| Coat of arms of Pope Francis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Armiger | Pope Francis |
| Adopted | 2013 |
| Motto | Miserando atque eligendo (Latin: "by having mercy, by choosing him" [1] ) |
On 18 March 2013, Pope Francis adopted in his papal coat of arms the coat of arms and the motto that he used since his episcopal consecration in 1991, differenced following his election as Supreme Pontiff. [2]
His coat of arms displays three charges on a Azure (blue) field. In reference to Francis being a Jesuit, the uppermost charge is the emblem of the Society of Jesus. [2] The emblem is composed of a Sun radiant, within which is the IHS christogram (a monogram of the Holy Name of Jesus) in red, with a red cross surmounting the H and three black nails below the H. [2]
Below the Jesuit emblem is an eight-pointed star, the star being a long-standing symbol of the Virgin Mary, and a spikenard representing Saint Joseph. [2] [3] [4] In Hispanic iconographic tradition Saint Joseph is often depicted with a branch of spikenard in his hand. [5]
These charges appeared on Bergoglio's previous coat of arms displayed when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, [4] but as Pope the tincture of the star and the spikenard were elevated from Argent (silver) to Or (gold). The first version of the papal coat of arms published by the Vatican showed a five-pointed star from Bergoglio's previous one, but this was later amended to eight points; the representation of the spikenard was also slightly altered so it would resemble leaves rather than what appears to look like grapes.
The Vatican has not yet published the official blazon of the arms, but an approximation has been made by John Hamilton Gaylor, as follows:
Traditionally, a Pope's coat of arms was externally adorned only by the three-tiered papal tiara with lappets and the crossed keys of Saint Peter with a cord. The tiara represented the roles of authority of the Pope, while the keys represent the power to loose and bind in Heaven as on earth. [7] Pope Francis' arms maintain the keys, but replaced the tiara (as did his predecessor) with a triband mitre.
The tiara and keys remain the symbol of the papacy and appear on the coat of arms of the Holy See and (reversed) on the flag of Vatican City.
As with his predecessor's personal arms, Francis replaced the traditional papal triregnum by adopting a silver mitre with three gold bands. These bands allude to the papal tiara's three crowns, which came to represent the three powers of Orders, Jurisdiction, and Magisterium, all joining at the centre depicting unity in the same person.
Unusually, Francis also decided to retain his personal motto: Miserando atque eligendo. It is taken from the 21st homily of Saint Bede, which is on the Gospel of Matthew and refers to the vocation of Saint Matthew. [2] He writes:
Bede is here discussing Matthew 9:9-13. The salient point is that Jesus chose Matthew as his disciple not in spite but because of his being a sinner. In the Douay Rheims translation:
The statement from the Vatican announcing the Pope's coat of arms and motto explained that the phrase had a special meaning for Francis as he felt it recalled his own vocation, when at the age of 17, he went to confession on St Matthew's day in 1953. [2]
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the eighth century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of state of the Papal States, and since 1929 of the much smaller Vatican City state. The reigning pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built.
The national flag of Vatican City was adopted in 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating the new independent state of Vatican City.
The papal tiara is a crown that is worn by popes of the Catholic Church from as early as the 8th century to the mid–20th century. It was last used by Pope Paul VI in 1963, and only at the beginning of his reign.
A papal coronation is the formal ceremony of the placing of the papal tiara on a newly elected pope. The first recorded papal coronation was of Pope Nicholas I in 858. The most recent was the 1963 coronation of Paul VI, who soon afterwards abandoned the practice of wearing the tiara. To date, none of his successors have used the tiara, and their papal inauguration celebrations have included no coronation ceremony, although any future pope may elect to restore the use of the tiara at any point during his pontificate.
Papal regalia and insignia are the official items of attire and decoration proper to the Pope in his capacity as the visible head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State.
Pope Francis is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus, the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.
Papal inauguration is a liturgical service of the Catholic Church within Mass celebrated in the Roman Rite but with elements of Byzantine Rite for the ecclesiastical investiture of a pope. Since the inauguration of Pope John Paul I, it has not included the 820-year-old (1143–1963) papal coronation ceremony.
Papal coats of arms are the personal coat of arms of popes of the Catholic Church. These have been a tradition since the Late Middle Ages, and has displayed his own, initially that of his family, and thus not unique to himself alone, but in some cases composed by him with symbols referring to his past or his aspirations. This personal coat of arms coexists with that of the Holy See.
Romano Pontifici eligendo was the apostolic constitution governing the election of popes that was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 1 October 1975. It instituted a number of far-reaching reforms in the process of electing popes. It set the maximum number of electors at 120 and restated in a more formal context the rule he had already instituted that cardinals over the age of 80 not participate in electing a pope.
The personal papal coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI was designed by Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo soon after the papal election in 2005.
The Napoleon Tiara was a papal tiara given to Pope Pius VII in June 1805 a few months after he presided at the coronation of Napoleon I. While lavishly decorated with jewels, it was deliberately too small and heavy to be worn and meant as an insult to the Pope. In the painting of The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David, the tiara is held behind the Pope by one of his aides.
The Keys of Heaven, also called Saint Peter's keys, refers to the metaphorical keys of the office of Saint Peter, the keys of Heaven, or the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. It is explicitly referenced in the Bible in Matthew 16:19.
Ecclesiastical heraldry refers to the use of heraldry within Christianity for dioceses, organisations and Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the Pope, have a personal coat of arms. Clergy in Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches follow similar customs, as do institutions such as schools and dioceses.
The coat of arms of the Holy See combines two crossed keys and a tiara, used as the official emblem of the Holy See, and by extension the wider Catholic Church. These forms have origins attested from the 14th century. The combination of one gold and one silver key is a somewhat later development.
Spikenard, also called nard, nardin, and muskroot, is a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from Nardostachys jatamansi, a flowering plant in the honeysuckle family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India. The oil has been used over centuries as a perfume, a traditional medicine, or in religious ceremonies across a wide territory from India to Europe. Historically, the name nard has also referred to essential oils derived from other species including the closely related valerian genus, as well as Spanish lavender; these cheaper, more common plants have been used in perfume-making, and sometimes to adulterate true spikenard.
A conclave was convened on 12 March 2013 to elect a pope to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned on 28 February. 115 participating cardinal-electors gathered. On the fifth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He took the pontifical name Francis.
The coat of arms of the Italian city of Bologna consisted of an oval shield divided into four parts, two containing a red cross on a white background, surmounted by a 'Capo d'Angiò' and two containing 'LIBERTAS' (liberty) in gold letters on a blue background. The whole coat of arms is surmounted by a lion's head.
Pope Francis has had main contacts with those of other Christian faiths, with those of other religious beliefs, and with non-believers.
