Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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WORLD

The term has two distinct meanings in revelation and Catholic doctrine. It is generally identified with the visible universe, kosmos, in the biblical Greek, and mundus, in the Latin Vulgate. As such it is the world of creation, made by God, and therfore to toally subject to his divine will. Buth there is also the world of sin, estranged from God as the creation of man's self-will. It is at variance with the divine will and is what Christ meant when he said, "I am not praying for the world" (John 17:9).