catholic, (from Greek katholikos, “universal”), the characteristic that, according to ecclesiastical writers since the 2nd century, distinguished the Christian Church at large from local communities or from heretical and schismatic sects. A notable exposition of the term as it had developed during the first three centuries of Christianity was given by St. Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catecheses (348): the church is called catholic on the ground of its worldwide extension, its doctrinal completeness, its adaptation to the needs of men of every kind, and its moral and spiritual perfection.
The theory that what has been universally taught or practiced is true was first fully developed by St. Augustine in his controversy with the Donatists (a North African heretical Christian sect) concerning the nature of the church and its ministry. It received classic expression in a paragraph by St. Vincent of Lérins in his Commonitoria (434), from which is derived the formula: “What all men have at all times and everywhere believed must be regarded as true.” St. Vincent maintained that the true faith was that which the church professed throughout the world in agreement with antiquity and the consensus of distinguished theological opinion in former generations. Thus, the term catholic tended to acquire the sense of orthodox.
Some confusion in the use of the term has been inevitable, because various groups that have been condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical or schismatic never retreated from their own claim to catholicity. Not only the Roman Catholic Church but also the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church, and a variety of national and other churches claim to be members of the holy catholic church, as do most of the major Protestant churches.