Portal:Catholic Church

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The Tomb of Antipope John XXIII is the marble tomb monument of Antipope John XXIII (Baldassare Cossa, c. 1360–1419), created by Donatello and Michelozzo for the Florence Baptistery adjacent to the Duomo. It was commissioned by the executors of Cossa's will after his death on December 22, 1419 and completed during the 1420s, establishing it as one of the early landmarks of Renaissance Florence. According to Ferdinand Gregorovius, the tomb is "at once the sepulchre of the Great Schism in the church and the last Papal tomb which is outside Rome itself".Cossa had a long history of cooperation with Florence, which had viewed him as the legitimate pontiff for a time during the Western Schism. The tomb monument is often interpreted as an attempt to strengthen the legitimacy of Cossa's pontificate by linking him to the spiritually powerful site of the Baptistry.The evocation of papal symbolism on the tomb and the linkage between Cossa and Florence have been interpreted as a snub to Cossa's successor Pope Martin V or vicarious "Medici self-promotion", as such a tomb would have been deemed unacceptable for a Florentine citizen.
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The Trevi Fountain is the largest — standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide — and most ambitious of the Baroque fountains of Rome. Competitions had become the rage during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, and even the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei — but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when Pietro Bracci's 'Neptune' was set in the central niche.

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Blaise Pascal (French pronunciation: [blɛz paskal]), (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method. Pascal was a mathematician of the first order. He helped create two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen, and later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science. Following a mystical experience in late 1654, he abandoned his scientific work and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. His two most famous works date from this period: the Lettres provinciales and the Pensées. Pascal suffered from ill health throughout his life and died two months after his 39th birthday.
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• ... that typical subjects for late medieval Andachtsbilder include the Pietà, Pensive Christ, Man of Sorrows, Arma Christi, and the Veil of Veronica (pictured)?
• ... that gambling on papal elections has been documented since the 16th century, despite being punishable by excommunication?
• ... that the Cemetery of the Holy Rood has a privately funded area set aside for the burial of abandoned children?

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Alberto Hurtado, SJ (Latin American Spanish: [alˈβeɾto wɾˈtaðo]; born Luis Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga; January 22, 1901 – August 18, 1952), popularly known as Padre Hurtado, was a Chilean Jesuit priest, lawyer, social worker, and writer of Basque ancestry. He founded the Hogar de Cristo foundation in 1944.

Hurtado was canonized on October 23, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI, becoming his country's second saint. (Full article...)
Attributes: Jesuit robes, an old green van
Patronage: Chile, poor people, street children, social workers, a class patron in Xavier School

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Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine; the bread being changed (transsubstantiatio) by divine power into the body, and the wine into the blood, so that to realize the mystery of unity we may receive of Him what He has received of us. And this sacrament no one can effect except the priest who has been duly ordained in accordance with the keys of the Church, which Jesus Christ Himself gave to the Apostles and their successors.

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31 July 2025 – Canonisation of John Henry Newman

Pope Leo XIV declares Saint John Henry Newman, a 19th-century Anglican convert who became a prominent English Catholic theologian, as a Doctor of the Church. (AP) (Vatican News)

31 July 2025 –

Italy and Vatican City agree to transform a 430-hectare (1,100-acre) field in Rome to a solar farm that will power the Vatican, with the goal of turning it into the first carbon-neutral state. (AP) (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

27 July 2025 – Allied Democratic Forces insurgency

Allied Democratic Forces militants attack the city of Komanda, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 43 people, including 20 during a vigil in a Catholic church. (Radio Okapi)

17 July 2025 – Gaza war

Three people are killed and nine others are injured when Israeli forces strikes the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, the only Catholic church in Gaza. (BBC News)