, Seeking God, your patron saint's course, every prayer, the Rosary, the readings, battles, and your diocese never cost anything. Cato Pro, a monthly or yearly plan, adds every other course and unlimited hearts.
Is what Cato teaches faithful to the Church?
The lessons are written from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and checked against it again after they ship. The daily readings follow the Roman calendar and the lectionary your parish uses. If you find a mistake, write to us and we fix it for everyone.
Can I use Cato on a computer?
Yes. Cato runs in the browser at thecatoapp.com/learn, with the same lessons and the same account as the phone app, so your streak follows you.
What languages is Cato in?
English, Spanish, and Portuguese, with the lessons, prayers, and readings in each.
Start your streak tonight.
The tradition is two thousand years deep. Begin with today.
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