How is Catholic different from Christian?

Answer 1

Communion/Eucharist

• Catholics: The bread and wine in the Eucharist are miraculously, and mysteriously, changed in to the Body and Blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Other Christians: The bread and wine in Communion is symbolic--a representation of Christ's body and blood.

Sacraments/ordinances

• Catholics: There are seven sacraments (holy moments): Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Reconciliation/Confession and Anointing of the Sick.
• Other Christians: Other than baptism and communion, no religious rites are necessary.

Clergy/leadership

• Catholics: It is Christ's will that there be 3 types of minister in the Church: bishops, presbyters/priests and deacons.
• Other Christians: There are varying levels of clergy depending on the denomination (e.g. some have bishops, others do not); for most denominations the head of the individual church is the pastor; some also have deacons and elders.

Saints

• Catholics: The saints are worthy of both honour and respect due to their fidelity to Christ. Catholics do not pray to saints, but ask saints to pray for them just as a they would ask any Christian for prayer. For Catholics, saints' physical bodies may be dead, but they are spiritually with Christ.
• Other Christians: All born-again believers (according to the New Testament) are saints (and can pray directly to God).

Mary, Mother of Jesus

• Catholics: The greatest saint is Mary, Mother of Jesus. Mary was so full of love for God that she did not sin (Immaculate Conception).
• Other Christians respect Mary as Jesus' mother but believe that she sinned like any other person.
• Catholics: Because she did not sin, Mary's resurrected body was taken into heaven immediately after her death (the Assumption).
• Other Christians believe Mary's body was buried.

Purgatory

• Catholics believe that only a person perfectly open to God can enter heaven; thus, when someone dies the sinfulness left inside is purged (Purgatory) by God's love. Purgatory is not a place but an experience.
• Other Christians do not have a doctrine of purgation. Most say that the soul goes immediately to either heaven or hell.

Tradition vs. Scripture

• Catholics: God not only speaks to His people through Sacred Scripture, but also through the daily life of the Church over a long period of time; this is called tradition, and, although important, can never contradict Scripture.
• Other Christians: Scripture alone is Truth, although some groups (e.g. Anglicans) do value tradition.

The Pope

• Catholics: The Bishop of Rome (pope) is the spiritual leader of the Church (Christ is the Head), as this is Christ's will.
• Other Christians: the pope is not the spiritual leader, although some non-Catholics (e.g. Anglicans) have their own spiritual leader.
• Catholics: Though he is capable of making mistakes, when the pope formally speaks about morals or dogma in the name of the whole Church, he cannot make a mistake because the Holy Spirit guides the Church. (Infallibility). This has only happened twice.
• Other Christians do not accept papal infallibility and do not believe that any one person can speak for the Church.

Note:

The above are the main doctrinal differences between Catholicism and non-Catholic Christianity. There are other differences, but these are due to human law, not divine, and may change e.g. Catholic priests of the Latin Rite may not be married, how the Church is governed and who chooses Church leaders.

And this only addresses Western Christianity. Coptic and the many versions of Orthodox Christianity (Greek, Ethiopian, etc.) are more similar to Catholic Christianity than to Protestant Christianity, but the specific differences go beyond the simple answer this question was seeking.

Answer 2

A Christian is a believer and follower of Christ. The Catholic religion teaches its followers to believe in and to follow Christ. Therefore, Catholics are Christian. The Catholic religion focuses on some details that other Christian religions do not consider at all. A main theme in the Catholic religion is praying to Mary (mother of Jesus) and to the 'cult of saints' in general. The word 'cult' is used in a special way in the Roman Catholic church. Many other Christian religions consider this a form of idolatry. Catholics are Christians. I think many Protestants use the term when they mean themselves. This may stem from Protestant parochial schools referring to themselves as "Christian schools". Catholic parochial schools are called "Catholic schools" leading some to think that Catholics are not Christians. I believe Marian devotion is also a feature of the Christian Orthodox religions.

The question should be phrased "Are Protestants and Catholics the same?" and the answer would be No. It would depend on what sect of Protestantism you are comparing: High-church Episcopalian might seem rather close to Catholicism, while Southern Baptist is not so close. I don't like this loaded question: it suggests/hints/implies that Catholics are not Christians. Furthermore, it make it sound like the terms Christian and Protestant are interchangeable. There may be many Protestants who really don't know the term "Protestant" applies to them. Marian devotion is not limited to Roman Catholics it is a feature in the Orthodox religions as well. I also believe it is incorrect to label Marian devotion as a "main theme" of Catholicism.

Answer 3

Catholicism is a form of Christianity, sometimes called the "original" form of it.

Roman Catholic AnswerThere is no difference between a Catholic and a Christian, they both mean exactly the same thing except that a person who was not in the visible Catholic Church could be considered a Christian insofar as he was baptized and believed in the Nicene Creed in its original meaning. That said, there is a vast difference in the way the words are used nowadays as protestants have appropriated the word "Christian" to mean a non-Catholic Christian meaning to specifically exclude Catholics when using the word. This is a sad commentary on the modern state of language and our descent into relativism and a distancing from truth.

from

A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

Christian

A name first given to the followers of our Lord at Antioch (Acts xi, 26). Since the rise of Protestantism the name has been used in so many different senses as to have become almost meaningless: it may indicate a Catholic or a Unitarian, or even be applied to an infidel who displays some virtue which is associated with Christ. It may reasonably be applied to the members of all the ancient churches, whether in communion with the Holy See, or not, and to those Protestants who profess, explicitly or implicitly, the Nicaean creed in its traditional interpretation. The Church puts no definite official meaning on the word, as she does on Catholic.

Christianity

is the religion of, the body of faith and morals taught by, the Catholic Church of Christ. The word may be properly extended to include the religious systems of the dissident Eastern -churches and of some Protestant bodies. The current popular use of the word in an ethical, subjective sense, is to be deplored: it is stripping it of all objective or historical connotations.

Catholic

I. The word is derived from Greek and simply means universal. In combination with the word "church" it essentially merely indicates one of the marks of the Church, and was so used by St. Ignatius at the beginning of the 2nd century; but in the course of history it has come to be the distinguishing epithet of the Church of Christ and his faith: under other circumstances its place might have been taken by "apostolic" or "one." The use of the word in this distinguishing way became current and common in England only from the middle of the 16th century. In some mediaeval translations of the Creed unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam is rendered "one holy apostolic church general."

ii. A Catholic is any person who, having been baptized, does not adhere to a non-Catholic religion or perform any act with the intention or effect of excluding himself from the Church. A "good Catholic" is one who practises his religion to the best of his ability.

iii. Catholics normally call themselves Catholics without qualification, and are distinguished by the name alike in West and East; except for a body of High Anglicans, no other Christians use the name as a distinguishing title. But Catholics of the Byzantine rite sometimes calls themselves Greek Catholics, Chaldeans are so called, and Maronites always refer to themselves simply as Maronites - they avoid the name Catholic for the good reason that there is no such thing as a Maronite who is not a Catholic, and because in Syria the epithet particularly designates a Catholic Melkite.

iv. As an adjective, Catholic in this special sense should only be used of subjects of which Catholicity is predicable, e.g., a man as man, a church, building, or catechism. To speak of a Catholic artist or grocer, Catholic poetry or truth is inaccurate and misleading: an artist or grocer who is a Catholic is a Catholic as a man (and this without reference to whether he paints only ecclesiastical pictures or supplies cheese only to the clergy); poetry may deal with a Catholic theme or be written by a poet who is a Catholic, but is not by that fact anything but poetry; truth is truth and it is improper to call the truth about the Catholic Church, Catholic truth; (cf., Catholic arithmetic, a Wesleyan judge, Quaker music, and, particularly, Catholic culture).

Answer 4

Catholicism is a form of Christianity, but not all Christianity is Catholicism. You'd need more a specific subject for comparison.

Roman Catholic AnswerAccording to the historical meanings of both words, Christianity and Catholicism are exactly the same thing. The confusion arises, in modern times, as those who have denied certain beliefs of the Christian religion have redefined "Christianity" to mean whatever their belief is. Those who are redefining the word, "Christianity", are classically known as heretics. In Catholicism "heresy" has a very specific meaning: anyone who, after receiving baptism, while remaining nominally a Christian, pertinaciously denies or doubts any of the truths that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith is considered a heretic. The baptism need not be in a Catholic Church to qualify, if the person denies being a Christian altogether, than they are an apostate, not a heretic.

Answer 5

Catholicism (which is the proper name for the Christian religion), like Judaism before it, is the only religion founded by God, Himself. The difference between Judaism and Catholicism is 1) Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism. Judaism contained the promises, for instance the promises of the Messiah, Christianity was the Messiah arriving; 2) Christianity was founded by God, Himself, IN PERSON - God arrived on the scene in the person of Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, to teach us how to attain salvation. He taught us that this world was a short period of trial in which we must give up ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. We are to deny ourselves and do HIS Will. All other religions were founded by individuals, and based on good principles, at least most of them. Any truth found in them is a reflection of Our Blessed Lord, Who was Truth Incarnate.

Answer 6

There is no difference as Catholics are Christians, the original Christians. Now, if you mean "How are Catholics and Protestants different?" one could write volumes about that.