Catholic theology
Catholic belief holds that the church exists both on earth and in heaven simultaneously, and thus the Virgin Mary and the saints are alive and part of the living church. Prayers and devotions to Mary and the saints are common practices in Catholic life. These devotions are not worship, since only God is worshiped. The church teaches that the saints "do not cease to intercede with the Father for us. ... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped."
Roman Catholic (term)
Although K. D. Whitehead has claimed that "the term "Roman Catholic" is not used by the Church herself" and that "the proper name of the Church, then, is 'the Catholic Church', never 'the Christian Church'," official documents such as "Divini Illius Magistri", "Humani generis", a declaration of 23 November 2006 and another of 30 November 2006, while not calling the Church "the Christian Church", do use "Roman Catholic" to speak of it as a whole without distinguishing one part from the rest. But ecclesiologists normally seen to be as diverse as Joseph Ratzinger and Walter Kasper agree that one should never use the term "Roman Catholic" to denote the entire Catholic Church.