Are Catholics and Christians the same?

Answer 1

Catholic just means "universal." It was adopted as a label in the second century to distinguish the churches that were in fellowship with each other throughout the Roman world, and to distinguish them from the other Christian movements, such as the Marcionites, and the Gnostics, who were not accepted by the "Catholic" Christians.

Most people are familiar with the word Catholic referring to the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is a branch of Christianity. Catholic and Christian have always been two words for the same thing, but since the Protestant Reformation, Catholic (or Roman Catholic) has been used to identify that part of the western Church that is under the Pope, just as Orthodox has been used to identify most of the eastern Churches.

Orthodox just means "right opinion."

It follows that Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox can all be called Christian, since they all follow Christ.

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Catholic AnswerAccording to the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic is the only type of Christianity. Those who are not in communion with her but are validly baptized are Christians to the extent that they believe the the Nicene Creed in its traditional interpretation, and attempt to live that life.

Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ, which involves living the life that He is asking you to live, and believing in Him. As Jesus Christ only established one Church, and He was very specific about that, and that one Church is both His Body, and His Bride. That One Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. All other ecclesial communities who call themselves "Christian Churches" are heretical to one extent or another. They have redefined terms such as "Christianity" in order to mean other things which would include themselves in "Christianity". This is an error.

The ecumenical movement, contrary to what many believe has only one purpose, and that is to return all of those who profess belief in Jesus Christ back to the true Church. The current state of affairs, which has involved redefining language, re-writing history, and redefining Jesus, Himself, has got to stop. To deny that the Catholic Church is the only "Christian" Church is, to some extent, to deny Jesus Christ, and attempt to redefine Him as something other than what He was.

Answer 2

Christianity is a broad term that includes all denominations that follow Christ - Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic. All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholic. Basically, yes, Catholic and Christian are the same thing. The Catholic Church, which is the only "Christian" Church established by Our Blessed Lord, teaches that the Catholic Church, being the Body of Christ, is the only way in which one can be saved. The Church teaches that there are Christians outside the visible Body of Christ. In other words, someone who has been validly baptized and believes in Our Blessed Lord and in good faith is trying to follow Him has a possibility of being saved (note this is not a probability, just a possibility) and thus is a member of the Catholic Church, howbeit in an invisible and imperfect way. The modern usage of Christianity to refer to heretical religions is to be deplored. The constant teaching of the Catholic Church is that extra ecclesiam nulla salus (Latin for "outside the Church, no salvation"). Please note that this must be properly understood as it is an infallible teaching of the Church, although Fr. Feeney's interpretation of this (outside of the visible Catholic Church everyone is damned) has been declared heretical. See below.

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from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

Christian

A name first given to the followers of our Lord at Antioch (Acts xi, 26). Since the rise of Protestantism the name has been used in so many different senses as to have become almost meaningless: it may indicate a Catholic or a Unitarian, or even be applied to an infidel who displays some virtue which is associated with Christ. It may reasonably be applied to the members of all the ancient churches, whether in communion with the Holy See, or not, and to those Protestants who profess, explicitly or implicitly, the Nicaean creed in its traditional interpretation. The Church puts no definite official meaning on the word, as she does on Catholic.

Christianity

is the religion of, the body of faith and morals taught by, the Catholic Church of Christ. The word may be properly extended to include the religious systems of the dissident Eastern -churches and of some Protestant bodies. The current popular use of the word in an ethical, subjective sense, is to be deplored: it is stripping it of all objective or historical connotations.

Catholic

I. The word is derived from Greek and simply means universal. In combination with the word "church" it essentially merely indicates one of the marks of the Church, and was so used by St. Ignatius at the beginning of the 2nd century; but in the course of history it has come to be the distinguishing epithet of the Church of Christ and his faith: under other circumstances its place might have been taken by "apostolic" or "one." The use of the word in this distinguishing way became current and common in England only from the middle of the 16th century. In some mediaeval translations of the Creed unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam is rendered "one holy apostolic church general."

ii. A Catholic is any person who, having been baptized, does not adhere to a non-Catholic religion or perform any act with the intention or effect of excluding himself from the Church. A "good Catholic" is one who practises his religion to the best of his ability.

iii. Catholics normally call themselves Catholics without qualification, and are distinguished by the name alike in West and East; except for a body of High Anglicans, no other Christians use the name as a distinguishing title. But Catholics of the Byzantine rite sometimes calls themselves Greek Catholics, Chaldeans are so called, and Maronites always refer to themselves simply as Maronites - they avoid the name Catholic for the good reason that there is no such thing as a Maronite who is not a Catholic, and because in Syria the epithet particularly designates a Catholic Melkite.

iv. As an adjective, Catholic in this special sense should only be used of subjects of which Catholicity is predicable, e.g., a man as man, a church, building, or catechism. To speak of a Catholic artist or grocer, Catholic poetry or truth is inaccurate and misleading: an artist or grocer who is a Catholic is a Catholic as a man (and this without reference to whether he paints only ecclesiastical pictures or supplies cheese only to the clergy); poetry may deal with a Catholic theme or be written by a poet who is a Catholic, but is not by that fact anything but poetry; truth is truth and it is improper to call the truth about the Catholic Church, Catholic truth; (cf., Catholic arithmetic, a Wesleyan judge, Quaker music, and, particularly, Catholic culture).

Protestant vs. Catholic:

According to the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic is the only type of Christianity. Those who are not in communion with her but are validly baptized are Christians to the extent that they believe the Nicene Creed in its traditional interpretation, and attempt to live that life.

Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ, which involves living the life that He is asking you to live, and believing in Him. As Jesus Christ only established one Church, and He was very specific about that, and that one Church is both His Body, and His Bride. That One Church is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. All other ecclesial communities who call themselves "Christian Churches" are heretical to one extent or another. They have redefined terms such as "Christianity" in order to mean other things which would include themselves in "Christianity". This is an error.

The ecumenical movement, contrary to what many believe has only one purpose, and that is to return all of those who profess belief in Jesus Christ back to the true Church. The current state of affairs, which has involved redefining language, re-writing history, and redefining Jesus, Himself, has got to stop. To deny that the Catholic Church is the only "Christian" Church is, to some extent, to deny Jesus Christ, and attempt to redefine Him as something other than what He was.

For a complete discussion and understanding of the issue, please read the book: Salvation Outside the Church? By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas which discusses all the issues as addressed by the Popes and the Ecumenical Council, this contains the entire text of Dominus Iesus. Here is a quote about Dominus Iesusthat is contained in the book:

... I was attending a meeting of a diocesan ecumenical commission, whose entire agenda on that occasion had been dedicated to a discussion of Dominus Iesus, in an effort to calm ecumenical fears and to assuage feelings of hurt and anger. . . an Assemblies of God minister. Allow me to paraphrase his summation: "As I read the document, it says two things. First, that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation for the entire human race. I believe that completely, and I thought every other Christian did, too. Second, that the Catholic Church believes that it is the unique means of putting the human race into contact with Christ and His saving Gospel. I do not believe that, which is why I am not a Catholic. And if a Catholic does not believe that, I don't know why he's still a Catholic."