Difference between Catholics and roman Catholics?

Answer 1

The most common distinctions to be made are these:

The Church catholic refers to the universal Church of Christ, which can be found in whole or in some aspect, in all Christian churches, particularly referring to the 'catholic character' of those with episcopal structure and a sacramental life. (Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.)

The Catholic Church refers to the entire communion of 23 Catholic Churches, which are in communion with the bishop of Rome.

The Roman Catholic Church refers primarily to the Latin Church, one of those 23 churches which make up the Catholic Church, and the largest by far, for which the pope is also patriarch de facto. It is not appropriate to refer to Eastern Catholics as Roman Catholic, despite the fact that they are in communion with the Church of Rome.

Unfortunately, some historical uses of Roman Catholic interchangeably with Catholic have confused the issue. The AP styleguide, for example, mistakenly equates the two. Some Catholic authors' views on the topic:

Roman Catholic: A qualification of the name Catholic commonly used in English-speaking countries by those unwilling to recognize the claims of the One True Church. Out of condescension for these dissidents, the members of that Church are wont in official documents to be styled "Roman Catholics" as if the term Catholic represented a genus of which those who owned allegiance to the pope formed a particular species.

from Thurston, Herbert. "Roman Catholic." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. .

Roman Catholic "A name used by many English speaking non-Catholics for members of the Catholic Church, as a qualification of their exclusive right to be called Catholics, and the term recognized for use in official and legal documents. As every Catholic, of whatever rite, looks to Rome as the center of the Church and the seat of her supreme pontiff [the Pope] and head, the expression in itself is unobjectionable and is in fact sometimes employed by them [witness your humble servant, myself!] especially in certain countries of Europe. But its use by Catholics is unnecessary and having regard to its connotation for many non-Catholics, sometimes to be avoided.

from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, 2nd edition, revised.