القاصد الرسولي

A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.

قالب:Catholic Church hierarchy sidebar 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 (historically) 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.

 History

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, papal legate to England during the reign of Henry VIII

 Diplomatic Ranks

There are several ranks of papal legates in diplomacy, some of which are no longer used.

 Apostolic nuncio

Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Commendone, sometime papal nuncio to Urbino, Ferrara, Venice, Parma, and England.

 Apostolic delegate

For countries with which the Holy See has no diplomatic relations, an apostolic delegate is sent to serve as a liaison with the Catholic Church in that country, though not accredited to its government.

 Legati

 Legatus a latere

This highest rank (literally "from the (Pope's) side", i.e. "intimately" trusted) is normally awarded to a priest of cardinal rank.

 Legatus natus

Literally "born legate", i.e. not nominated individually but ex officio, namely a bishop holding this rank as a privilege of his see, e.g. archbishops of Canterbury (pre-Reformation), Prague, Esztergom, Udine, Salzburg, Gniezno and Cologne.

 Legatus missus

Literally "sent legate"

 Gubernatorial legates

Some administrative (temporal) provinces of the Papal states in (mostly central) Italy were governed by a Papal Legate. This has been the case in Benevento, in Pontecorvo (of Campagna e Marittima/ of Frosinone) and in Viterbo. In four cases, including Bologna, this post was awarded exclusively to Cardinals; the Velletri post was created for Bartolommeo Pacca.

The title could be changed to Apostolic Delegate, as happened in Frosinone (for Pontecorvo) in 1827.

 انظر أيضاً

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

• Pontifical legate

 References

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Legate
• WorldStatesmen - Italy to 1860 - Papal State
• Maseri, Pellegrino (1709). De Legatis et Nunciis Apostolicis Iudiciis Ecclesiasticis Civilibus et Criminalibus Oneribusque Civitatum Cameralibus et Communitativis (in Latin). Rome: Plachus.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Langhaider, Konstantin (1785). Commentatio Canoncia de Legatis et Nuntiis Pontificum (in Latin). None given: None given.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Schott, Johann (1778). De Legatis Natis (in Latin). Bamberg: Klietsch.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Heidemann, Josef (1904). Die englische Legation des Cardinals Guido Fulcodi, des spaeteren P. Clemens IV (in German). Munster: Westfalische Vereinsdruckerei.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Wynen, Arthur (1922). Die päpstliche Diplomatie: geschichtlich und rechtlich dargestellt /von Arthur Wynen. Das Völkerrecht, Heft 10 (in German). Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Paro, Gino (1947). The Right of Papal Legation. Washington DC USA: Catholic University of America Press.
• Wasner, Franz (1958). "Fifteenth-century texts on the Ceremonial of the papal 'Legatus a latere'". Traditio. 14: 295–358. JSTOR 27830370. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Wasner, Franz (1960). "'Legatus a latere': addenda varia". Traditio. 16: 405–416. JSTOR 27830415. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Harvey, Margaret M. (1993). England, Rome, and the Papacy, 1417-1464: The Study of a Relationship. Manchester UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-3459-6.
• Gillett, Andrew (2003). Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-44003-5.
• Melnyk, Roman A. (2009). Vatican Diplomacy at the United Nations: A History of Catholic Global Engagement. Lewiston NY USA: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-3881-1.
• Rennie, Kriston R. (2013). The Foundations of Medieval Papal Legation. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-26494-7.