2319.—The Name Catholic.
By Editor
I understand the Papacy and Catholics to be the same. How long have they gone by the name Catholic? O. O. No, it can hardly be said that the Catholic Church is the Papacy, or the same. The Papacy is an outgrowth of Roman Catholicism, but if the pope should die to-day the Catholic Church would exist just the same. They would probably elect another pope and that pope would still clamor for temporal power. The word "catholic" means universal. The words Catholic Church mean the universal church. It is a term that one church has just as much right to as another. It probably dates from about the time of Constantine, when the Roman church assumed it. There is nothing against the term "catholic" itself. Now it is used simply as a part of a name without any regard to its meaning on the part of most people. That religious body of which the pope is the head is called the Catholic Church by others without any regard to the meaning of the name, just as the Presbyterian Church is so named without any thought of the meaning or origin of the term presbyterian.