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Cardinal Secretary Of State
The Secretary of State of His Holiness (Latin: Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae, it, Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità), commonly known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, presides over the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. The Secretariat of State performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See and the Vatican City. The Secretary of State is sometimes described as the prime minister of the Holy See, even though the nominal head of government of Vatican City is the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. The Secretary of State is currently Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Duties The Cardinal Secretary is appointed by the Pope, and serves as one of his principal advisors. As one of the senior offices in the Roman Catholic Church, the secretary is required to be a cardinal. If the office is vacant, a non-cardinal may serve as pro-tem secretary of state, exercising ...
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Coat Of Arms Of The Holy See
The coats of arms of the Holy See and Vatican City in the form that combines two crossed keys and a tiara used as a coat of arms of the Holy See have origins attested from the 14th century."A red shield bearing two white crossed keys, and surmounted by the tiara, is to be seen in a window of the cathedral of Bourges accompanying the achievements of the anti-popes Clement VII and Benedict XIII, and other examples of these tinctures are to be found in manuscripts dating from the time of the former of these anti-popes and from that of Nicholas V, in a series of shields painted on the ceiling formerly in the church of San Simone at Spoleto (ca. 1400), in the 15th-century glass in the cathedrals of York and of Carpentras, in various 15th-century books of arms both English, German, and Italian, as well as in Martin Schrot's book of arms which is as late as 1581.Donald Lindsay Galbreath, ''A Treatise on Ecclesiastical Heraldry'' (W. Heffer and Sons, 1930) The combination of one gold an ...
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Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 ''sui iuris'' churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The bishopric of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small enclave of the Italian city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is th ...
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Pope Innocent XII
Pope Innocent XII ( la, Innocentius XII; it, Innocenzo XII; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He took a hard stance against nepotism in the Church, continuing the policies of Pope Innocent XI, who started the battle against nepotism but which did not gain traction under Pope Alexander VIII. To that end, he issued a papal bull strictly forbidding it. The pope also used this bull to ensure that no revenue or land could be bestowed on relatives. Biography Early life Antonio Pignatelli was born on 13 March 1615 in SpinazzolaOtt, Michael. "Pope Innocent XII." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 February 2019
(now i ...
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Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in January 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, Pamphili was trained as a lawyer and graduated from the Collegio Romano. He followed a conventional ''cursus honorum'', following his uncle Girolamo Pamphili as auditor of the Rota, and like him, attaining the position of cardinal-priest of Sant'Eusebio. Before becoming pope, Pamphili served as a papal diplomat to Naples, France, and Spain. Pamphili succeeded Pope Urban VIII (1623–44) on 15 September 1644 as Pope Innocent X, after a contentious papal conclave that featured a rivalry between French and Spanish factions. Innocent X was one of the most politically shrewd pontiffs of the era, greatly increasing the tempor ...
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Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte
Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte ( – 1577) was a notorious Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal whose relationship with Pope Julius III (born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte) caused grave scandal in the early 16th century. Born in Borgo San Donnino (now Fidenza) to a beggar-woman and an unknown father, he was picked up in the street by Cardinal Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte and given a position in the household of the Cardinal's brother, Baldovino. Cardinal Giovanni del Monte was elected Pope in 1550, taking the name Julius III. He subsequently arranged for Baldovino to adopt Innocenzo, and appointed him as Cardinal-Nephew – the papacy's chief diplomatic and political agent. He proved totally unsuited to any of these offices, and his continuing relationship with Julius, whose bed he openly shared, created considerable scandal both inside and outside the Church. After Julius's death, he was shunned and ignored. Despite committing both rape and murder, he managed to retain his cardina ...
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Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 February 1550 to his death in March 1555. After a career as a distinguished and effective diplomat, he was elected to the papacy as a compromise candidate after the death of Paul III. As pope, he made only reluctant and short-lived attempts at reform, mostly devoting himself to a life of personal pleasure. His reputation, and that of the Catholic Church, were greatly harmed by his scandal-ridden relationship with his adopted nephew, Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte. He is the most recent pope to date to take on the pontifical name "Julius". Education and early career Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was born in Monte San Savino. He was educated by the humanist Raffaele Brandolini Lippo, and later studied law at Perugia and Siena. During his career, he distinguished himself as a br ...
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Cardinal-nephew
A cardinal-nephew ( la, cardinalis nepos; it, cardinale nipote; es, valido de su tío; pt, cardeal-sobrinho; french: prince de fortune)Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 114. Modern French scholarly literature uses the term "cardinal-neveu'". was a cardinal elevated by a pope who was that cardinal's relative. The practice of creating cardinal-nephews originated in the Middle Ages, and reached its apex during the 16th and 17th centuries. The last cardinal-nephew was named in 1689 and the practice was abolished in 1692.Bunson, Matthew. 1995.Cardinal Nephew. ''The Pope Encyclopedia''. Crown Trade Paperbacks. . The word ''nepotism'' originally referred specifically to this practice, when it appeared in the English language about 1669. From the middle of the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) until Pope Innocent XII's anti-nepotism bull (a papal charter), ''Romanum decet pontificem'' (1692), a pope without a cardinal-nephew was the exception to the rule. Every Renaissance pope who creat ...
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Diplomatic Missions Of The Holy See
This is a list of diplomatic missions of the Holy See. Since the fifth century, long before the founding of the Vatican City State in 1929, papal envoys (now known as nuncios) have represented the Holy See to foreign potentates. Additionally, papal representatives known not as nuncios but as apostolic delegates ensure contact between the Holy See and the Catholic Church in countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the Holy See. At present, there is one residential apostolic delegate, for Jerusalem and Palestine, as well as non-residential delegates for four countries (Brunei, Laos, Mauritania, and Somalia) and for the territories and countries without diplomatic relations with the Holy See in three regions (the Arabian Peninsula, the Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean). For Vietnam, the 21st-century appointees of the Holy See have been given the title "pontifical representative". In keeping with the "one China" policy, no representative is appointed for mainland China, and ...
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Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political and banking Medici family of Republic of Florence, Florence, Giovanni was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of the Florentine Republic, and was elevated to the Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinalate in 1489. Following the death of Pope Julius II, Giovanni was elected pope after securing the backing of the younger members of the College of Cardinals, Sacred College. Early on in his rule he oversaw the closing sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran, but struggled to implement the reforms agreed. In 1517 he led a costly War of Urbino, war that succeeded in securing his nephew Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici as Duke of Urbino, but reduced papal finances. In Protestant circles, Leo is associated with g ...
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Head Of State
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and legitimacy. Depending on the country's form of government and separation of powers, the head of state may be a ceremonial figurehead or concurrently the head of government and more (such as the president of the United States, who is also commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces). In a parliamentary system, such as the United Kingdom or India, the head of state usually has mostly ceremonial powers, with a separate head of government. However, in some parliamentary systems, like South Africa, there is an executive president that is both head of state and head of government. Likewise, in some parliamentary systems the head of state is not the head of government, but still has significant powers, for example Morocco. In contrast, ...
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Camerlengo Of The Holy Roman Church
The Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church is an office of the papal household that administers the property and revenues of the Holy See. Formerly, his responsibilities included the fiscal administration of the Patrimony of Saint Peter. As regulated in the apostolic constitution ''Pastor bonus'' of 1988, the Camerlengo is always a cardinal, though this was not the case prior to the 15th century. His heraldic arms are ornamented with two keysone gold, one silverin saltire, surmounted by an ombrellino, a canopy or umbrella of alternating red and yellow stripes. These also form part of the coat of arms of the Holy See during a papal interregnum (''sede vacante''). The Camerlengo has been Kevin Farrell since his appointment by Pope Francis on 14 February 2019. The Vice Camerlengo has been Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari since 1 May 2020. History Until the 11th century, the Archdeacon of the Roman Church was responsible for the administration of the property of the Church (i.e ...
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Sede Vacante
''Sede vacante'' ( in Latin.) is a term for the state of a diocese while without a bishop. In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the term is used to refer to the vacancy of the bishop's or Pope's authority upon his death or resignation. History Early in church history, the archpriest, archdeacon, and ''primicerius of the notaries'' in the papal court made a regency council which governed the sede vacante period. It was the obligation of the Camerarius (papal chamberlain), the head of the Camera Apostolica, to formally establish the death of the pope. Gradually, this evolved in the theory that the Camerarius, as the chief of the curia, should conduct normal business even after the death of the pope, and also conduct the burial and the preparation for the new election. this process was evident with Camerarius Boso Breakspeare. During the long sede vacante of 1268 to 1271, the importance of the Camerarius was so clear that the Cardinals were ready to elect a new one if he di ...
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