Portal:Catholic Church
Introduction The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2022. 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...) Selected article
 Mangalorean Catholics are Roman Catholics from the former South Canara district on the southwestern coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language. Portuguese shipping arrived in Mangalore in 1526, and Catholic missionary activities began around 1534, when Canara was placed under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Bishop of Goa. Most of the ancestors of Mangalorean Catholics were Goan Catholics, who had migrated to South Canara from Goa, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 during the Goa Inquisition and the Portuguese-Maratha wars. Gradually they learned the languages of South Canara but retained Konkani as their mother tongue. In time, they referred to themselves as Mangalorean Catholics to distinguish themselves from their ancestors from Goa. The most disconsolate memory in the community's history was a 15-year captivity imposed by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of Mysore, from 24 February 1784 to 4 May 1799 at Seringapatam. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, the community resettled in South Canara, and gradually prospered under the British. The culture of Mangalorean Catholics is a blend of Canarese and Goan cultures. After migration, they adopted the local Canarese culture but retained many of their Goan customs and traditions. The Mangalorean Catholic diaspora is scattered across the globe, with emigrant communities in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and the English-speaking world.
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A ca. 1890–1900 photochrom of St. Alexander's Church (Kościół św. Aleksandra in Polish), a Catholic church in Warsaw, Poland, before its destruction in World War II. After the war it was rebuilt on a smaller scale. Selected biography
 Mother Teresa (Albanian: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu; Albanian pronunciation: [ˈaɡnɛs ˈɡɔndʒa bɔˈjadʒu]) (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.
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According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was among those who sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. He was probably one of the founders of the church at Antioch. (Full article...)
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