Wikipedia:Proposed naming conventions (Catholic Church)

This is a failed proposal.

Consensus for its implementation was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump.

The article name Catholic Church was set in 2009. Branch theory-derived and theological neutrality-appealing WP:POV/WP:PRECISION (ambiguity) objections tend to be dismissed along WP:IDONTLIKEIT/WP:POINT/WP:FRINGE lines. However, what has nevertheless settled the WP:CONSENSUS since 2009 is interpretation of WP:COMMONNAME/WP:PRIMARYUSAGE; both echoing preeminent self-designation. Generic articles since followed suit per WP:CONSISTENCY until all generic Catholic Church-related content pertained in 2017 (notably excluding episcopal conferences, provinces, dioceses, and some independent organisations). A naming conventions mirroring this consistent, arguably de facto convention, was drafted here in September 2017 with background in User:Vaquero100/CC vs. RCC from 2006, in turn a mix of an essay and a naming convention proposal previously referred to in discussions. While in a drafted state, a formal admission proposal by voting was initiated by a user but failed after a few days 6 October 2017. It has since been renamed and maintained in a failed proposal state. Though, a follow-up discussion includes a derived Cuius regio, eius religio-styled convention. In 2018, a new proposal was drafted at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Catholicism).

These naming conventions regarding the Catholic Church is a collection of guidelines on how to name Wikipedia articles about the Catholic Church, as well as associated people and entities. It is offered as a central point of reference. For articles' respective very text contents, please refer to Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Catholic Church.

The guiding principles of naming articles relating to the Catholic Church are as follows, in order of relative priority:

Follow all general Wikipedia policies, including the policies on Wikipedia:Article titles (WP:Concise), WP:Neutral point of view, WP:No original research, and WP:Verifiability, as perceived through WP:Consensus
Subject to WP:Consistency for convienience

Guidelines

The universal Catholic Church

Articles that apply to the Catholic Church in general should use the phrase "Catholic Church" or the adjective "Catholic". Such articles should be recognisable, natural, precise, concise, and consistent with other Catholic Church-related titles, and should reflect a neutral point of view. For example:

Catholicism

Articles that apply specifically to Catholic things, but not necessarily the entire Catholic Church, should use the phrase "Catholic". In some cases where confusion might arise because of the presence of multiple particular churches sui iuris the phrase Roman Catholic may be used as a disambiguator for the Latin Church based on local consensus.

The term Catholic or its derivatives such as Catholicism are appropriate when referring to organisations, doctrines, and practices that have a historical connection to the Catholic Church and/or Catholicism. For example:

The scope of the term Catholicism might differ from the term Catholic Church, in that Catholicism might be perceived as reflecting a broader spectra, including beyond that of the Catholic Church in an ecclesiological sense.

Particular churches sui iuris

Articles about Catholic particular churches sui iuris should use the full name. For example:

Chaldean Catholic Church
- Chaldean Catholics

However, one exception is:

Syriac Maronite Church
- Maronites

Latin Church

There has been active discussions on the names of entities related to the Latin Church. There is currently not an overarching consensus as to whether or not Roman Catholic should be used in reference to distinguish entities particular to the Latin Church, such as dioceses.

National polities

Examples:

Ecclesiastical provinces

Example:

Ecclesiastical Province of Freiburg

Episcopal conferences

Shortcut

WP:EPISCOPALCONFERENCES

As for episcopal conferences - often but not always equivalent to sovereign national territories - the WP:Consistency is as follows:

"Episcopal Conference of X", for instance:
- Episcopal Conference of France
- Episcopal Conference of Germany

Other alternatives have been refuted on the following grounds:

"Spanish Episcopal Conference": Because not all episcopal conferences follow one nation, and it would be inconvenient to name all of these as adjectives
"Bishops Conference", "Bishop's Conference", "Bishops' Conference": Too much inconsistency

Dioceses

Notably, for article names of Catholic dioceses, particularly those located in historically Catholic-minority, Christian regions, Roman Catholic is often used, though, consensus on its use seems unclear.

Individuals

Titles of articles relating to people should generally follow Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people). However, it is a recurrent practice within the Catholic Church to sometimes indicate leading figures with a prefix, for example:

Exceptionately also sobriquets apply, such as Albertus Magnus.

Saints follow MOS:SAINTS.

As for most cases in ordained people commonly referred to by their Latin names, this use is generally discouraged, but rather their native name or its prevalent equivalent in English language is advocated.

Related subjects

Articles that pertains to both the Catholic Church and a given subject, typically follow the formula Catholic Church and X. For example:

Disambiguations

If necessary for disambiguation, articles that apply broadly to the whole Catholic Church should preferentially contain the ending in the Catholic Church. For example:

Redirects

Articles containing "Catholic", "Roman Catholic", "Catholicism", and similar phrases should redirect to pages pertaining to the Catholic Church.

However, disambiguation pages are also due: