What is the difference between being catholic and cristian?

Question

I dont really understand is the same thing or is there a difference. I am catholic and the leader of our church is the pope how about cristians. I dont get it

Answer 1

Christianity is a RELIGION
Catholisicism (among others, Batptists, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventists etc....) are DENOMINATIONS
To define denomination:
A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy. (from dictionary.com)
Hope that helps!
Too bad my answer got a negative rating - would seem some people REALLY don't know what they are talking about!

Answer 2

Being Catholic IS being Christian. You may be asking what the difference is between Catholic Christians and other forms of Christianity, such as Protestantism.

Basically, as Catholics, we believe that Jesus Christ established a church here on earth and put the apostle Peter in charge of His church, making Peter the first pope. This would make our current pope, Benedict XVI, a direct successor of Peter.

Around 1500 (roughly), Martin Luther lead a movement which eventually created a great division within the church, causing a great number of "protestors" to leave and follow their own set of rules. This was called the Reformation, and was how Protestantism started. Protestant Christians (Methodist, Lutherans, Baptists, etc, etc) do not adhere to the authority of the Pope.

A few of the main differences are:
1. Most Protestants believe in the authority of the Bible alone, but Catholics believe that we must have the Bible along with Tradition and the teaching authority of Christ's church so that we can truly understand what the Bible is telling us (this is the reason why there are so many different Christian denominations outside of Catholicism, because nobody can seem to agree)
2. Communion: As Catholics, we believe that the bread and wine during mass TRULY become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Protestants, for the most part, believe this is only symbolic. This is a HUGE difference and one of the reasons why you must be Catholic in order to receive communion at a Catholic mass.
3. Books in the Bible: The Protestant Bible contains less books than the Catholic Bible. Protestants removed the books that they didn't agree with during the Reformation. Today, Catholics are often accused of adding books to the Bible, but this is completely false. After all, it was the Catholic Church who originally decided which books would be in the Bible, 1000 years before Protestantism even existed. :)

That is a VERY brief summary. I hope this helps!

Answer 3

Ah ha, finally, someone worded the question correctly. First off would be that the Catholic church was created by Jesus, the other Christian sects were created by man. Second Transubstantiation and the Real Presence. We believe that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. Third We have 7 Sacraments, rather than just two Fourth We baptize our babies to remove the stain of original sin and to initiate them into the church. Fifth We are the ones who put the bible together, the protestants took books out that they didn't agree with. Sixth Apostolic Succession, we can trace our leader the Pope, all the way back to St Peter, who was the first Pope. Seventh Sacred Tradition along with the Scriptures Eighth The intercession of Mary and the Saints Ninth We believe that if a person through no fault of their own does not know Jesus, yet lives a life that is in line with what Jesus taught, then that person will go to heaven Tenth Purgatory, for cleansing of our temporal sins before we go to heaven.

Answer 4

First, Catholics are Christians. Don't get that confused. The difference is correctly termed Catholic and Protestant.

The Catholic Church as been around since Christ founded her 2,000 years ago. She has preserved, taught, and protected His teachings from the beginning.

Most Christians - catholic and protestant - have the same basic beliefs: that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, in His life, death and resurrection, repentance and forgiveness of sins, and the hope of eternal life. After this, it's difficult to explain.

Protestantism is a break from the Catholic Church around the year 1500, and includes all non-Catholic Christian churches.

When one tries to understand what Protestants teach, they soon discover that there are as many different beliefs as there are protestants. The reason is that Protestantism fractures every time there is a difference of opinion about belief. This is why we have over 54,000 different protestant denominations. When faced with this daunting number, someone trying to find the true teachings of Christ would feel this is impossible. Ironically, while each denomination is different from the other, they each claim to have Christ's true teachings and each condemn the other. It's crazy.

For the fullness of Christ's teachings and to be part of the Church He originally set down, we must study and live our Catholic Christian faith.

God bless and take care.

Answer 5

If your Catholic you ought to know that through Tradition , from the time of the Apostles, the Church was formed with a hierarchy from Peter through Benedict and look to him as head of the Church on earth founded by Jesus Christ.That includes the Latin and Eastern rites and there are some other sects in the middle east and north Africa, I can't remember the names of all of them but you should be able to find out about them at newadvent.org.
Christians are any group that believes in Jesus Christ but not in Tradition.That would include all the Orthodox rites which believes in some not all, the Protestants and Fundamentalists. They don't always have a hierarchy in their organizations and don't look to the Pope as head of the Church, some even interpret the Bible individually.
All Catholics are Christians
but not all Christians are Catholic..

Answer 6

Christianity is the belief in Christ, Jesus, Bible as the Truth.
Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist...Evangelical...think if we look at the details that make us different, we'd be surprised that we are mostly the same.
I am Catholic have been in Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist churches and even the prayers are much the same.
Differences can be from Christian rituals, like how is Communion administered, was Mary's pregnancy virgin, how do we pray to Mary.
Some religions believe in a Holy Trinity, some not.
Different philosophies on function of Baptism...original sin, purgatory.
Some splits happened years ago, when Priests used to ask people to pay for their forgiveness.
Wouldn't say that Catholics worship Mary or Saints, but is more of a celebration of their lives, a showing of respect. We know God and Jesus our boss.

Answer 7

it's spelt "Christians". you keep forgetting the "h". and the difference is, not all Catholics are saved. You'll notice Jesus Himself said "no man will see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again", so salvation is a must. if you're saved and then do catholic practices, you belong to the Catholic denomination. If you just practice the rituals and aren't saved, you're just religious.

also, Catholics have different views from protestants on:

-baptism (Jesus said believe and be baptized, so protestants do it how He said it while Catholics baptize 3 days after birth traditionally)

- "the Lord's supper" (protestants have communion where everyone partcipates once they're saved, while Catholics have mass)

- confessions (Catholics confess their sins to a preist; Protestants use the "we are kings and priests, a royal priesthood and a holy nation" scripture and repent individually or as a group if it was a group sin)

-prayer (Catholics give the message to the saints who relay it to God; Protestants pray directly to God [again, kings and priests])

- rituals (Catholics have many different rituals and holidays for holiness; Protestants generally only have Easter and Christmas, and believe holiness isn't attained through works)

- priesthood (Catholics have priests/nuns/popes who can't marry; Protestants have Pastors/Apostles/Reverends/Bishops/Preachers who are allowed to marry)

- music (Catholics generally have hymns and Gregorian Chant; Protestants have a wider array from Hymns to everything but Heavy-Metal really) *it's not neccessarily that basically all heavy metal music is done by worldly people, it's that it's kind of pointless to adapt it into a church if you can't understand a word they say

hope that helped!

Answer 8

It's just a different cult within the bigger cult that is christianity.

It's like asking, what's the difference between going to Notre Dame and going to college. The question doesn't make sense (unless you use it to lead into a joke or an insult).

Different cults within christianity believe different things and are run in different ways. For example, the catholics have a pope. No other protestant cult has anything like that. The closest would be the anglicans who have the Archbishop of Canterbury but he is just the senior archbishop. Other protestant cults just elect a president (or his equivalent) who serves for a set term. Some don't have any international or even national structure.

Answer 9

"What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us." (Pope John XXIII)

Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and other Christians.

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

There are many minor doctrine issues and some major cultural traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.

A Catholic worships and follows Christ in the tradition of Catholicism which, among other things, recognizes that Christ made Peter the leader of His new Church and Pope Benedict XVI is Peter's direct successor.

With love in Christ.

Answer 10

It's a heart issue not a denomination issue. If Jesus Christ is living in your heart by His Spirit and you have a personal relationship - a real, living, daily relationship with Him then where you worship on Sundays is secondary. But if you are just a religious person who puts in their time once a week at a religious meeting - regardless of denomination - then it's only a difference in outward expression. It comes down to if you have been "born again" into Christ or if you're just another person trying to be right with God through your own flavor of religious activities. There are Catholics, Baptists, Episcolpalians, Lutherns, Methodists, etc. who aren't "born again" and don't have Christ living in their hearts by faith and vice-versa.