Catholic Church

American  

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).

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Catholic Church British  

noun

1. short for Roman Catholic Church

2. any of several Churches claiming to have maintained continuity with the ancient and undivided Church

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Catholic Church Cultural  

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

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Etymology

Origin of Catholic Church

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Example Sentences

Scandalous as that sounds, there’s actually something less supernatural and more terrestrial playing out here: a power struggle between the Catholic Church and influencer priests who’ve successfully harnessed the internet’s algorithms.

From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government and the Catholic Church in Spain signed an agreement in March to compensate victims, after years of reticence and opacity from the Church hierarchy.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The US State Department repeated its offer on Wednesday, saying the humanitarian assistance would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and "reliable" humanitarian organisations.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

Then the Catholic Church sold the land to the city in the 1960s.

From Salon • May 9, 2026

The publication of De Revolutionibus was accepted essentially without a murmur by the Catholic Church, and the book was largely ignored by Rome for the rest of the sixteenth century.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin