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

Although influential in certain conservative circles, it remains a minority group within the Roman Catholic Church and its roughly 1.3 billion faithful.

From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026

Although Pope Benedict XVI repealed the excommunication in 2009 in an unsuccessful attempt to heal the rift, Pope Leo is also expected to exclude the new bishops from the Catholic Church.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026

Antiqua et Nova, a doctrinal note of the Catholic Church published in January of 2025, uses the term “human person.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 15, 2026

As Chesnut noted, UFOs-as-demons is actually an evangelical idea from the 1950s and ’60s, and not something the Catholic Church has ever meddled in.

From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026

The Doctrine of Discovery was laid out in a series of communications from the pope, leader of the Catholic Church, who was extremely influential in European politics at the time.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz