If you look at Church history, there really is not “official name” used by anyone for much of it. Followers of Christ were always called something by someone, and it kind of stuck. Back then they just say, “the Church in Jerusalem” or “the Church in Antioch”. In Antioch the term “Christian” was first used in reference to the followers of Christ. But this was meant to be a derogatory term and often used in slurs. You will see in Scripture that even later on in Acts, St. Paul still refers to himself as being part of “The Way” rather than calling himself a Christian.
The Code of Canon Law of 1983 adopted the name Latin Church over Roman Church as the legal name for the Western Church, because Pope Paul VI realized that the term “Roman” no longer really described the Western Church. It was he who started to use the term Latin Church in any official documents.
Thanks brother! I didn’t know that!The Code of Canon Law of 1983 adopted the name Latin Church over Roman Church as the legal name for the Western Church, because Pope Paul VI realized that the term “Roman” no longer really described the Western Church. It was he who started to use the term Latin Church in any official documents.
The reason is actually quite simple. Originally, Roman Catholics came from the Roman Empire. In the 20th century, this was no longer the case. Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas are home to many Western Catholics who are not descendants of the Roman empire. The same is probably true of most of Northern Europe. especially the Slavic and Baltic countries. Their heritage is no truly Roman and their cultures are not truly Roman.
Roman would be more France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania and some of the outposts such as Britain, parts of Germany and parts of North Africa.
With the advent of the American Revolution, there followed the Revolutions of South America as well. The Roman Church was always suspect. Faithful Catholics were treated with suspicion out of a false belief that they have more fidelity to the pope than to the nation. The truth was that faithful Catholics were faithful to the Gospel and when the new governments transgressed the Gospel, they resisted. But they were no less patriotic than other nationals, be they Americans, Canadians, Venezuelans, Mexicans, or Australians.
Over the centuries, many Roman Catholics were influenced by the political environment of the new nations of the Post Columbian era, to the point that they compartamentalized their faith. This is still the case today. The want to put bishops and Church into a box where they should only speak about heaven and hell, but never about poverty, racism, materialism, exploitation, human trafficking, and other immoral issues in our society. In other words, Roman Catholics adopted the Protestant mindset. “The Church must submit to the state and limit her field of action according to the wishes of the democracy.” The term Roman Catholic took on a very negative meaning and still does, especially in the media.
Latin Catholic is faithful to the roots of the Church in the Latin world, while at the same time, it does not link Catholicism with any empire. The term Latin Catholic really describes a people from a particular faith community, but diverse political and ethnic communities.
Pope Paul VI had almost finished the revision of Canon Law when he died in 1978. Bl. John Paul II called the canonists back to Rome to finish the job. In 1983, he promulgated the new code. The first Canon calls the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin Church. Nowhere in the canons is the term Roman Catholic ever used again. The term Roman has been set aside to refer to one of the many Latin Rites: Roman Rite, Ambrosian Rite, Mozarabic Rite, Carthusian Rite, Dominican Rite, Bragan Rite, and Carmelite Rite.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
Perhaps that historical baggage exists (like, “those Greeks!”).
That’s easy to explain. Take this example. If you read the passport of any US Citizen, that’s exactly what it says.
Wow! So Roman Catholic is the knick name while Latin Church is the legal name, correct? What did Western Catholics identify themselves as before Pope Paul VI? What was the Legal name?That’s easy to explain. Take this example. If you read the passport of any US Citizen, that’s exactly what it says.
Citizenship: US
It does not say Citizenship: American
Why not?
However, in out popular custom or habit, people around the world refer to the United States as America. We’ve inverted the terms. America is used to identify the country rather than the continent. To keep things straight, we have to place N. or S. before America when speaking of the continent.
- America is a continent that crosses the Equator into northern and southern hemisphere. Therefore, everyone from this continent or two, whichever way you want to divide it, is American.
- America is not our legal name. We’re the United States OF America.
Another example, the Franciscans. The order that everyone calls The Franciscans is not really that. Their actual name is the Friars Minor of the Leonine Union. Franciscan is every religious community that that has direct succession from St. Francis of Assisi. But most of us simply call them the Franciscans. Amongst Franciscans, we refer to them as the Observants, because of all the groups that were united by Pope Leo XIII, the Observants was the largest. The laity does not know this. The few that do know it, just ignore it like the rest of us. The term Franciscans is easier and more familiar. No one around here calls my community The Brothers of Life. We’re called The Franciscans. Our legal name is Fratres Franciscani Vitae (Franciscan Brothers of Life). It’s all about being very human.
Even the Eastern Catholics refer to the people of the West as The Roman Catholics. It takes years for people to catch on to things like this.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
I think the terms were used interchangably in the past. We have to also note that many legal/historical references to “Roman Church” actually refer specifically to the diocese of Rome - not the entire Latin Church. A Cardinal is a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church because he is ceremonially incorporated into the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. Here, Holy Roman Church refers to the Diocese of Rome and not the entire Latin Church. Each cardinal is assigned a church in Rome to respect the ancient tradition that the clergy of Rome elect the pope. In terms of parishes named “Roman Catholic” you could also see it as a reference to the Rite…these are parishes of the Latin Church that use the Roman Rite. A parish of the Anglican Ordinariate, on the other hand, is also a parish of the Latin Church, but uses the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite and may prefer to identify itself as an “Anglican Catholic” church rather than a “Roman Catholic” church.
It was always the Latin Church, but in the Code of 1983, the name is legally used. This adaptation of the name Latin Church as the legal name came from Vatican II. I believe that we’re going to here this more and more, especially now that we have Eastern Catholic Cardinals.
