Portal:Catholicism

Roman Catholicism is the entirety of the beliefs and practices of the Western and Eastern churches which are in full communion with the Pope of Rome as the claimed successor of St. Peter the Apostle, united together as the Catholic Church. The term Roman Catholic was defined by the Roman Emperor Theodosius on February 27 AD 380 in the Theodosian Code XVI.i.2: "It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation, should continue the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one Deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Roman Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of divine condemnation and the second the punishment of our authority, in accordance with the will of heaven shall decide to inflict."

_{[Extract of English translation from Henry Bettenson, ed., Documents of the Christian Church (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 31, cited at Medieval Sourcebook: Theodosian Code XVI by Paul Halsall, Fordham University. Retrieved Jan 5, 2007. The full Latin text of the code is at IMPERATORIS THEODOSIANI CODEX Liber Decimus Sextus (170KB download), archived from George Mason University. trieved Jan 5, 2007.]}

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Our Lady of Fatima (pronounced [ˈfatimɐ]) is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May, the Fatima holiday. The title of Our Lady of the Rosary is also used in reference to the same apparition; the children related that the apparition specifically identified herself as "the Lady of the Rosary." It is also common to see a combination of these titles, i.e., Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima (Portuguese: ''Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima'').Between May and October of 1917, three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, reported visions of a luminous lady, believed to be the Virgin Mary, in the Cova da Iria fields outside the hamlet of Aljustrel, near Fatima, Portugal. The Lady appeared to the children on the 13th day of each month at approximately noon, for six straight months. The only exception was August, when the children were kidnapped by the local administrator.
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The School of Athens or "Scuola di Atene" in Italian is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1510 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

Selected biography

Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC/BCE to 26–36 AD/CE), also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, revered by most Christians as the incarnation of God, and is also an important figure in several other religions. The name "Jesus" is an Anglicization of the Greek Ίησους (Iēsous), itself a Hellenization of the Hebrew יהושע (Yehoshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic ישוע (Yeshua), meaning "YHWH rescues". "Christ" is a title derived from the Greek Χριστός (Christós), meaning the "Anointed One," which corresponds to the Hebrew-derived "Messiah". The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the gospels. Most scholars in the fields of history and biblical studies agree that Jesus was a Galilean Jew, was regarded as a teacher and healer, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on orders of Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire.
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Did you know...

• ... that Pope John Paul II placed rosary devotions (example pictured) at the very center of Christian spirituality and called them "among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation"?
• ... that the Codex Carolinus is one of very few Gothic fragments of the New Testament on parchment that has survived to the present day?
• ... that Father William C. McInnes, SJ, one of the first Jesuits to study business administration, simultaneously served as the president of both Fairfield University and the University of San Francisco for four months?
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Feast Day of October 9

Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/October 9

• February 20, 2010: The fourth annual Clericus Cup kicks off in Rome with the Pontifical North American College defeating the Collegio Pio-Brasiliano in a shootout. (CNA)
• February 19, 2010: At an ordinary consistory, Pope Benedict XVI announces that six beatified Catholics will be canonized on October 17. The six are Stanislaw Soltys, Can. Reg. Lat.; Andre Bessette, C.S.C.; Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola, F.J.; Mary MacKillop, R.S.J.; Giulia Salzano, S.C.S.C, and Battista da Varano, O.S.C. (VIS)
• February 13, 2010: Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Dominik Duka, OP (pictured), Bishop of Hradec Králové, as the new Archbishop of Prague. (AP)
• February 12, 2010: The Pave the Way Foundation will digitize and publish online a collection of documents from the Vatican Secret Archives concerning Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church's activities during World War II. (ZENIT)