What makes a cathedral a cathedral?
The Roman Catholic church is governed by bishops, each of whom is in charge of diocese much like secular nations are divided into states, departments or provinces. Just as a state or province has a capital so a diocese has a capital. In the case of a diocese that capital is represented by a church from which the bishop or archbishop “rules” his diocese (or archdiocese). Such a church is called a Cathedral, a word which comes from the Latin word meaning “seat” because in each cathedral is an Episcopal (or archiepiscopal) throne, which is to say the seat from which the bishop (or archbishop) theoretically rules.
