not just a pretty church! In Catholicism it is the seat of a bishop. Each diocese has a cathedral. It can be any size, shape or style. A cathedral is like the capital of a diocese. A diocese can be a large city or an entire state or region. My old diocese had two "co-cathedrals" because the bishop spent part of the year at each church. Neither was particularly spectacular or what people think of when they say "cathedral", but they were cathedrals!
This is just in Catholicism. If other churches have cathedrals, I would assume they fit into the church heirarchy in a similar way.
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