If someone says that they are catholic AND pagan, they are not catholic.

This is why the first Amendment exists. Believe whatever BS you want to believe. And change your mind about it as much as you want to. You won't get much respect, but you get to explore and modify your belief at will.

If you are catholic you obey and trust the Pope, the Pope is never wrong. So... if the pope says you are a blue toad with golden horn, then it is this what you believe.
The pope says catholics are Christians, so if you are catholic, you believe you are Christian, if you don't do so you are not catholic or you are doing some heresy that should get you excomulgated (and isolated from community, possibly stripped of your rights, properties and probably life).

Pagan originally meant 'villager' from 'pagani' someone who lives in the villages, and it was a snob word used with a sneer. Perhaps they mean they are peasants, living in a village. LOL

Yes, it does make sense when one realises that, in the West, being Catholic for a great many people is a cultural statement, not a religious statement. They may even enjoy the theatre of the mass etc, but they don't believe any of the tenets of Catholicism.
I know personally some Catholic guys who love to sleep around, smoke weed, swear, etc, couldn't care less about 'sin', don't believe in Jesus as Lord, but say they are Catholic.

That friend is bloody weird. None of my catholic friends or family members or schools classified us as pagans. She is not a pagan because she is catholic. She is a pagan in addition to being catholic. And yes catholics are a type of christian, whether she admits it to herself or not. Just more of her delusions it seems.

"Types of Christianity
Christianity is broadly split into three branches: Catholic, Protestant and (Eastern) Orthodox.

The Catholic branch is governed by the Pope and Catholic bishops around the world. The Orthodox (or Eastern Orthodox) is split into independent units each governed by a Holy Synod; there is no central governing structure akin to the Pope."

[history.com].

I was forced by my parents to attend a Baptist church up to the age of 18. I might be able to shed some light on something that may (or may not) be clouding the issue of Catholics not being Christians. It is in the Baptist dogma that in order to be a "Christian" one has to be "born again"...to go through an epiphany wherein one accepts the load Jesus Christ as one's personal savior. Catholics on the other hand, do not seem to have that process in their dogma...just have to attend to the rituals as mandated by the catholic church. The Baptists believe that unless one has that particular event in one's life, they are not "Christians" and will not go to heaven despite good works, attendance, observing any ritual.

Doesn't make sense.

Paganism and Catholicism are not Christianity. Christianity grew out of Catholicism, and Paganism, but took root after the printing press made Bible reading accessable to masses. It was no longer the realm of exalted Priests who told us what to make of scripture as we could read and follow the teachings of Jesus without them. Paganism had long since died so wasn't even a thing. Then, with Pope John Paul I, Catholicism reared its ugly head again and Paganism became a subject to counter the resurrection of Catholic Priests. I think we are living in the apex of that effort but Christians treat both as a cult. Southern Baptists, and their sister religion of Evangelicalism, is an Old Testament response to both. Because it is not based on Jesus, but the Old Testament God, it is also a non-CHRISTian cult. This is why I think we can only bring them back to Jesus but not pull them away from religious expression. Jesus was a more "liberal" guy (his teachings were Taoist) so if we can do that they may become more liberal over time.

Yes, catholic would be Romanized after what was started to be called "the way" in the book of Acts of biblical text.

There is a lot a pagan stuff merged into what is now called christianity.

Wheither catholic or Christian it is still merged with paganism stuff.