Catholic Church

noun

, Roman Catholic Church.

1. a visible society of baptized Christians professing the same faith under the authority of the invisible head (Christ) and the authority of the visible head (the pope and the bishops in communion with him).

Catholic Church

noun

1. short for Roman Catholic Church
2. any of several Churches claiming to have maintained continuity with the ancient and undivided Church

Catholic Church

1. A common abbreviation for the name of the Roman Catholic Church .

Word History and Origins

Origin of Catholic Church¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Example Sentences

He attended elementary school at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street, where he was surrounded by the iconography of the Catholic Church.

From Los Angeles Times

A week before the general elections, worshipers at the St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church in Bell Gardens were listening to the parish announcements when Father Nabor Rios introduced a political candidate.

From Los Angeles Times

Currently the Catholic Church only allows men to become deacons - ordained ministers who can officiate baptisms, weddings and funerals but not mass, unlike priests.

From BBC

A Peruvian priest who founded liberation theology, a movement advocating an active role for the Roman Catholic Church in fighting poverty and injustice but reviled by some as Marxist, has died.

From BBC

As far as the Catholic Church goes, he believes the “more open the Church is the better,” a trait he shares with his character, and, in a way, with “Conclave” as a whole.

From Los Angeles Times