Catholicism

[kuh-thol-uh-siz-uhm]

noun

1. the faith, system, and practice of the Catholic Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.

2. (lowercase),  catholicity.

Catholicism

/ kəˈθɒlɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. short for Roman Catholicism

2. the beliefs, practices, etc, of any Catholic Church

Catholicism

1. The beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.

Other Word Forms

• anti-Catholicism noun
• pro-Catholicism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Catholicism¹

First recorded in 1600–10; Catholic + -ism

Example Sentences

Though colonizers tried to erase their traditions through forced conversion to Catholicism, enslaved Africans found ways to adapt and protect their spiritual practices.

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The bestseller is a pack of lies that maligns Jesus and harms Catholicism, a cardinal announces.

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She became the first member of the Royal Family to convert to Catholicism since the Act of Settlement in 1701 - but that was not, perhaps, her most surprising decision.

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She became a Catholic in 1994, the first royal to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years, describing it as "a long-pondered personal decision".

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There's an old John Mulaney routine in which he imagines what one might say to persuade someone to convert to Catholicism.

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