Romanus Pontifex [English: 'From the Roman Bishop'] is a papal bull written January 8, 1455 by Pope Nicholas V to King Afonso V of Portugal. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas, it confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands discovered or conquered during the Age of Discovery. Along with encouraging the seizure of the lands of Saracen Turks and pagans, it repeated the earlier bull's permission for the enslavement of such peoples. The bull's primary purpose was to forbid other Christian nations from infringing the King of Portugal's rights of trade and colonisation in these regions.

The bull praises earlier Portuguese victories against the Muslims of North Africa and the success of expeditions of discovery and conquest to the Azores and to Africa south of Cape Bojador. It also repeats earlier injunctions not to supply items useful in war such as weaponry, iron or timber to either Muslims or pagans. The weight of the Bull's precedents exist in the passages:

...to conserve their right and possession, [the said king and infante] under certain most severe penalties then expressed, have prohibited and in general have ordained that none, unless with their sailors and ships and on payment of a certain tribute and with an express license previously obtained from the said king or infante, should presume to sail to the said provinces or to trade in their ports or to fish in the sea,

...since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso -- to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit -- by having secured the said faculty, the said King Alfonso, or, by his authority, the aforesaid infante, justly and lawfully has acquired and possessed, and doth possess, these islands, lands, harbors, and seas, and they do of right belong and pertain to the said King Alfonso and his successors, nor without special license from King Alfonso and his successors themselves has any other even of the faithful of Christ been entitled hitherto, nor is he by any means now entitled lawfully to meddle therewith.

Francis Eugene George, OMI (born January 16, 1937) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the eighth and current Archbishop of Chicago, previously serving as Bishop of Yakima (1990–1996) and Archbishop of Portland (1996–1997).

A member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, George was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1998. He served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2007 to 2010.

Francis George was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Francis J. and Julia R. (née McCarthy) George. He has an older sister, Margaret. He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Pascal Church in Chicago's Northwest Side.

George contracted polio at age 13. Due to his disability, he was rejected by Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, and instead enrolled at St. Henry Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, a high school seminary of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He joined the Missionary Oblates on August 14, 1957. He continued his studies at the Oblates novitiate in Godfrey before entering Our Lady of the Snows Seminary in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

Alfred Ernest Whitehead (10 July 1887 - 1 April 1974) was an English composer, organist, choirmaster, and music educator who was primarily active in Canada. He taught music at several Canadian institutions of higher learning during his career and held the post of organist/choirmaster at a number of prominent Canadian churches. He was a noted painter and his works are held in a number of important private collections. He was also an internationally recognized authority in the field of philately and his book on that subject, The Squared-Circle Cancellations of Canada, had its third edition published shortly after his death.

Whitehead's music is written in a traditional idiom and he was particularly prolific in his output of motets and anthems. Of his many works, Whitehead was particularly proud of his anthem Alleluia, Sing to Jesus with organ accompaniment; the anthems Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem, Now God Be with Us, and O Light Beyond Our Utmost Light; and the short motets Bread of the World, Grant Us Grace, and Almighty God, Whose Glory. Leo Sowerby described his Benedicite on the Tonus peregrinus as the "best Benedicite" he knew. Also well known among his works are the eight-part motets Watch Thou, Dear Lord (words by St Augustine) and Love Unknown, the Brahmsian organ Prelude on Irby, and many of his short carols for Christmas.

Coordinates: 31°31′37″N 65°29′56″E / 31.527°N 65.499°E / 31.527; 65.499

The Kandahar massacre occurred in the early morning of Sunday, 11 March 2012, when seventeen civilians were killed and five wounded in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Among the dead were four men, four women, two boys, and seven girls, totalling 17 people; eleven of these victims were from the same family. Some of the corpses were partially burned. United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, age 38, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was taken into custody and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of assault and attempted murder.

United States authorities said the killings were the act of a single soldier, while some eyewitnesses reported seeing multiple soldiers. Some eyewitnesses also claimed that the soldiers had helicopter support. On 15 March, an Afghan parliamentary probe team made up of several members of the National Assembly of Afghanistan speculated that up to 20 American soldiers were involved in the killings. The team had spent two days in the province interviewing the survivors and collecting evidence. The team later said they could not confirm that multiple soldiers took part in the killings.

Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr., (born September 22, 1941) is Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), in Chicago with a congregation exceeding 6,000. In early 2008, Wright retired after 36 years as the Senior Pastor and no longer has daily responsibilities at the church.

Following retirement, Wright's beliefs and preaching were scrutinized when segments of his sermons were publicized in connection with the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, including his contention that the [[attacks of September 11, 2001, were proof that "America's chickens are coming home to roost" and such statements as "...not God Bless America. God damn America." Obama responded to the Wright controversy in a speech entitled "A More Perfect Union."

On April 27, 2008, Wright defended his record in a speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), saying he was not "divisive" but "descriptive" and that the black church experience, like black culture, was "different" but not "deficient".