Catholicisation

Catholicisation (American English: Catholicization) refers mainly to the conversion of adherents of other religions to Catholicism, and the system of expanding Catholic influence in politics. Catholicisation was a policy of the Holy See through the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy. Sometimes this process is referred to as re-Catholicisation, although in many cases Catholicised people had never been Catholics before.

The term is also used for the communion of Eastern Christian churches into the Catholic Church; the Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Armenian, East Syrian and West Syrian Rites, as opposed to the Latin Church.