Definition: ‘Catholic’, with a lowercase ‘c’, generally means universal, all-encompassing, or broad in tastes, interests, or the likes. In a religious context, with an uppercase ‘C’, ‘Catholic’ refers to the Roman Catholic Church, a Christian denomination led by the Pope, characterized by its sacramental system of worship and its continuity with the apostolic church. The term is also used more broadly to describe the whole Christian Church during periods before the Eastern–Western Schism in 1054.
Etymology and Origin: The term ‘Catholic’ comes from the Greek word ‘katholikos’, which is derived from ‘kata’, meaning ‘about’, and ‘holos’, meaning ‘whole’ or ‘universal’. The use of ‘catholic’ to describe the universal church dates back to the early Christian era, with its first known use in this context by Saint Ignatius of Antioch around 110 AD.
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