The Catholic Church is a much maligned and frequently misunderstood organization. The aims of this writing are to show three significant factors that make the Catholic Church so significant in European history. These are not the just factors however in this writer's opinion they are the most extant and undeniable. The first is that the Catholic Church contributed to the stabilization of Western Europe throughout the dark ages. Secondly the Roman Catholic Church gave a frame work and also a repository for the European writings. Third it gave legitimacy to the European armies fighting the invading Muslims.