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The Roman Catholic Church is over a billion members !
People who were not Catholic took over.
disagreements over who leads the church
The Pope only ruled the Vatican city ,but he has a power over all the city that the Roman Catholic church exist.
The wealthiest Catholic in Europe is and has always been the Pope. He resides over all the properties and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church.
Well, "catholic" spelled with a lower-case "c", is a word meaning, "all-inclusive". It is not necessarily a religious word, at all. Roman Catholic is a Christian religion, and the word, "Catholic" is a religious word meaning, "all-inclusive" or "available to all". There are 2 Catholic churches. The church in Roman-held areas was a rival to the church in areas of what is now Turkey. The head of that church was in Byzantium. Eventually, the 2 church group broke apart, one being called the Roman Catholic church, and the other being called the Byzantine Catholic church. The Byzantine Catholic church is today better know as the Greek Orthodox church and Russian Orthodox church. Thus church follows the old, old practices that the Roman Catholic church has abandoned or altered over the years.
because he took control over the Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, the Church has little control over the name Catholic and it is hijacked all the time by groups that are NOT in union with Rome and, therefore, not truly Catholic. A few examples: The American Catholic Church, The American Charismatic Catholic Church, the Polish National Catholic Church. Calling oneself something does not make it so.
== The name "Roman Catholic Church" entered use after the Protestant Reformation. The term is used in English speaking countries; with the advent of Anglicanism, as well as other denominations that began making English converts, there began a dispute over what group had claim over the official title of "The Church". To distinguish it from themselves, the Anglicans began to call it the Roman Catholic Church to signify its nature, having its head in Rome (the pope) and invoking its unofficial title of being "Catholic" or universal. Over time this title has organically grown into modern usage, however, only among English speakers. The "Roman Catholic" Church continues to refer to itself simply as "The Church" in all its official documents.
The name "catholic" means universal, so the "catholic church" is all the believers in Christ all over the world. The organized church was more (or less) one church until the Eastern Orthodox church split from the Roman Catholic church, which was (and is) headquartered in Rome. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Protestant churches left the rule of the Roman Catholic church and formed their own denominations (such as Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians). Sometimes people use the term "catholic" when they really should use the term Roman Catholic, so things can get confused.
The Roman Catholic had official music and this song referred to the Gregorian chant that was made by Pope Gregory the Great.
Roman Catholic AnswerJesus Christ was - and is - head of the Catholic Church. He send His Holy Spirit to be with it and guide it until the end of the world and he appointed Peter as His first Vicar to rule over it as His representative on earth.