Portal:Catholic Church

Catholic Church Portal

Introduction

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small independent city-state and enclave within the Italian capital city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.

The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium of the church. The Roman Rite and others of the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and institutes such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.

Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Perpetual Virgin, Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven; she is honoured in dogmas and devotions. Catholic social teaching emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates tens of thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations. (Full article...)

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The Ursuline Convent Riots were riots that occurred on August 11 and August 12, 1834 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, near Boston in what is now Somerville, Massachusetts. During the riot, a convent of Roman Catholic Ursuline nuns was burned down by a Protestant mob. The event was triggered by reported abuse of a member of the order, and was fueled by the rebirth of extreme anti-Catholic sentiment in antebellum New England. In 1820, the Most Reverend Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, bishop of the newly created diocese of Boston, granted permission for the establishment of a convent of Ursuline teaching nuns in a building next to the cathedral. A school for girls was set up in the convent, in which approximately 100 students were enrolled.By 1827, the school and convent had outgrown the building. In July of that year, the community moved to a larger building on Ploughed Hill (later Mount Benedict), in Charlestown. The school began to enroll primarily the daughters of the Protestant upper classes of Boston; by 1834 there were forty-seven students, only six of whom were Catholic.
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Credit: Blieusong

The façade of Notre-Dame de Paris, showing the Portal of the Virgin, Portal of the Last Judgment and Portal of St-Anne.

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Pope Pius XII (Latin: Pius PP. XII; Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death. Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio and cardinal secretary of state, in which roles he worked to conclude treaties with European nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Germany. His leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II and The Holocaust remains the subject of continued historical controversy. After the war, Pius XII contributed to the rebuilding of Europe, and advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies toward vanquished nations and the unification of Europe. The Church, flourishing in the West, experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in Eastern Europe and China.
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Did you know...

... that the Most Rev. S. Arulappa (pictured), Archbishop of Hyderabad, was the youngest priest to be consecrated as a Roman Catholic Archbishop in India?
... that Father Nelson Baker, founder of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York, is buried in the basilica's transept in a grotto hewn from Vesuvian black lava?
... that Saint Vigilius of Trent, stoned to death for overturning a statue of Saturn, was the first martyr canonized by a pope?

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Feast Day of July 11

Benedict of Nursia (Latin: Benedictus Nursiae; Italian: Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was an Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches. In 1964 Pope Paul VI declared Benedict a patron saint of Europe.

Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco in present-day Lazio, Italy (about 65 kilometres (40 mi) to the east of Rome), before moving further south-east to Monte Cassino in the mountains of central Italy. The present-day Order of Saint Benedict emerged later and, moreover, is not an "order" as the term is commonly understood, but a confederation of autonomous congregations. (Full article...)
Attributes: Bell, broken tray, broken cup and serpent representing poison, broken utensil, bush, crosier, man in a Benedictine cowl holding Benedict's rule or a rod of discipline, raven
Patronage: Against poison, against witchcraft, agricultural workers, cavers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, dying people, erysipelas, Europe, farmers, fever, gall stones; Heerdt, Germany; heraldry and Officers of arms; Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest; inflammatory diseases; Italian architects; kidney disease; monks, nettle rash; Norcia, Italy; people in religious orders; San Beda University; schoolchildren and students; servants who have broken their master's belongings; speleologists; spelunkers; temptations

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Sharing in solicitude for all the Churches, bishops exercise this episcopal office of theirs, received through episcopal consecration, in communion with and under the authority of the Supreme Pontiff. All are united in a college or body with respect to teaching the universal Church of God and governing her as shepherds.

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— Robert Bellarmine Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office

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