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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 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 Anglosphere.
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 Father Damien de Veuster (January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889, born Jozef de Veuster and also known as Saint Damien of Molokai) was a priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious order. Father Damien is known for his ministering of people with what was then widely known as leprosy, who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine, on the island of Moloka'i, in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He eventually contracted the disease himself, and is widely considered a "martyr of charity". In the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions, as well as other denominations of Christianity, Damien is considered the spiritual patron for Hansen's Disease, HIV and AIDS patients as well as outcasts. In both ecumenical religious and non-sectarian communities, Damien is being adopted as the symbol of how society should treat HIV/AIDS patients in defiance of the misconceptions of the disease, much like leprosy treatment was an outgrowth of misconceptions. Several memorials have been made to Damien worldwide. The Father Damien Statue honors the priest in bronze at the United States Capitol while a full size replica stands in front of the Hawaii State Capitol. In 2005, Damien was honored with the title of De Grootste Belg, chosen as The Greatest Belgian throughout Belgian history in polling conducted by the Flemish public broadcasting service, VRT.
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Josaphat Kuntsevich ( Belarusian: Язафат Кунцэвіч, Jazafat Kuncevič, Polish: Jozafat Kuncewicz, Ukrainian: Йосафат Кунцевич, Josafat Kuntsevych) is a martyr and saint of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, born in the little town of Volodymyr in the region of Volhynia, then part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now in Belarus), 12 November 1623. Josaphat's birth occurred in a gloomy period for the then-unified Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine Union had become a dead-letter; in the case of the Ruthenian Church, complete demoralization followed in the wake of its severance from the Roman see, and the whole body of its clergy has been accused by the Catholic Church of ignorance and viciousness. After the Union of Bierascie in 1596, the Ruthenian Church was divided by schism into two contending parties — the Greek-Catholic party, and those rejecting the Union — each with its own hierarchy. Among the leaders of the antiunion party, Meletius Smotrytsky was conspicuous, and the most celebrated of his opponents was Josaphat, who promoted Catholic unity with Rome. In 1604, at the age of twenty-four, he entered the Monastery of the Trinity of the Basilian Fathers, at Vilnius. The fame of his religious devotion, charity and sanctity rapidly spread, and distinguished people began to visit him. After a notable life as a layman, Rutski also joined the order. When Josaphat reached the diaconate, regular services and labor for the Church had been already begun; the number of novices steadily increased, and under Rutski — who had meanwhile been ordained priest — there began the regeneration of Eastern Catholic religious life among the Ruthenians (Belarusians and Ukrainians). In 1609, after private study under Fabricius, a Jesuitpriest, Josaphat was ordained priest by a Catholic bishop. He subsequently became Superior in several monasteries, and on 12 November 1617, was reluctantly consecrated Bishop of Vitsebsk, with right of succession to the Archbishopric of Polotsk. He became archbishop in 1618. Each succeeding year witnessed the steady growth of the conflict with the anti-Union Eastern Orthodox party. Finally on 12 November 1623, an axe-stroke and a bullet fired from an Orthodox mob ended Josaphat's life. His favourite devotional exercise was to make prostrations in which the head touches the ground, saying: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Never eating meat, he fasted much, wore a hair shirt and an angular chain, slept on the bare floor, and chastised his body until the blood flowed. The Jesuits frequently urged him to set some bounds to his austerities. Not only in the church did he preach and hear confessions, but likewise in the fields, hospitals, prisons, and even on his personal journeys. This zeal, united with his kindness for the poor, won great numbers of Orthodox Ruthenians for the Catholic faith and Catholic unity. Among his converts were included many important personages such as Ignatius, former Patriarch of Moscow, and Emmanuel Cantacuzenus, who belonged to the imperial family of the Byzantine Emperor Palaeologus. During the schismatic conflict, he refused to avail himself of the opportunity of flight afforded him. After his death during it, his influence was still greater: conversions to Catholic unity were numerous, and veneration for him continued to extend, also among the Latins.
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Patronage: Polish parishes in the United States, most notably among them are the Basilica of St. Josaphat, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and St Josaphat's parish in Chicago, Illinois.
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- November 9, 2009: Pope Benedict XVI publishes the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, establishing personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans who seek to enter full communion with the Catholic Church. (Rome Reports)
- October 24, 2009: Pope Benedict XVI names Cardinal Peter Turkson (pictured) of Ghana as the new president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (AP)
- October 20, 2009: Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced that Pope Benedict XVI is preparing an Apostolic constitution to normalize the process of former Anglicans who wish to enter full communion with the Holy See. (VIS)
- October 11, 2009: Pope Benedict XVI canonized five saints in a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica; the five are Archbishop Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, Father Damien De Veuster SS.CC., Sister Jeanne Jugan L.S.P., Friar Francisco Coll y Guitart O.P., and Brother Rafael Arnaiz Baron O.C.S.O. (CNN)
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