Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 133- Part VI.

YOUCAT Question n. 133 - Part VI. Why is the Church called catholic?

(Youcat answer - repeated) “Catholic” (Greek kat’ holon) means related to the whole. The Church is catholic because Christ called her to profess the whole faith, to preserve all the sacraments, to administer them and proclaim the Good News to all; and he sent her to all nations.        

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 855) The Church's mission stimulates efforts towards Christian unity (Cf. RMiss 50). Indeed, "divisions among Christians prevent the Church from realizing in practice the fullness of catholicity proper to her in those of her sons who, though joined to her by Baptism, are yet separated from full communion with her. Furthermore, the Church herself finds it more difficult to express in actual life her full catholicity in all its aspects" (UR 4 § 8).     

Reflecting and meditating 

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 856) The missionary task implies a respectful dialogue with those who do not yet accept the Gospel (Cf. RMiss 55). Believers can profit from this dialogue by learning to appreciate better "those elements of truth and grace which are found among peoples, and which are, as it were, a secret presence of God" (AG 9). They proclaim the Good News to those who do not know it, in order to consolidate, complete, and raise up the truth and the goodness that God has distributed among men and nations, and to purify them from error and evil "for the glory of God, the confusion of the demon, and the happiness of man" (AG 9).      

(The next question is: Who belongs to the Catholic Church?)