Origin: Greek suffix -ism
Catharism has 2 different meanings across 2 categories:
a Christian movement considered to be a medieval descendant of Manichaeism in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries; characterized by dualism (asserted the coexistence of two mutually opposed principles, one good and one evil); was exterminated for heresy during the Inquisition
A Christian religious sect of mediaeval Europe, with dualistic and gnostic elements; condemned as a heresy by Pope Innocent III in 1209