Catholicism
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Catholicism
The totality of the faith, doctrine, organizational form, and way of life of the Roman Catholic Church.
Der Katholizismus ist mit über einer Milliarde Anhängern die größte Konfession innerhalb des Christentums.
With over a billion followers, Catholicism is the largest denomination within Christianity.
The ending '-ismus' (-ism) often indicates a worldview, a doctrine, a political movement, or a religion. When you see this ending, you can often infer such a meaning, for example in 'Kapitalismus' (capitalism), 'Sozialismus' (socialism), or 'Buddhismus' (Buddhism).
Der Humanismus stellt den Menschen in den Mittelpunkt.
Humanism places human beings at the center.
This word belongs to a family: 'der Katholizismus' (Catholicism) is the religion, 'katholisch' (Catholic) is the corresponding adjective, and 'der Katholik' or 'die Katholikin' (Catholic) is a person who belongs to this religion.
Meine Nachbarin ist eine gläubige Katholikin.
My neighbor is a devout Catholic.
When someone adopts this religion, the verbs 'konvertieren' (to convert) or 'übertreten' (to convert/change over) are often used. The appropriate preposition is 'zu' (to).
Er hat sich intensiv mit der Bibel beschäftigt und ist dann zum Katholizismus konvertiert.
He studied the Bible intensively and then converted to Catholicism.
Christianity
'das Christentum' and 'der Katholizismus' are closely related, but they are not the same. 'das Christentum' is the whole religion that refers to Jesus Christ. It includes different branches. 'der Katholizismus' is a specific branch within Christianity, namely the Roman Catholic Church with its doctrine and organization. Learners may confuse the words because all Catholics are Christians. But not all Christians are Catholic.
Für die Prüfung liest Anna einen Text über den Katholizismus.
For the exam, Anna is reading a text about Catholicism.
Im Kurs lernen wir, wie sich das Christentum in Europa verbreitet hat.
In the course, we learn how Christianity spread in Europe.