No study of Catholicism would be complete without an understanding of the word Catholic. The word itself comes from the Greek katholikos, meaning “general” or “universal,” which appeared in Greek writings before the rise of Christianity.

Writing in A.D. 110, St. Ignatius of Antioch was one of the first to use the phrase katholike ekklesia (literally, “catholic church”), but the force behind the phrase's meaning came from St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 386: “The Church is called Catholic because it extends through all the world and because it teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines which ought to come to human knowledge.”

We know from the New Testament, particularly Matthew 24:14, that Christ intended his Word to extend beyond Jewish Palestine to all nations. By the end of the first century, at least 100 communities of Christians were established in and around the Mediterranean.

Since then, the Word has spread farther still, to nearly one billion people, across state lines and over cultural boundaries. What's more, these various cultures have adapted Catholic rites and created variations that the Church fully accepts today.