Papal Tiara

The Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, in Latin as the 'Triregnum', or in Italian as the 'Triregno',{{ref|Triregno}} is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown of Byzantine and Persian origin that is the symbol of the papacy. Papal Tiaras were worn by all popes from Pope Clement V to Pope Paul VI, who was crowned in 1963. Pope Paul VI abandoned the use of his own tiara after the Second Vatican Council, symbolically laying it on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica, and donating its value to the poor. However, he did not abolish its use, explicitly requiring in his 1975 Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo that his successor be crowned.

A permanent end to the wearing of the Triple Tiara?

Main articles: Papal Inauguration and Enthronement.

Related Topics:
Papal Inauguration - Enthronement

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In 1978, one of Pope John Paul I's first decisions on his election was to dispense with the 1000-year-old papal coronation and the use of a papal tiara. In doing so he ignored the requirements specified in Pope Paul VI's 1975 Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo which laid down the rules for future papal elections and which explicitly required the continuation of papal coronations and the use of the papal tiara stating that

Related Topics:
Pope John Paul I - Apostolic Constitution

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the new pontiff is to be crowned by the senior cardinal deacon. {{ref|paul6constitution}}

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The existence of this requirement suggests that Pope Paul believed his decision not to wear his tiara was purely a personal decision and was not intended to set future policy on the use of papal tiaras. John Paul I, after what was called a "long and tedious argument" in which he insisted he did not want to be crowned, was instead installed in a revised and simpler Papal Inauguration Mass, so low-key indeed that he had it moved to the morning so as not to disrupt Italian soccer coverage, which would normally be shown in the afternoon. {{ref|Yallop}}

Related Topics:
Papal Inauguration Mass - Italian soccer

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After Pope John Paul I's sudden death less than a month later, the new pope, John Paul II, opted to continue with John Paul I's precedent of replacing the papal coronation with a modest inauguration, though he did say in his Inauguration homily that it was simply "not the time" to wear a tiara, while dismissing the claims made that the tiara in some way represented the continuation of papal claim to temporal power.

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Pope John Paul II explicitly mentioned the word "inauguration" rather than coronation in his 1996 Apostolic Constitution, in which he wrote

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After the solemn ceremony of the inauguration of the pontificate and within an appropriate time, the pope will take possession of the Patriachal Archbasilica of the Latern, according to the prescribed ritual.{{ref|johnpaul2constitution}}

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However the phraseology is descriptive, not prescriptive. Instead of explicitly speaking of an "inauguration ceremony" or "the Papal Inauguration Mass" it spoke simply of the "ceremony of the inauguration of the pontificate", an ambiguous phraseology, especially with the inclusion of the definite article, as any number of different types of ceremonies, even coronations, can be described amounting to the inaugurating (ie, ceremonial beginning) of a pontificate. John Paul's terminology left it up to his successor to decide what sort of solemn ceremony to use to inaugurate his pontificate. All it explicitly required was that some solemn ceremony take place.

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With the disappearance of the papal coronation, the British monarch is now the only monarch in a western country to receive a coronation. All others, like modern popes, are inaugurated into office. However, the tiara has not been abolished, merely laid aside in terms of usage. Thus a future pope could decide to be crowned and wear one of the Triple Tiaras: the recent increased usage of some traditional elements, most notably the Tridentine Mass, which in an about turn is now being approved for usage more widely,{{ref|Tridentine}} might open up the prospect of a return of what was the papal symbol pre-Second Vatican Council.

Related Topics:
British monarch - Coronation - Tridentine Mass - Second Vatican Council

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Though unworn, the tiara remained the symbol of the papacy, and still featured as one of the ornaments on the coat of arms of popes, including the uncrowned popes John Paul I and John Paul II. It was, however, apparently replaced by a bishop's mitre in the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI, even though the use of the mitre as a heraldic ornament was in fact prohibited by Pope Paul VI. However a subsequent version of Benedict's arms, used on official Vatican documentation, showed them with a tiara. Whether both are meant as alternates to be used in different contexts, or the tiara-less version is being withdrawn and being replaced by the one with the tiara, has not be clarified to date.

Related Topics:
Coat of arms of popes - Mitre

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Should Benedict XVI issue his own Apostolic Constitution on events surrounding the selection of a pope, Benedict XVI may opt to reinstate the requirement for a coronation, allow John Paul's non-perscriptive terminology to continue to be used, or explicitly require a formal Papal Inauguration as the only option.

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One of the papal tiaras remains in use, however; it is placed on the head of a statue of St. Peter to honour him as the first pope on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29.

Related Topics:
St. Peter - Saint - Peter - Paul - June 29

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