PAPAL CORONATION

The 'Papal Coronation' was the ceremony in which a new pope was crowned as earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City (and before 1870, head of state of the Papal States). A three-tiered ''Triple Crown'' or Papal Tiara was used in the ceremony.

Contents

Ritual

Coronation Mass

Coronation

Possession

Location of the ceremony

Paul VI and the coronation

John Paul II and the coronation

Traditionalist criticism of Benedict XVI's decision not to be crowned

Footnotes

See also

External links

Ritual

When a conclave elects a new pope, he assumes all of the rights and authority of the papacy immediately upon his acceptance of election; however, popes traditionally numbered their regnal years from the date of their coronation.^[1] Since the Pontificate of John XXIII, all cardinals must be bishops. If, in the past, the newly-elected pope happened not to be a bishop, he would be consecrated at once. Traditionally, the right of consecration went to the senior Cardinal bishop of the College of Cardinals. If already a bishop, there would take place only the solemn ''benedictio'' (blessing).
Before the coronation, the enthronement of the pope in the Chair of Saint Peter (''Cathedra Petri''), was performed. Formerly, this was a very important ceremony, and took place at St. Peter's Basilica, or in the Church of St. Peter ''ad Vincula'', where there was also a ''Cathedra Petri''. If the election had taken place in St. Peter's Basilica, this ceremony was performed immediately after the election. Its object was to proclaim to the Christian world that the newly-elected pope was the lawful successor of St. Peter. Before this ceremony had taken place, he was forbidden to take part in the administration of the Church. In 1059 Pope Nicholas II declared that the omission of the enthronization did not prevent the pope from administering the Church. This custom disappeared in the thirteenth century, owing to the fact that in that period the popes seldom resided in Rome (see Avignon papacy).

Coronation Mass

The coronation would take place on the first Sunday or Holy Day following the election. It began with a solemn Papal Mass. During the chanting of Terce, he would be seated on a throne and all of the cardinals would make what was called their "first obeisance" to the pope, approaching one by one and kissing his hand. Then the archbishops and bishops would approach and kiss his feet.
Following this, at least since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the newly-elected pope would be carried in state through St. Peter's Basilica on the ''sedia gestatoria'', under a white canopy, with the papal flabella (ceremonial fans) to either side. However, he would not yet wear the papal tiara, but instead would wear a jewelled mitre (the ''mitra pretiosa''). Three times, the procession would be stopped, and a bundle of flax lashed to a gilded staff would be burnt before the newly-elected pontiff, while a master of ceremonies said: ''Sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi'' (Holy Father, thus passes the glory of the world).^[2] Once at the high altar, he would celebrate Solemn High Mass with full papal ceremonial.
After the ''Confiteor'', the pope would be seated on a throne and the three senior cardinal bishops would approach him in mitres. Each in turn would place their hands above him and say the prayer, ''Super electum Pontificem.'' Then the senior cardinal deacon would place the pallium on his shoulders saying:

Accept the pallium, representing the plenitude of the Pontifical office, to the honour of Allmightly God, and the most glorious Virgin Mary, his Mother, and the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Holy Roman Church.

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the ''immantatio'', or bestowal of the mantum (a papal vestment consisting of a very long red cope fastened with an elaborate morse) on the newly elected pope, was regarded as especially symbolic of investiture with papal authority, and was conferred with the words: "I invest thee with the Roman papacy, that thou rule over the city and the world."^[3]
After the investiture (whether with the pallium or the mantum) the pope would again receive the obeisance of the cardinals, archbishops and bishops. Then the Mass continued, and the Litany of the Saints was chanted.

Coronation

After the Mass, the new pope would be crowned with the papal tiara. This frequently took place on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, overlooking the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square. The pope would be seated on a throne with the flabella to either side of him. His mitre would be removed, and the tiara was presented to the pope by the senior cardinal deacon, with the words:

Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art Father of Princes and Kings, Ruler of the World, Vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ in earth, to Whom is honor and glory in the ages of ages.

Then he would solemnly place the tiara on the pope's head, and arrange the lappets behind his neck.
Following his coronation, the pope would ponounce the solemn pontifical blessing, ''Urbi et Orbi''.

Possession

The last act of the innauguration of his new papacy was the formal taking possession (''possessio'') of his cathedra as Bishop of Rome at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. In ancient times, the pope was enthroned in the same manner as other bishops. He was solemnly conducted to the episcopal throne, by which action he took possession of it. He received the kiss of peace and listened to the reading of a passage of Holy Scripture, whereupon he pronounced an address or ''sermo inthronisticus''. The letters which it was customary for him to send to the other patriarchs in token of his being in communion with them in the same faith, were called ''litteræ inthronisticæ'', or ''syllabai enthronistikai''.^[3] However, this rite has been omitted since 1870.

Location of the ceremony

Consecration of Antipope Benedict XIII at Avignon, September 28, 1394

The earliest papal coronations took place in St. John Lateran, the pope's cathedral. However, for hundreds of years papal coronations have traditionally taken place in the environs of St. Peter's Basilica, though a number of coronations took place in Avignon, during the Avignon papacy. In 1800 Pope Pius VII was crowned in the crowded church of the Benedictine island monastery of San Giorgio, Venice, after his late predecessor, Pope Pius VI, had been forced into temporary exile during Napoleon Bonaparte's capture of Rome. Since the French seized the tiara along with the previous pope, he was crowned with a papier-mâché tiara, for which the ladies of Venice gave up their jewels.
All coronations after 1800 took place in Rome. Until the mid 19th century popes were crowned in St. John Lateran. However public hostility to the Pope in Rome led to the ceremony being moved to the safer St. Peter's Basilica. Leo XIII was crowned in the Sistine Chapel,^[5] due to fears that anti-clerical mobs, inspired by Italian unification, might attack the Basilica and disrupt the ceremony. Benedict XV was also crowned in the chapel in 1914. Pius XI was crowned at the dais in front of the High Altar in St. Peter's Basilica. Popes Pius IX, Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI all were crowned in public on the balcony of the basilica, facing crowds assembled below in St. Peter's Square.
Pius XII's 1939 coronation broke new grounds by being the first to be filmed and the first coronation to be broadcast live on radio. ^[6] The ceremony, which lasted for six hours, was attended by leading dignitaries; these included the heir to the Italian throne, the Prince of Piedmont, former kings Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and Alfonso XIII of Spain, the Duke of Norfolk (representing King George VI of the United Kingdom) and the Irish Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, the last two being in evening dress (white tie and tails).

Paul VI and the coronation

Pope Paul VI, wearing his tiara, at the 1963 papal coronation

The last pope to be crowned was Paul VI. Though he decided to cease wearing a papal tiara within weeks of his coronation, and laid his own on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica in a gesture of humility, his 1975 Apostolic Constitution, ''Romano Pontifici Eligendo'', prescribed that "the new pontiff is to be crowned by the senior cardinal deacon."^[7]
Nevertheless, amid considerable opposition from within the Curia, his successor John Paul I opted not to be crowned, instead choosing to have a less formal Papal Inauguration Mass in September, 1978. ^[8]

John Paul II and the coronation

Main articles: Papal Inauguration

Pope John Paul I received the simpler Papal Inauguration instead of the traditional Coronation. He is seen here with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI

After John Paul I's sudden death following a thirty-three day reign, the new pope John Paul II, opted to copy his predecessor's low-key ceremony rather than reinstate the papal coronation. In his homily at his Inauguration Mass, he said that that Paul VI had "left his successors free to decide" whether to wear the papal tiara.^[9] He went on:

''Pope John Paul I, whose memory is so vivid in our hearts, did not wish to have the tiara; nor does his Successor wish it today. This is not the time to return to a ceremony and an object considered, wrongly, to be a symbol of the temporal power of the Popes''.

Critics and supporters of a return to papal coronations interpreted his words "This is not the time" as indicating either that the time for such ancient ceremonial was over in the post-Vatican II era, or that, weeks after the sudden death of Pope John Paul I and barely six weeks after the previous inauguration, 'today' (his inauguration day) was not the time to revert to the previous ceremony, but that a return to a traditional coronation was an option for future popes. Under Roman Catholic canon law any pope is free to change the decrees of his predecessor.
John Paul II, in his 1996 Apostolic Constitution, ''Universi Dominici Gregis'', left it up to each future pope to decide whether they wanted an inauguration or a coronation. He wrote:

''After the solemn ceremony of the inauguration of the pontificate and within an appropriate time...'' ^[10]

Nowhere was it stated what form that 'inauguration of a pontificate' would take; both a ''papal inauguration'' and a ''papal coronation'' technically could be used to inaugurate (ie. ceremonially begin) a pontificate: both ceremonies had been described in the past using such a term. In writing about the 'inauguration of a pontificate' rather than a specific 'inauguration of a pope' the precise form of ceremony future popes may use is left to them individually to decide. John Paul II's only requirement was that ''some'' 'solemn ceremony' take place to begin a pontificate.

Traditionalist criticism of Benedict XVI's decision not to be crowned

In 2005 John Paul II's successor, Benedict XVI disappointed some traditionalists when he opted not to have a papal coronation but instead to adopt the papal inauguration ceremony.^[11] When asked if the new pope, when shown draft plans for his inauguration, had requested any changes, a Vatican spokesman declined to comment. Some traditionalists also criticised Benedict XVI for failing to take the Papal Oath, the existence of which is disputed, and which films of the 1939, 1958 and 1963 papal coronations shows never featured in those ceremonies. Based on these actions, and others, Sedevacantists even go so far as to charge that Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and II, and Benedict XVI are not legitimate Popes, but rather antipopes.

Footnotes

1.

2.

3.
4.
5. Contemporary description of the coronation of Pope Leo XIII
6. John Cornwell, ''Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII'' (Viking, 1999) pp. 211-212.
7. Romano Pontifici Eligendo Section 92.
8. David Yallop, ''In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I'' (Corgi, 1985) p.237.
9. Papal Inauguration Homily of Pope John Paul II, ''L'Osservatore Romano'' (Text of the Homily)
10. Universi Dominici Gregis Section 92
11. Traditionalist Catholic website critical of Benedict's decision not to be crowned

See also

★ Papal Tiara

★ Papal Inauguration

★ Papal regalia and insignia

External links

★ Video highlights from Pius XII's 1939 coronation

★ The Coronation of Pope Leo XIII a detailed account

★ The Papal Tiara shows photos of several Papal Coronations