Portal:Catholic Church

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The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of liberating the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims and freeing the Eastern Christians from Muslim rule. What started as an appeal by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos for western mercenaries to fight the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia quickly turned into a wholesale Western migration and conquest of territory outside of Europe.Both knights and peasants from many nations of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other Crusader states. Although these gains lasted for less than two hundred years, the First Crusade was a major turning point in the expansion of Western power, as well as the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
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The chapel of the Palace of Versailles, one of the palace's grandest interiors. Located in Versailles, France, Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy which Louis XIV espoused. Originally the royal hunting lodge when he decided to move there in 1660, the building was expanded over the next few decades to become the largest palace in Europe. Louis XIV officially moved in 1682 and the Court of Versailles was the centre of power in Ancien Régime France until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in 1789.

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Ralph (died October 20, 1122), also known as Ralph d'Escures from the family estate Escures, near Séez in Normandy, was a medieval Abbot of Séez, Bishop of Rochester and then Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the school at the Abbey of Bec before he entered the abbey of St Martin at Séez in 1079 and became abbot of the house in 1091. He was a friend of both Saint Anselm and Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, whose see, or diocese, he took over on the death of Gundulf. He was not chosen archbishop of Canterbury by the chapter of Canterbury alone. His election involved an assembly of the lords and bishops meeting with King Henry I of England. Ralph then received his pallium from Pope Paschal II, rather than travelling to Rome to retrieve it. As archbishop, Ralph was very assertive of the rights of the see of Canterbury and of the liberties of the English Church. He claimed authority in Wales and Scotland. Ralph also quarreled for a time with Pope Paschal II.
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• ... that the kremówka cake (pictured) gained international recognition after Pope John Paul II noted he once ate 18 of them as part of a bet?
• ... that the Concilium Germanicum, a Frankish synod held in 742/3 to reform the Austrasian church, has been described as the acme of Saint Boniface's career?
• ... that each of the Five Discourses of Matthew has a shorter parallel in the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke?

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Luke the Evangelist was one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of the canonical gospels. The Early Church Fathers ascribed to him authorship of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Prominent figures in early Christianity such as Jerome and Eusebius later reaffirmed his authorship. Scholarly opinion on the tradition is roughly evenly divided near the end of the 20th century. (Full article...)
Prayer: "Most charming and saintly Physician, you were animated by the heavenly Spirit of love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus, you also showed his divinity and his genuine compassion for all human beings. Inspire our physicians with your professionalism and with the divine compassion for their patients. Enable them to cure the ills of both body and spirit that afflict so many in our day. Amen"

Attributes: Apostle of Jesus, Evangelist, Physician, Bishop book, man accompanied by a winged ox, ox, painting an icon of Blessed Virgin Mary, brush or palette (referring to the tradition that he was a painter), winged calf, or a winged ox.
Patronage: artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, Capena Italy, doctors, glass makers, glassworkers, gold workers, goldsmiths, Hermersdorf Germany, lacemakers, lace workers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors, stained glass workers, surgeons, unmarried men

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Praise consists in the love of God, in wonder at the goodness of God, in recognition of the gifts of God, in seeing God in all things He gives us, ay, and even in the things that He refuses to us; so as to see our whole life in the light of God; and seeing this, to bless Him, adore Him, and glorify Him.

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17 October 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)

Masked Israeli settlers attack a group of European diplomats, including the Belgian consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and Catholic representatives visiting Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, Palestine. (AP)

9 October 2026 –

Pope Leo XIV approves Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle's election as dean of the College of Cardinals, making him the first Asian to lead the body that elects a new pope. (Reuters)

24 September 2026 –

The beatification ceremony for the late American Catholic prelate and Rochester Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is held at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. (Bastille Post) (Vatican News)

A priest is killed and four other people are injured in a mass stabbing by a Ukrainian national at a Benedictine abbey in Jarosław, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. (AP) (Reuters)