1.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
2.
Papal coronation
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A papal coronation was the ceremony of the placing of the papal tiara on a newly elected pope. The first recorded papal coronation was that of Pope Nicholas I in 858, the last was the 1963 coronation of Pope Paul VI, who soon afterwards abandoned the practice of wearing the tiara. None of his successors has used the tiara, and their papal inauguration celebrations have included no coronation ceremony, the papal inauguration celebration, with or without a coronation, has only symbolic significance, as a pope assumes office immediately on giving his consent to a valid election. The rite is different from Coronacion Pontificia, a sometimes used in Spanish-speaking countries. If a newly elected pope is not a bishop, he is consecrated at once, if the new pope is already a bishop, as is normally the case, his election is announced immediately to the people gathered in Saint Peters Square and he gives them his blessing. The episcopal enthronement of the takes place in his cathedral. This ceremony was once combined with the coronation, during the Avignon papacy, the pope, being in France, could not be enthroned in his cathedral in Rome. The coronations continued, while enthronements had to await a return to Rome, when Pope Gregory XI did return to Rome, the Lateran Palace was badly in need of repair, so the popes made the Vatican their residence and transferred coronations to Saint Peters Basilica. The Lateran Basilica remains the cathedral of Rome, and the enthronement occurs there, during the prisoner in the Vatican period, the enthronement did not take place. The coronation took place on the first Sunday or Holy Day following the election and it began with a solemn Papal Mass. During the chanting of Terce, he sat on a throne and all of the cardinals made what was called their first obeisance to him, approaching one by one, then the archbishops and bishops approached and kissed his feet. Instead of the tiara, he wore a jewelled mitre. Once at the altar, he would begin to celebrate Solemn High Mass with full papal ceremonial. After the Confiteor, the pope was seated on the sedia gestatoria, which was resting on the ground, each in turn placed his hands above him and said the prayer, Super electum Pontificem. After the Gloria in excelsis and the Pax vobis, the pope said the Collect for the day, after the Mass, the new pope was crowned with the papal tiara. This frequently took place on the balcony of St. Peters Basilica, the pope was seated on a throne with the flabella to either side of him. Following his coronation, the pope imparted the solemn papal blessing Urbi et Orbi, the last act of the inauguration of a new pope is still the formal taking possession of his cathedra as Bishop of Rome in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. This is the final ceremony mentioned in Pope John Paul IIs Apostolic Constitution on the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the pope is enthroned in the same manner as other bishops
3.
Papal infallibility
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According to Catholic theology, there are several concepts important to the understanding of infallible, divine revelation, Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Sacred Magisterium. The infallible teachings of the Pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which consists of ecumenical councils. In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church, the infallible teachings of the Pope must be based on, or at least not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture. The use of power is referred to as speaking ex cathedra. The solemn declaration of papal infallibility by Vatican I took place on 18 July 1870, since that time, the clearest example of an ex cathedra decree took place in 1950, when Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as an article of faith. The church teaches that infallibility is a charism entrusted by Christ to the church, whereby the Pope, as head of the college of bishops. The church further teaches that divine assistance is given to the Pope when he exercises his ordinary Magisterium. As with all charisms, the church teaches that the charism of papal infallibility must be properly discerned, the way to know if something a pope says is infallible or not is to discern if they are ex cathedra teachings. Also considered infallible are the teachings of the body of bishops of the Church, especially. In July 2005 Pope Benedict XVI stated during an address to priests in Aosta that, The Pope is not an oracle, he is infallible in very rare situations. Pope John XXIII once remarked, I am only infallible if I speak infallibly but I shall never do that, the limitation on the popes infallibility on other matters is frequently illustrated by Cardinal James Gibbonss recounting how the pope mistakenly called him Jibbons. Catholic theologians in general hold that the canonization of a saint by a pope is infallible teaching that the person canonized is definitely in heaven with God, a decree of canonization commands that the person be venerated by the whole Church as a saint, while beatification merely permits it. The response demanded from believers has been characterized as assent in the case of ex cathedra declarations of the popes and due respect with regard to their other declarations. On the basis of Mark 3,16,9,2, Luke 24,34 and 1 Corinthians 15,5, the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Peter as holding first place among the apostles. It speaks of Peter as the rock on which, because of Peters faith, Christ said in Matthew 16,18 he would build his Church, which he declared would be victorious over the powers of death. In Luke 22,32, Jesus gave Peter the mission to keep his faith after every lapse, doctrine-based religions evolve their theologies over time, and Catholicism is no exception, its theology did not spring instantly and fully formed within the bosom of the earliest Church. The doctrine of the Primacy of the Roman Bishops, like other Church teachings, thus the establishment of the Primacy recorded in the Gospels has gradually been more clearly recognised and its implications developed. Clear indications of the consciousness of the Primacy of the Roman bishops, L. Ott Pope St. Clement of Rome, c
4.
Easter
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It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. The First Council of Nicaea established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified, these were worked out in practice and it has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, in many languages, the words for Easter and Passover are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the area of churches on this day. Additional customs that have associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally, however, it is possible that Bede was only speculating about the origin of the term since there is no firm evidence that such a goddess actually existed. In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Πάσχα, Pascha, the word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek, Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith, the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness. For those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, death is swallowed up in victory, any person who chooses to follow Jesus receives a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through faith in the working of God those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the room during the Last Supper he prepared himself. He identified the matzah and cup of wine as his soon to be sacrificed
5.
Christmas
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In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
6.
Pope Pius X
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Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was Pope from August 1903 to his death in 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and his most important reform was to order the codification of the first Code of Canon Law, which collected the laws of the Church into one volume for the first time. He was also considered a pastoral pope, in the sense of encouraging personal holiness, piety and he was born in the town of Riese, which would later append Pio X to the towns name. Pius X believed that there was no surer or more direct road than by the Virgin Mary to achieve this goal. His immediate predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, had promoted a synthesis between the Catholic Church and secular culture, faith and science, and divine revelation and reason. Pius X defended the Catholic faith against popular 19th-century attitudes and views such as indifferentism and relativism which his predecessors had warned against as well and he followed the example of Leo XIII by promoting Thomas Aquinas and Thomism as the principal philosophical method to be taught in Catholic institutions. Pius X vehemently opposed modernism, which claimed that Roman Catholic dogma should be modernized and blended with nineteenth-century philosophies and he viewed modernism as an import of secular errors affecting three areas of Roman Catholic belief, theology, philosophy, and dogma. Personally, Pius X combined within himself a strong sense of compassion, benevolence and poverty, but also stubbornness and he wanted to be pastoral in the sense that he was the only pope in the 20th century who gave Sunday homily sermons in the pulpit every week. After the 1908 Messina earthquake he filled the Apostolic Palace with refugees and he rejected any kind of favours for his family, his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three sisters lived together close to poverty in Rome. He often referred to his own origins, taking up the causes of poor people. I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor, considered a holy person by many, public veneration of Pope Pius X began soon after his death. Numerous petitions resulted in a process of beatification which started in the 1920s. The Society of Saint Pius X, a Traditionalist Catholic group, is named in his honor, a gigantic statue of him is enshrined within Saint Peters Basilica, while the town of his birthplace was also renamed after his canonization. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born in Riese, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and he was the second born of ten children of Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margarita Sanson. He was baptised 3 June 1835, giuseppes childhood was one of poverty, being the son of the village postman. Though poor, his parents valued education, and Giuseppe walked 3.75 miles to each day. At a young age, Giuseppe studied Latin with his village priest, on 18 September 1858, Sarto was ordained a priest, and became chaplain at Tombolo. While there, Father Sarto expanded his knowledge of theology, studying both Saint Thomas Aquinas and canon law, while carrying out most of the functions of the parish pastor, in 1867, he was named archpriest of Salzano
7.
Pope Paul VI
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Pope Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, reigned as Pope from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Montini served in the Vaticans Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954, Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the name Paul VI. He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which was closed with the death of John XXIII. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform policies of his predecessors and successors, Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America. His positions on birth control, promulgated most famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession and his liturgical feast is celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September. Giovanni Battista Montini was born in the village of Concesio, in the province of Brescia and his father Giorgio Montini was a lawyer, journalist, director of the Catholic Action and member of the Italian Parliament. His mother was Giudetta Alghisi, from a family of rural nobility and he had two brothers, Francesco Montini, who became a physician, and Lodovico Montini, who became a lawyer and politician. On 30 September 1897, he was baptized in the name of Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini and he attended Cesare Arici, a school run by the Jesuits, and in 1916, he received a diploma from Arnaldo da Brescia, a public school in Brescia. His education was interrupted by bouts of illness. In 1916, he entered the seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest and he was ordained priest on 29 May 1920 in Brescia and celebrated his first Holy Mass in Brescia in the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Montini concluded his studies in Milan with a doctorate in Canon Law in the same year, afterwards he studied at the Gregorian University, the University of Rome La Sapienza and, at the request of Giuseppe Pizzardo at the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici. Consequently, he spent not a day as a parish priest, in 1925 he helped found the publishing house Morcelliana in Brescia, focused on promoting a Christian inspired culture. Montini had just one posting in the service of the Holy See as Secretary in office of the papal nuncio to Poland in 1923. Of the nationalism he experienced there he worte, This form of nationalism treats foreigners as enemies, then one seeks the expansion of ones own country at the expense of the immediate neighbours
8.
Priest
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A priest or priestess, is a person authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites, in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of and their office or position is the priesthood, a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church records helped foster literacy in early societies. Priests exist in many religions today, such as all or some branches of Judaism, Christianity, the question of which religions have a priest depends on how the titles of leaders are used or translated into English. In some cases, leaders are more like those that other believers will often turn to for advice on spiritual matters, for example, clergy in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are priests, but in Protestant Christianity they are typically minister and pastor. The terms priest and priestess are sufficiently generic that they may be used in a sense to describe the religious mediators of an unknown or otherwise unspecified religion. In many religions, being a priest or priestess is a full-time position, many Christian priests and pastors choose or are mandated to dedicate themselves to their churches and receive their living directly from their churches. In other cases it is a part-time role, for example, in the early history of Iceland the chieftains were titled goði, a word meaning priest. In some religions, being a priest or priestess is by election or human choice. In Judaism the priesthood is inherited in familial lines, in a theocracy, a society is governed by its priesthood. The word priest, is derived from Greek, via Latin presbyter. Old High German also has the disyllabic priester, priestar, apparently derived from Latin independently via Old French presbtre, the Latin presbyter ultimately represents Greek presbyteros, the regular Latin word for priest being sacerdos, corresponding to Greek hiereus. That English should have only the term priest to translate presbyter. The feminine English noun, priestess, was coined in the 17th century, in the 20th century, the word was used in controversies surrounding the ordination of women. In the case of the ordination of women in the Anglican communion, it is common to speak of priests. In historical polytheism, a priest administers the sacrifice to a deity, in the Ancient Near East, the priesthood also acted on behalf of the deities in managing their property. Priestesses in antiquity often performed sacred prostitution, and in Ancient Greece, some such as Pythia, priestess at Delphi. Sumerian and Akkadian Entu or EN were top-ranking priestesses who were distinguished with special ceremonial attire and they owned property, transacted business, and initiated the hieros gamos ceremony with priests and kings
9.
Byzantine Rite
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It has also been employed, although less frequently, in the Anglican Communion and Lutheran churches. Its development began during the century in Constantinople and it is now the second most-used rite in Christendom after the Roman Rite. Traditionally, the stands throughout the whole service, and an iconostasis separates the sanctuary from the nave of the church. The faithful are very active in their worship, making frequent bows and prostrations, also, traditionally, the major clergy and monks neither shave nor cut their hair or beards. Scripture plays a role in Byzantine worship, with not only daily readings. The entire psalter is read each week, and twice weekly during Great Lent, fasting is stricter than in the Roman rite. On fast days, the faithful give up not only meat, but also dairy products, and on many fast days they also give up fish, wine, the rite observes four fasting seasons, Great Lent, Nativity Fast, Apostles Fast and Dormition Fast. In addition, most Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year are fast days, there are two ancient liturgical traditions from which all of the Eastern Rites developed, the Alexandrian rite in Egypt and the Antiochene Rite in Syria. These two Rites developed directly from practices of the Early Church, of these two traditions, the Rite of Constantinople developed from the Antiochene Rite. Prior to the see of Constantinoples elevation to the dignity of patriarch by the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, with the councils elevation of Constantinople to primacy in the East, with the words The Bishop of Constantinople. Further developments continued to occur, centered mostly around Constantinople and Mount Athos, monasticism played an important role in the development of the rituals. In Constantinople, the work of the monastery of the Studion greatly enriched the liturgical traditions, iconography continued to develop and a canon of traditional patterns evolved which still influences Eastern religious art to this day. Historical events have also influenced the development of the liturgy, the great Christological and Trinitarian controversies of Late Antiquity are reflected in the glorifications of the Trinity heard in the numerous ekphonies encountered during the services. All liturgical rites change and develop over time, as new saints are canonized, new hymns are composed, as new needs arise, new prayers are written. The rite also profits from the fact that the Christian East is not so centralized in ecclesiastical polity as the West and this allows for greater diversity, and as members of one church visit another, a natural cross-pollination occurs with resultant enrichment on all sides. In spite of its emphasis on tradition, the Byzantine Rite comprises a constantly growing and expanding ritual. The tradition of the Church of Constantinople ascribes the oldest of its two main Divine Liturgies to St. Basil the Great, Metropolitan of Cæsarea in Cappadocia and this tradition is confirmed by the witness of several ancient authors, some of whom were contemporaries. It is certain that St. St. Basil himself speaks on several occasions of the changes he made in the services of Cæsarea. Basil had as his goal the streamlining of the services to make them more cohesive and attractive to the faithful
10.
Pectoral cross
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A pectoral cross or pectorale is a cross that is worn on the chest, usually suspended from the neck by a cord or chain. The modern pectoral cross is relatively large, and is different from the small crosses worn on necklaces by many Christians, most pectoral crosses are made of precious metals and some contain precious or semi-precious gems. Some contain a corpus like a crucifix while others use stylized designs, in many Christian denominations, the pectoral cross symbolizes that the person wearing it is a member of the clergy, or that the wearer is a member of the higher or senior clergy. However, in many Western churches there are a number of laypeople who choose to wear some form of a cross around their neck. While many Christians, both clergy and laity, wear crosses, the cross is distinguished by both its size and that it is worn in the center of the chest below the heart. Throughout the centuries, many crosses have been made in the form of reliquaries which contain alleged fragments of the True Cross or relics of saints. Some such reliquary pectorals are hinged so that open to reveal the relic. One of the earliest mentions of a cross is its mention by Pope Hilarius in 461. In 811 Nicephorus sent Pope Leo III a golden pectoral cross, the widespread use of a pectoral cross, however, did not begin in the Western church until around the 14th century. The use of the cross in the Roman Rite was first required in the Roman Pontifical of Pius V. The first Anglican bishop to wear a cross was Edward King. In the Roman Catholic Church, a cross is one of the pontificals used by the pope, cardinals. Various popes have extended this privilege to abbots, abbesses and some cathedral canons, a pectoral cross is worn with both clerical suits or religious habits, and when attending both liturgical or civil functions. With a clerical suit, the cross is worn either hung around the neck so it remains visible or is placed in the left shirt or coat pocket so the chain is still visible. If a cassock is worn, the cross is either suspended from the prelates neck. The presence of a cross is useful to distinguish a bishop from a monsignor. In choir dress—that is, when he wears a cassock, rochet and this cord is green and gold for an archbishop or a bishop, and red and gold for a cardinal and gold for the pope. An abbot makes use of a black and gold silk cord while an abbess, formerly, protonotaries apostolic wore a pectoral cross on a purple silk cord when celebrating in pontificals
