How Catholic is the Roman Catholic Church?

Abstract

Catholicity is one of the distinguishing traditional characters of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) as found in both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. While many Roman Catholics take this and the other characters of oneness, holiness and apostolicity for granted, they have subjects of debates and questions from within and outside the Church. Theologians both past and present have sought to articulate clearly what it means to say that the RCC is catholic, how this catholicity can be realized in the present time and how it can be promoted in the future. This paper engages this discourse by attempting to define the concepts catholic and catholicity and exploring their changing meanings from biblical, historical and contemporary theological perspectives. From these discussions, it proposes ways by which the RCC can truly manifest her catholicity and looks at the prospects which the current Synod on Synodality holds for the future understanding and practice of the RCC’s catholicity.