papal bulls
Pontifical proclamations sealed
Papal bulls are formal decrees or proclamations issued by the Pope, historically sealed with a lead seal called a bulla.
The term refers to the seal, not the content.
Bulls have announced everything from excommunications to the division of newly discovered lands: The papal bull of 1493 drew a line between Spanish and Portuguese territories.
The word bull here has nothing to do with the animal.
- canon lawReligious institutional regulations
- excommunicationFormal barring from sacraments
- interdictAuthoritative prohibition order
- indulgenceYielding to desire
- conclavePrivate, secretive assembly
charters · bulla · wax seal · canonization · concordats · pontificate · mandates · doctrine · ex cathedra · dogma · church authority · Holy See · throne · proclamation · bulls · schism · tiara · crusade
- Catholic ChurchVatican, cardinals, popes, parishes, Holy See
- CatholicismVatican, cardinals, pope, Holy Communion, popes
- historical documentsDeclaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, Emancipation Proclamation, Federalist Papers
- sealsharbor seal, gasket, o-ring, O-ring, airtight seal
- church historychurch history, apostles, Protestant Reformation, Christian history, baptism
- papacypontiff, Pope, pope, Holy See, Vatican
papal bullsexecutive orders
Presidential directives with legal force
royal decrees · constitutional amendments · court rulings · presidential proclamations