A Papal bull is a special kind of patent or charter issued by a pope and named for the seal (bulla) that was appended to the end to authenticate it. Papal bulls were originally issued by the pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature, but after the 15th century, only for the more formal or solemn of occasions. Modern scholars have retroactively used the term "bull" to describe any elaborate papal document issued in the form of a decree or privilege (solemn or simple), and to some less elaborate ones issued in the form of a letter. Popularly, the name is used f ...

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• Papal bull - Format
• Papal bull - Content
• Papal bull - Examples of papal bulls

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The bull's format began with one-line in tall elongated letters containing three elements: the pope's name, the pope's title (episcopus servus servorum Dei), and a phrase indicative of the bull's purpose for record keeping purposes (the incipit), from which the bull would also take its name. The body of the text had no special formatting and was often very simple in layout. The closing section consisted of a short datum, mentioning the place it was issued, the day of the month and the year of the pope's pontificati ...

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Papal bull, Papal bull - Format, Papal bull - Content, Papal bull - Examples of papal bulls

Read more here: » Papal bull: Encyclopedia II - Papal bull - Format

In terms of content, the bull is simply the format in which a decree of the pope appears. Any subject may be treated in a bull, and many were and are, including statutory decrees, episcopal appointments, dispensations, excommunications, apostolic constitutions, canonizations and convocations. The bull was the exclusive letter format from the Vatican until the 14th century, when the Papal brief began to appear. The Papal brief is the less formal form of papal communication and is authenticated with a wax impression (now a red ink impression) ...

See also:

Papal bull, Papal bull - Format, Papal bull - Content, Papal bull - Examples of papal bulls

Read more here: » Papal bull: Encyclopedia II - Papal bull - Content