Pronouncements
- Papal Bull
A papal bull is a pronouncement, charter or decree issued by a pope, usually for public consumption. The contents of papal bulls may be news of a bishop’s appointment, the canonization of a new saint, the announcement of excomunications or a forthcoming Vatican Council.
The bull takes its name from the bulla, or seal, attached to the document, which is most often made of metal but might also be made of lead or, for very solemn occasions, of gold.
- Papal Infallibility
The Catholic dogma of papal infallibility which was established by the First Vatican Council on July 18, 1870 declares that the Holy Spirit actively preserves the pope from even the chance that he will make an error when promulgating statements on faith or morals.These statements derive from divine revelation or are at least, connected to dividine revelation.
In order to be accounted infallible, the pope’s teachings have to be based on sacred tradition and sacred scripture, or should at the least, not congtradict either of them. However, Papal Infallibility does not suggest that the pope is incapable of sin or wrongdoing.
Since the doctrine was introduced, it has been used only once. In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the assumption of Mary as an article of faith in the Roman Catholic religion, It has, therefore, been “assumed” that after her death, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was transported to Heaven with both her body and her soul intact.
Apart from this single use of Infallibility, the Church relies on the idea that the pope decides what will, and will not, be acceptable as a formal belief in Roman Catholicism.
- Limbo and Purgatory
Although Limbo is not an official feature of the Roman Catholic religion, it is connected to it. The word is taken from the Latin limbus meaning edge, and describes a condition experienced in the afterlife by people who die in original sin, but have not been assigned to Gehenna, the Hell of the damned.
Purgatory is frequently taken to describe a place of fearful suffering where the souls of sinners atone for their wrongdoings and undergo terrible punishments.
In fact, though, the Catholic Church views Purgatory in a much more optimistic light, as a situation where souls of those who die in a state of grace are purified and given temporary punishment, where appropriate.
The process prepares them to go to Heaven. Buying an Indulgence during life could lessen the time a sinner had to spend in Limbo or Purgatory before their soul was allowed to go on to Heaven in the afterlife.
- Index of Prohibited Books
The Index of Prohibited Books, or Index Librorum Prohibitorum, was a list containing works banned for Catholic readers by the Church. Prohibited books could contain a variety of “errors” including heresy, immorality, explicit sex or other subjects deemed contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Books banned include the autobiography written by Giacomo Casanova, the great lover, by Nicolaus Copernicus
The first Index was published not in Rome, but in the Netherlands in 1529. Subsequent printings appeared in Venice in 1543 and Paris in 1551.
In 1571, a special body was set up to investigate books that might need to be censored. Named the Sacred Congregation of the Index, its task also included updating the books already on the Index and labelling others as possibilities for publication if alterations were made.
These were described as donec corrigator (forbidden if not corrected) or donec expurgetur (forbidden if not purged). Lists of corrections, some of them very long, were made for the authors as a means of making their work more acceptable. The Congregation was disbanded in 1917 and the Index itself was no longer published after 1966.
- Sancta Scala: The Holy Stairs
It is believed that the twenty-eight white marble steps of the Sancta Scala originally came from the staircase that led to the praetorium or guardroom, in Jerusalem where Jesus appeared before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of ancient Judea.
The steps were considered to become sacred when the blood of Jesus fell on them as he climbed the stairs to his trial. Tradition also has it that the Sancta Scala were removed from Jerusalem in around 326AD, transported by the Empress Helena to Italy, then re-erected in the complex of palaces occupied by the popes in Rome.
Helena, later St. Helena, was the mother of the emperor Constantine I, who adopted Christianity as the religion of Rome and its empire in around 3230AD.
In 1589, Pope Sixtus V had the Sancta Scala removed to their present site, in front of the ancient chapel, the Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies) in the old Lateran Palace in Rome.
Sixtus ordered elaborate decorations and extensive frescoes to be painted onto the surrounding walls and ceilings by a number of eminent Renaissance artists.
In Catholic tradition, pilgrims who visit the Sancta Scala may climb them only on their knees. For this act of devotion, they can earn remission of sins.
Papal Posts
- Papal Legate
A Papal Legate was a personal representative of the pope, a post usually given to a cardinal. Legates were sent to foreign governments, monarchs or churches outside the Vatican with the pope’s instructions to take charge of important decisions on matters of faith.
Papal legates might also take charge where there were problems with heresy, as they did during the struggle between the papacy and the heretic Cathars of Languedoc in France.
- Papal or Apostolic Nuncio
The word Nuncio derives from the Latin “nuntius”, meaning “envoy”. A Papal Nuncio, officially known as an Apostolic Nuncio, is an ambassadlor who acts as the diplomatic representative of the Vatican to foreign states or to international organizations, such as the united Nations.
The Nuncio has the same tank and privileges of an ambassador from any other state and usually holds the rank of archbishop for as long as he remains in the post.
Please See Also: Vatican Vocabulary 1) Crimes, Punishments and Pardons
Sources
- Mendham, Joseph: An index of prohibited books, by command of the present pope, Gregory XVI in 1835; being the latest specimen of the literary policy of the Church of Rome (Nabu Press, 2010) ISBN-10: 1145645798/ISBN-13: 978-1145645790
- Copernicus, Nicolaus: On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (Great Minds Series) (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1995} ISBN-10: 9781573920353/ISBN-13: 978-1573920353/ASIN: 1573920355
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
