Papal legate
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A papal legate or Apostolic legate (from the Ancient Roman title legatus) is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters.
The legate is appointed directly by the pope (the bishop of Rome, head of the Catholic Church and head of state of the papal states). Hence a legate is usually sent to a government, a sovereign or to a large body of believers (such as a national church) or to take charge of a major religious effort, such as an (ecumenical) council, a crusade to the Holy Land, or even against a heresy such as the Cathars.
The term legation is applied both to a legate's mandate and to the territory concerned (such as a state, or an ecclesiastical province). The relevant adjective is legatine.
See also
- Papal diplomacy
- Nuncio – an envoy whose diplomatic status is recognized by the receiving state – usually a titular archbishop.
- Internuncio – a lower rank than Nuncio for a papal diplomatic representative, a title historically used at a time when states sent to some less important countries diplomatic representatives, called Envoys or Ministers, lower in rank than Ambassadors.
- Papal apocrisiarius
- List of papal legates to England
- Other