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The Catechism in Questions & Answers

80. What is the position of man in the creation?

Human beings belong as much to the visible as to the invisible creation because they possess both a material nature (body) and a non-material nature (soul and spirit).
Of all creatures, God conferred on human beings a special position, and thereby brought them into a close relationship to Himself: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1: 26-27).

The term ‘material’ is derived from the Latin word materia, which means “substance”, “content”. That which is visible, substantial, and physically tangible is thus described as “material”. By contrast, the term ‘non-material’ is used to describe that which is spiritual, invisible, and intangible for human beings.