Why is Jesus called the Christ? ... Secondly, ... Why are Catholics (The New People of God) called Christians*?
CHRIST 436 The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Messiah, which means "anointed." It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. [Cf.
Ex 29:7;
Lev 8:12;
1 Sam 9:16; 10:1; 16:1, 12-13;
1 Kings 1:39; 19:16.]
This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively. [Cf.
Ps 2:2;
Acts 4:26-27.] It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. [Cf.
Isa 11:2; 61:1;
Zech 4:14; 6:13:
Lk 4:16-21.] Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet, and king.
437 To the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." [
Lk 2:11.] From the beginning he was "the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world," conceived as "holy" in Mary's virginal womb. [
Jn 10:36: cf.
Lk 1:35.] God called Joseph to "take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit," so that Jesus, "who is called Christ," should be born of Joseph's spouse into the messianic lineage of David. [
Mt 1:20; cf.
Mt 1:16;
Rom 1:1;
2 Tim 2:8;
Rev 22:16.]
438 Jesus' messianic consecration reveals his divine mission, "for the name 'Christ' implies 'he who anointed,' 'he who was anointed' and 'the very anointing with which he was anointed.' The one who anointed is the Father, the one who was anointed is the Son, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing." [St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres., 3, 18, 3: PG 7/1, 934.]
His eternal messianic consecration was revealed during the time of his earthly life at the moment of his baptism by John, when "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power," "that he might be revealed to Israel" [
Acts 10:38;
Jn 1:31.] as its Messiah. His works and words will manifest him as "the Holy One of God." [
Mk 1:24;
Jn 6:69;
Acts 3:14.]
439 Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David," promised by God to Israel. [Cf.
Mt 2:2; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30; 21:9, 15.] Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah, though with some reserve because it was understood by some of his contemporaries in too human a sense, as essentially political. [Cf.
Jn 4:25-26; 6:15; 11:27;
Mt 22:41-46;
Lk 24:21.]
440 Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man. [Cf.
Mt 16:16-23.] He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man "who came down from heaven," and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." [
Jn 3:13:
Mt 20:28; cf.
Jn 6:62;
Dan 7:13;
Isa 53:10-12.]
Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross. [Cf.
Jn 19:19-22;
Lk 23:39-43.] Only after his Resurrection will Peter be able to proclaim Jesus' messianic kingship to the People of God: "Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." [
Acts 2:36.] [CCC (The Teaching of Christ), #436-440]
THE JOINT MISSION OF THE SON AND THE SPIRIT
689 The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God. [Cf.
Gal 4:6.] Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him.
690 Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. [Cf.
Jn 3:34.] When Christ is finally glorified, [
Jn 7:39.] he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory, [Cf.
Jn 17:22.] that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. [Cf.
Jn 16:14.] From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:
The notion of anointing suggests . . . that there is no distance between the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son's Lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith. [St. Gregory of Nyssa, De Spiritu Sancto, 16: PG 45, 1321A-B.]
[CCC (The Teaching of Christ), #689-690]
ONE OF THE SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
695 Anointing. The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, [Cf.
1 Jn 2:20:27;
2 Cor 1:21.] to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called "chrismation" in the Churches of the East. Its full force can be grasped only relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew "
messiah") means the one "anointed" by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David. [Cf.
Ex 30:22-32;
1 Sam 16:13.] But Jesus is God's Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established him as "Christ." [Cf.
Lk 4:18-19;
Isa 61:1.]
The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth, and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord. [Cf.
Lk 2:11, 26-27.] The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. [Cf.
Lk 4:1; 6:19; 8:46.] Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. [Cf.
Rom 1:4; 8:11.] Now, fully established as "Christ" in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until "the saints" constitute - in their union with the humanity of the Son of God - that perfect man "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ": [
Eph 4:13; cf.
Acts 2:36.] "the whole Christ," in St. Augustine's expression. " [CCC (The Teaching of Christ), #695]
"For him hath God, the Father, sealed." (St. John 6:27)
"And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down,
as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him." (St. John 1:32)
Praised be Jesus the Anointed, the Holy One of God! 
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*
Christians:
838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter."322 Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church."323
With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."324
Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText A. H. J. E. After the
Heart of
Jesus
Evangelist
"Ha Mashiach / The Christ / The Anointed" of the Catholic Church & THE CHRISTIAN NAME 
Re: "Ha Mashiach / The Christ / The Anointed" of the Catholic Church & THE CHRISTIAN 
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