Goan Catholics (Goan Konkani: Goenchem Katholik) are an ethno-religious community adhering to the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language.

Missionary activities followed soon after the Portuguese conquest of Goa. Pope Nicholas V had enacted the Papal bull of Romanus Pontifex in AD 1455, according to which the patronage of the Christian faith in the East Indies, was granted to the Portuguese crown.

Their culture is an amalgam of Konkani and Portuguese cultures, with the latter having a more important role because Goa, Daman and Diu had been ruled by Portugal from AD 1510–1961. The notion of Goan identity as a distinct culture among other Luso-Asians or Luso-Indian cultures was forged into India after the annexation of Goa and Damaon in 1961.

The Goan Catholic diaspora is concentrated in the Persian Gulf countries; the Lusophone world, especially Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, and Zanzibar; the European Union countries; and the Anglophone world, especially the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Christian adherents to the Catholic Church who originate from the present state of Goa, a region on the west coast of India, and their descendants are generally referred to as Goan Catholics. A majority of Goan Catholics belong to the Konkani ethnicity while a smaller proportion are Luso-Indians. Goan Catholics played a pivotal role in the formation of the state of Goa and in designating their native language Konkani as a scheduled language of India. Diaspora communities in anglophone countries usually speak English as their first language while regarding Konkani as their ancestral language. Some upper class Catholic families in Goa spoke Portuguese as their primary language prior to 1961.

Portugal took control of Goa in 1510. The Portuguese soon consolidated their power by imposing their own government and culture through intermarriage and converting the majority of the local population to Catholicism. Many pre-Portuguese Hindu traditions were adapted or retained by the Goan Catholics. This included a variation of the Indian caste system, although it was not practiced rigidly. Throughout the Portuguese Empire a large part of civic administration (e.g. registration of births, marriages and deaths, schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, etc.) was initially maintained by the Catholic religious orders. Under Portuguese nationality law, Goans born before 19 December 1961 in the then Portuguese territory of Goa are entitled to Portuguese citizenship. As per the law of Portugal (Jus sanguinis), this is extended up to two generations, that is to their children and grandchildren.

Due to the distance from Portugal, Goans (like the people of Macau and Timor) had a high level of autonomy, although still a part of Portugal. Goans moved for work to other parts of the Portuguese Empire, and hence it is possible to find people of Goan descent in the Americas, Africa, Europe, as well as other parts of Asia.

A large-scale emigration of Goan Catholics to Bombay (now Mumbai) began in the 1800s, because of better economic opportunities. At that time Bombay was under the British rule and there existed another established Luso-Indian Catholic community; the Bombay East Indians, who were residents of Portuguese Bombay prior to it being granted to the British East India Company in the 17th century. Since the Goan Catholic and East Indian Catholic communities were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese, the British referred to them as "Portuguese Christians". They congregated in the same churches, attended many of the same religious functions, and shared Portuguese surnames and culture. The British favoured the Goan Christians in administrative jobs, due to their proficiency in western language and culture.