Why Did the catholic church change the name of the followers of Christ from Christians to Catholics?

It didn't. "Catholic" means universal, so originally the catholic church was the universal church.

The followers of Christ have always been called Christians.

The term "catholic" was applied to the church by the beginning of the 2nd century. At that time, "church" meant Christianity. The term "catholic" meant that the same doctrines were held by all true Christians everywhere.

"Catholic", when applied to persons, is an abbreviation of "Catholic Christian". It's not a name change, just a shortening.

Catholic did not come from the bible. 'Christian' is a word mentioned in the original bible texts TWICE. the catholic church like to make up a lot of there own rules its an interresting question with a massive answer but rather than bash the catholic religion i'll answer your question as best I can.

The Catholic church has added so many of their own rules and guidelines, asking why they have done so is like asking why the presidency has changed their rules and laws on taxes and governmental control. the answer to the question is so long you could write a book on it. Christian was not 'changed' by people, it is in the bible, the original bible. Catholic is not, just like their authority is not mentioned in the bible. the catholic religion is their INTERPRETATION of the bible. just like any other major world religion, such as mormonism. the only problem is that the Catholics have been around so long they have enough money and power to be at the top of the religious food chain.

as a christian, im sort of offended to think you would consider catholicism the next stage of religious evolution from christ to 'christianity' to. catholicism.? no. honest question tho, so its cool.

as a true christian we believe 'if it aint in the bible, it doesnt exist'. catholicism and its rules and superstitions do not exist. just because we both believe in christ does not make us alike. hope it helps.

Deuteronomy 32:31 (King James Version)

31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

that rock being the rock of a catholics, and the Rock being Jesus Christ which is true Christianity

Catholics worship the holy mother

Actually, Christian is a term used to denote folks who believe in the Trinity, and that Jesus came to Earth, suffered, died, and was resurrected on the third day.

The term Catholic was used to denote the universal Church that Jesus established. In fact, we see writings of St. Ignatius from as far back as 70AD in which the term "Catholic" is used. Remember, in order for the name to be used, the object must have existed first. Also, to write about something, the readers would also already have a clear understanding of what was being written about. As such, we KNOW the Catholic Church existed even prior to the writings.

GOD BLESS...

This was a definition in contrast to other groups who also took the name of 'Christian'. Bear in mind there have been false teachers since the Book of Acts, when Simon Magus attempted to 'buy' the Apostolic gifts.

The first evidence that the word "Catholic" was used to denote a distinct institution was in the early 2nd century (ie, within decades after the closing of Scripture) and was used by a Catholic bishop in a letter to another bishop to differentiate those bishops who taught the true faith as opposed to groups such as Gnostics who taught one based upon attempting to transcend physical existence.

It wasn't so much a change as a way of being absolutely clear. It had more meaning once separate churches arose - such as the Orthodox in the 9th century and the Protestant in the 16th. Today we still call ourselves "Catholic Christians" but we remain Christians.

We didn't. Prior to the schism, the terms Christian and Catholic were synonymous. After the Protestants broke away from Catholicism, they apparently decided that they needed something to distinguish themselves from Catholics, so they co-opted the term "Christian" for themselves.

The truth is that if anyone has the right to call themselves Christians, it would be those of us who are Catholic. Our church was the first and the only one directly founded by Jesus Himself. And many of us *do* identify ourselves as Catholic Christians just to let the Protestants (particularly the fundamentalists, evangelicals, and Baptists) know that they have no exclusive rights to the name of Christ.

We are all Christians: the only question is if we belong to the Catholic or the Protestant faith.

They didn't. "Catholic" literally means "universal". The universal Church existed prior to any splits or schisms. At the Great Schism the Eastern Church took the title Orthodox while the Roman Church took the name Catholic. Both of them are generic terms and both are found in the titles of other churches as well. Catholics belong to the Church in Rome, the same Church the book of Romans was addressed to.

They didn't Catholic simply means universal. Until Luther broke away from the Universal christian church aka Catholic church there was only one.

Good question, one just has to imagine that the RCC wanted control over their members and discouraged the term "Christian" because it is inclusive of all true believers. The RCC wants their members to believe that the RCC is the ONLY church.

Roman Catholic doctrine regarding the church is just as flawed as their doctrine of geocentrism. It only took the RCC four hundred years to correct the geocentrism theory, however, the RCC may never admit their "mistake" when it comes to their doctrines regarding their man-made religion.

This is just more proof that it is better to trust what the Bible says rather than what any denomnination says.

Catholics and Christians were synonymous before the reformation when the only type of Christian was a catholic.