If someone is not baptized can they call themself a Catholic?

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No, calling oneself Catholic does not make them Catholic if they have not received the sacraments needed.
 
No… baptism is required. Or, if you were a validly baptised person outside of the Catholic Church, you would need to make a profession of Catholic faith to become Catholic.
 
Baptism makes one a Child of God, and most certainly a Trinitarian Christian. However, Baptism, alone, does not a Catholic make.

Theology and religion should not, but often does, define our relationship with God…it is the Mercy of God, and His knowledge of our heart, that determines salvation…regardless of our particular brand of faith…recall what the Holy Father said about non-Catholics and even Atheists and their likelihood of salvation…there are many of us, who have been Baptized, and call ourselves “Catholics” who are not assured salvation if it were not of the Love of God…remember Paul’s words about there being not Greek, no Jew, et.al.

Just “Rejoice in the Lord Always. I will say it again, Rejoice!”
 
I just assumed that for all Christian rites (aside from the adult baptism ones) baptism was required to call yourself a Catholic/Episcopalian/Methodist/etc.
 
A Catecumen who has been moved by the Holy Spirit is already Catholic. The rites of initiation simply make it possible and licit to receive the sacraments.
 
No, but they may be being called to become one. So be careful excluding someone.
 
To avoid confusion, it might be better to say that they are “Catholic at heart” or something similar.

St Thomas Aquinas, talked about an unbaptized person who desired baptism as being mentally incorporated into the body of Christ and when they were baptized as being corporally incorporated into the body of Christ. (link to my previous post on a similar subject)
 
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They can, provided they believe what we do, but they may not recieve the Sacraments until they are baptized. This is what my priest told some guys looking to convert a while ago.
 
I would say that if they intend to be baptized Catholic and are taking steps in that direction, such as going through RCIA, they can call themselves a Catholic because they at least qualify for the baptism of desire, should they die tomorrow without completing the process. Similarly, if they were martyred for being Catholic even though they had not yet been able to actually receive the baptism (let’s say they were at the Easter vigil lined up to be baptized and the church was bombed before the baptism actually happened) then they would qualify for the baptism of blood and thus be Catholic.

If they are not taking steps and/ or do not intend to receive Baptism, then they cannot call themselves a Catholic or even a Christian. Baptism - of water, desire, or blood - is required to make you a Christian.
 
A prominent and famous Christian musician was in RCIA when he died. He was baptized. So he was Christian. But he was not Catholic… he might be now though…
 
To be absolutely correct, we would say “Catholic catechumen” or “Aspiring Catholic” or something like that. However, “Catholic” for short is okay with me as long as they’re definitely on the path and not just thinking about maybe becoming Catholic.
 
Guest1 said:
Yes ? No?

Thoughts?🙂
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Catechism
1249 Catechumens "are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity."48 "With love and solicitude mother Church already embraces them as her own."49

48 AG 14 § 5.
49 LG 14 § 3; cf. CIC, cann. 206; 788 § 3.
AG Ad gentes
LG Lumen gentium
CIC Codex Iuris Canonici
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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm
 
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Are we talking about someone who considers themselves a Catholic, and who wishes (as far as they know what it is) to do what Church wants of them?

Or are we talking about someone who obstinately refuses to undergo babtism for private reasons?

The former would be a Catholic, the latter wouldn’t be.
 
Good answers. Just as a side, since the OP’s public profile is hidden and I cannot send a PM, Ginger, please correct your thread title. There is no such word as "theirself’, and someone is singular not plural in any case, so to make your subject and verb agree, please try, “If people are not baptized, can they call themselves Catholic”; thanks.
 
I think there is a debatable issue for someone that is INTENDING to be baptized and moving toward that goal with RCIA etc. But just an unbaptized person in general nope. Not Catholic, not sure why they would be claiming it at all?
 
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