How to Address the Pope
How to Address the Pope or Pontiff | Roman Catholic
—-Traditional envelope or address block on letter or email:
——–His Holiness
—-—-The Pope
—-—-The Apostolic Palace
—-—-00120 Vatican City
—-Contemporary envelope or address block on letter or email::
——–His Holiness
——–Pope Francis
——–The Apostolic Palace
——–00120 Vatican City
—-Letter salutation:
—-—-Your Holiness:
—-—-Most Holy Father:
—-Conversation:
—-—-Your Holiness
Robert Hickey author of“Honor & Respect”
How to Address a Pope If You Are Non-Christian?
What is the appropriate form of address for the Pope in a letter from a non-Christian?
—-—-—-– DM
Dear DM,
Use the forms of address shown above. When you are outside the culture, using the standard forms of address shows respect the culture. Everyone – subjects and non-subjects – addresses the Queen of the UK as ‘Your Majesty’. ‘Holy Father’ is a typical salutation used by Catholics in correspondence. You might prefer to use‘Your Holiness’.
Use the complimentary close‘Very Respectfully’. It is a standard closing for correspondence to high officials.
– Robert Hickey How to Address the Pope
Robert Hickey author of“Honor & Respect”
How to Introduce the Pope?
I will be meeting the Pope. If I introduce him, would you say, ‘May I introduce the Holy Father, Pope (Name)’ or say, ‘May I present His Holiness’ and not his name in the introduction?
—-~ Meeting the Pope
Dear Meeting the Pope:
Call me psychic, but I doubt you will be introducing the Pope. But that said, the Holy Father is so high he is never introduced to anyone: individuals are presented to theHoly Father. He requires no introduction: anyone about to meet the Pope already knows who he is.
When he enters the room he is announced …. an aide says so all can hear‘His Holiness’ … and that’s pretty much it.
Perhaps you arebeing introduced to the Pope? In that case the introducer would say something like ‘Your Holiness may I present (your name).’ When you acknowledge the introduction, his name is ever used. If you address him – say,‘Your Holiness.’
‘Not using the name’ is standard when addressing very high officials. For example, the Queen of the United Kingdom is never addressed as Queen Elizabeth … she is addressed as‘Your Majesty’ The President of the United States (POTUS) is addressed as‘Mr. President’ in direct conversation: not‘President (Name)’ in spite what you have encountered in the media.
– Robert Hickey
Robert Hickey author of“Honor & Respect”
How to Address a Retired Pope?
How do you address a former pope of the Roman Catholic Church? I bet you never considered that!
————-– B. E. in Georgia
Dear B.E.,
I did not considered it, it seems like the Roman Catholic Church didn’t either. The Church didn’t define a form of address for a retired pope in its modern literature.
I don’t define how anyone is addressed … I just keep track of how current organizations address their current and former officials – so those of us outside their domain can correctly address them.
Now Roman Catholic Church has established there can be a former office holder.
Some would have guessed that Pope Benedict would return to the form of address to which he was entitled before assuming office: cardinal. There are retired cardinals. Having a retired cardinal addressed in the same way as current cardinals presents no confusion, Being a cardinal is not a singular(only-one-office-holder-at-a-time) position.
—-#1)For example, when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated the throne to her son Willem-Alexander in 2013, she returned to the form of address to which she was entitled prior to taking office:Princess.
—-#2) However, in the UK, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (1900-2002), the Queen Mother (mother of Queen Elizabeth II, the present British sovereign(chief of state), and the widow of King George VI) – continued to be addressed asYour Majesty when her daughter assumed the throne without much mishap. In Belgium where for a period before the death of Fabiola in 2014, there were three queens:Queen Fabiola (1960-1993), her successorQueen Paola (1993-2013), and the currentQueen Mathilde (2013- ), all addressed asYour Majesty.
These situations are a bit different, but they show how other hierarchies have dealt with titles when there is more than one office holder in a typicallyone-office-holder-at-a-time office.
– Robert Hickey
See These Related Links:
——-—-Archbishop
——-—-Bishop
——-—-Brother
——-—-Cardinal
——-—-Deacon
——-—-Monsignor
——-—-Mother Superior
——-—-Nun | Sister
——-—-Pope
——-—-Priest
Robert Hickey author of“Honor & Respect”
When Should You Use the Forms on this Page?
You can use these forms of address for any mode of communication: addressing aletter, invitation, card orEmail.(If there are differences between the official and social forms of address, I will have mentioned the different forms.) The form noted in the salutation is the same form you use when you say their name in conversation or when yougreet them.
___What I don’t cover on this site aremany thingsI do cover in my book:all the rules of forms of address, about names, international titles, precedence, complimentary closes, details on invitations, place cards, all sorts of introductions,etc. I hope you’ll get acopy of the book if you’d like the further detail.
Not Finding Your Answer?
—-#1)At right ondesktops,at the bottom of every pageontablets andphones, is a list of all the offices, officials & topics covered on the site.
—-#2) If you don’t see the official you seek included or your question answeredsend me an e-mail. I am pretty fast at sending a reply: usually the next day or so (unless I am traveling.)Note: I don’t have mailing or Email addresses for any of the officials and I don’t keep track of offices that exist only in history books.
—-#3) If I think your question is of interest to others, Sometimes I post the question – but always change all the specifics.
— Robert Hickey
Robert Hickey author of“Honor & Respect”
Recommended Resources: The Protocol School of Washington (PSOW) and Protocol and Diplomacy International – Protocol Officers Association (PDI-POA) For more information see theProtocol Resources page.
