Portal:Catholic Church

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The papal conclave of 1492 (August 6 – August 11, 1492) convened after the death of Pope Innocent VIII (July 25, 1492), elected Rodrigo Borja as Pope Alexander VI. The first conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel, the election is notorious for allegations of simony.

Of the twenty-three cardinals participating in the conclave, fourteen had been elevated by Pope Sixtus IV. The Cardinals of Sixtus IV, known as the "Sistine Cardinals" and led by Giuliano della Rovere, had controlled the conclave of 1484, electing one of their own, Giambattista Cibo as Pope Innocent VIII.

Since 1431 the composition of the College of Cardinals had been radically transformed, increasing the number of cardinal-nephews (from 3 to 10), crown-cardinals (from 2 to 8), and representatives of powerful Roman noble families (from 2 to 4). With the exception of three curial officials and one pastor, the cardinals were "secularly-minded princes largely unconcerned with the spiritual life of either the Latin church or its members." At the time of Innocent VIII's death, the names of Cardinals Gherardo and Sanseverino had not been published, thus making them ineligible to participate in the conclave; however, both were published as an act of the College in sede vacante, Gherardo having been pushed by Orsini and Sanseverino by Sforza.
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Intercession of Charles Borromeo supported by the Virgin Mary (1714), ceiling fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr (1654-1730) in the Karlskirche, Vienna. The son of Giberto II Borromeo, conte (count) of Arona, and Margherita de' Medici, Carlo Borromeo was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore. The aristocratic Borromeo family's coat of arms included the Borromean rings, sometimes taken to symbolize the Holy Trinity.

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Joseph Havens Richards SJ (born Havens Cowles Richards; November 8, 1851 – June 9, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a prominent president of Georgetown University, where he instituted major reforms and significantly enhanced the quality and stature of the university. Richards was born to a prominent Ohio family; his father was an Episcopal priest who controversially converted to Catholicism and had the infant Richards secretly baptized as a Catholic.

Richards became the president of Georgetown University in 1888 and undertook significant construction, such as the completion of Healy Hall, which included work on Gaston Hall and Riggs Library, and the building of Dahlgren Chapel. Richards sought to transform Georgetown into a modern, comprehensive university. To that end, he bolstered the graduate programs, expanded the School of Medicine and Law School, established the Georgetown University Hospital, improved the astronomical observatory, and recruited prominent faculty. He also navigated tensions with the newly established Catholic University of America, which was located in the same city. Richards fought anti-Catholic discrimination by Ivy League universities, resulting in Harvard Law School admitting graduates of some Jesuit universities.

Upon the end of his term in 1898, Richards engaged in pastoral work attached to Jesuit educational institutions throughout the northeastern United States. He became the president of Regis High School and the Loyola School in New York City in 1915, and he was then made superior of the Jesuit retreat center on Manresa Island in Connecticut. Richards died at the College of the Holy Cross in 1923. (Full article...)

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• ... that once a year almost 1,000 mummified bodies are put on public display inside the monastic crypt at the Church of St. Casimir the Prince (pictured) in Kraków?
• ... that Lorenzo Campeggio, the cardinal protector of England during the English Reformation, determined that Henry VIII's marriage could not be annulled?
• ... that three conclavists—personal aides to cardinals during a papal conclave—have gone on to be elected Pope?

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Saint Joseph Gabriel of the Rosary (sometimes José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero; 16 March 1840 – 26 January 1914), also referred to as Priest Brochero (in Spanish:Cura Brochero), was a Catholic priest who suffered leprosy throughout his life. He is known for his extensive work with the poor and the sick. He became affectionately known as "the Gaucho priest" and the "cowboy priest".

He was beatified on 14 September 2013 after a healing was recognized as a miracle attributed to him. Cardinal Angelo Amato – on the behalf of Pope Francis – presided over the beatification. Another miracle under investigation was approved in 2016 and a date for canonization was approved in a gathering of cardinals on 15 March 2016; Brochero was canonized on 16 October 2016. (Full article...)
Attributes: Cassock, Rosary
Patronage: Córdoba; Clergy; Major Seminary of Córdoba; Diocese of Cruz del Eje
See also: Julian of Antioch; Abbán, Ireland

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“

I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity.

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10 March 2026 –

Cardinal Louis Sako, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, based in Iraq, retires at the age of 76. (AP) (Vatican News)

9 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis

Lebanon Maronite Catholic priest Father Pierre al-Rahi is killed by an Israeli double strike on a house in the Christian-majority town of Al-Qlayaa. (ICN)

16 February 2026 – Colombian conflict

Colombia's search unit for missing persons identifies and returns the remains of Camilo Torres Restrepo, a Catholic priest and leader of the National Liberation Army who was killed in combat in 1966. (Reuters)

7 February 2026 – Nigerian bandit conflict

Armed men kill three people and kidnap eleven others, including a Catholic priest, in Kaduna State, Nigeria. (AP)