text: what does word " catolic" means.? i wander how many catolics know what ctolicism means. catholic means "universal" in latin.  constantine merged all the different religions into one and called it the "universal religion." the stated purpose of the council of nicaea was to develop a single philosophy that would become the official religion of the roman empire.  how that became "christianity" is a mystery.  the universal religion is based on pauline doctrine and is far more pagan than hebrew. the universal church should be called the "church of paul" or "church of constantine" since it has little or no resemblance to anything jesus did or taught.