The definition of catholic is "universal."
The meaning is
static as defined by those who wrote the Nicene Creed in AD 325.
The Nicene Creed was written in AD 325. The title Pontifex Maximus - "supreme priest" - was given to the bishop of Rome in
AD 330,
after the Council of Nicaea
from
Roman Catholicism | History, Definition, & Facts
Curiously, after the newly converted emperor
Constantine (died 337) transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople
in 330, Rome’s civil authority was weakened,
but its spiritual authority was strengthened: the title “supreme priest” (pontifex maximus), which had been the prerogative of the emperor, now devolved upon the pope. The transfer of the capital also occasioned a dispute between Rome (“Old Rome”) and Constantinople (“New Rome”) over whether the new capital should be entitled to a
commensurate ecclesiastical preeminence alongside the see (seat of a bishop’s office) of Peter. The second and fourth
ecumenical councils of the church (at Constantinople in 381 and at Chalcedon in 451) both legislated such a position for the see of Constantinople,
but Rome refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of that prerogative.
It was also at the
Council of Chalcedon—which was convoked to resolve the doctrinal controversy between Antioch and Alexandria over the person of Jesus Christ—that the council fathers
accepted the formula proposed by Pope Leo I (reigned 440–461), which offered the orthodox teaching of Christ’s Incarnation and of the union of both his natures.
Recognizing the authority with which Leo spoke, the council fathers declared, “Peter has spoken through the mouth of Leo!”
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