Roman Catholic

American  

adjective

1. of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church.

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noun

1. a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Roman Catholic British  

adjective

1. of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church

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noun

1. a member of this Church

Etymology

Origin of Roman Catholic

First recorded in 1595–1605

Compare meaning

How does roman-catholic compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic

Example Sentences

Joyce’s works had never been placed on the Vatican’s Index of Forbidden Books, but for decades after independence in 1922 they and countless others met opposition from the Roman Catholic Church.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

The land was owned for decades by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Roman Catholic nuns providing elder care.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

At Massapequa's St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which has a high percentage of cop and first responder parishioners, Rev Gerard Gentleman noted how the community moved quickly from shock to generosity and empathy.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026

Neither of them made any substantive changes to core Roman Catholic doctrine, but when you’re the bishop of Rome and the head of the world’s largest single religious denomination, practice matters more than theory.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026

A priest I once heard in a white middle-class parish defended the reformed liturgy by saying that it had become necessary to ‘de-Europeanize’ the Roman Catholic Church.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez