Prince

:For other meanings, see Prince (disambiguation).

Princes of the Church

There is a certain amount of ambiguity when speaking of a "prince of the church", which is an expression used nearly exclusively for Roman Catholic clergymen :

Related Topics:
Prince of the church - Roman Catholic

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So-called Princes of/within the Church

By analogy with secular princes (in the broad 'generic' sense, regardless of the style), it made perfect sence in the feudal class society to regard the highest members (Prelates) of the clergy, as the privileged estate besides the nobility (in some cases even given protocolary precedence over it!), as social equivalent, especially as it became common for sons (mainly younger ones, notably when excluded from succession) of the aristocracy to occupy many of the highest prelatures. (Their other common alternative was a military career, which might even bring a new domain of their own, especially in crusades and reconquista).

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• The precise and absolute use of Prince of the Church is for a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, because their college (but since XXth century reforms, in fact only a regulated, 'young' part of the cardinals are still allowed in the conclave) had aquired the pivotal status of Electors of the Pope, in any senses equivalent to (at least the three prince-archbishops amongst) the Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire (seen as the highest echelon of 'German' nobility, regardless of the styles of each 'electorate', i.e. their secular princedoms)
• Informally, members of the higher hierarchic echelons of the Catholic church are in recent times also occasionally called "princes of the church", in which case this "title" can sometimes be intended more or less ironically by the speaker.

Cleric offices holding princely temporal power/titles

First clergymen could own land and rule over it, as "monarch" type of princes. In modern times only the Roman pope is still (literally) such a "prince of the church", be it in a limited manner (Vatican City as the territory of the Holy See) - for all other clergymen "prince"-like worldly power is considered as conflicting with the prescriptions of the church, but that has not been always so:

Related Topics:
Pope - Vatican City - Holy See

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:Example: for a period of time the bishop of Liège was a prince (the "prince-bishop" of Liège) ruling a vast part of what later would become Belgium.

Related Topics:
Bishop - Liège - "prince-bishop" of Liège - Belgium

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