Question:
Why is the church called catholic?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
We don't really know why they chose this adjective which means universal but it fits.
The Church has referred to itself as the ??Catholic Church?? at least since 107 AD, when the term appears in the Letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans:
"Wherever the bishop appear, there let the multitude be; even as wherever Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church."
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/te...
All of this was long before the Council of Nicea and the Nicene Creed from 325 A.D. which states, "We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."
With love in Christ.