Nuncio (pronounced nuhn-shee-oh, nuhn-see-oh or noo-see-oh)
(1) In
the Roman Catholic Church, the ecclesiastic title of a permanent diplomatic
representative of the Holy See to a foreign court, capital or international
organization, ranking above an internuncio and accorded a rank equivalent to an
accredited ambassador.
(2) By
extension, one who bears a message; a messenger.
(3) Any
member of any Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Galicia (of the Austrian Partition), Duchy of Warsaw, Congress Poland, or Grand
Duchy of Posen (historic reference only).
1520–1530:
From the older Italian nuncio (now nunzio) from the Classical Latin nūncius & nūntius (messenger) of uncertain origin. It may be from the primitive Indo-European
root neu- (to shout) or new (to nod), same source as the Latin nuō, the Ancient
Greek νεύω (neúō) (to beckon, nod) and the Old Irish noid (make known). The alternative view is it was contracted
from noventius, from an obsolete noveō, from novus. Nuncio, nunciature & nuncioship are nouns and nunciotist is an adjective; the noun plural is nuncios but according to the text trawlers, the more frequently used plural is nunciature ((1)the status or rank of a nuncio, (2) the building & staff of a nuncio and (3) the term of service of a nuncio) which seems strange and may reflect the selection of documents scanned. Nunciatory & nunciate are unrelated (directly) and are form of the Latin Latin nuncius & nuntius (messenger, message).
In diplomatic service
An apostolic nuncio (also known as a papal nuncio or nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as envoy or permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or international organization and is head of the Apostolic Nunciature, the equivalent of an embassy or high-commission. The Holy See is legally distinct from the Vatican City, an important theological distinction for the Vatican although one without practical significance for the states to which they’re accredited. Most nuncios have been bishops or Archbishops and, by convention, in historically Catholic countries, the nuncio usually enjoys seniority in precedence, appointed ex officio as dean of the diplomatic corps. Between 1965 and 1991, the term pro-nuncio was applied to a representative of full ambassadorial rank accredited to a country that did not accord precedence and de jure deanship of the diplomatic corps and in countries with which Holy See does not have diplomatic ties, an apostolic delegate may be sent to act as liaison with the local church. Apostolic delegates have the same ecclesiastical rank as nuncios, but no diplomatic status except those which the country may choose to extend.
Der Apostolische Nuntius (Apostolic Nuncios) to Germany leaving the presidential palace of Generalfeldmarshall Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), Reichspräsident (1925-1934) of the Weimar Republic 1918-1933): Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli (1876–1958, later Pope Pius XII 1939-1958), October 1927 (left) and Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo (1873–1946), May 1930 (right).
The above photograph of Archbishop Pacelli was central to what proved a fleeting literary scandal. In 1999, journalist John Cornwell (b 1940) published Hitler's Pope, a study of the actions of Pacelli from the decades before the coming to power of the Nazis in 1933 until the end of the Third Reich in 1945. As a coda, the final years of the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-1958) were also examined. Cornwell’s thesis was that in his pursuit of establishing a centralized power structure with which the rule of the Holy See could be enforced over the entire church around the world, Pacelli so enfeebled the Roman Catholic Church in Germany that the last significant opposition to absolute Nazi rule was destroyed, leaving Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) able to pursue his goals which include military conquest and ultimately, what proved to be the attempted genocide of the Jews of Europe. For a historian that would be an indictment damning enough but Cornwell went further, citing documentary sources which he claimed established Pacelli’s anti-Semitism. More controversially still, the author was critical of Pius' conduct during the war, arguing that he did little to protect the Jews and did not even loudly protest against the Holocaust.
An
example of how the book enraged Pius XII’s Praetorian Guard was the brief
controversy about the cover, the allegation being there had been a “constructive
manipulation” of the image used on the hardback copies of the US edition, the
argument being the juxtaposition of the title “Hitler’s Pope” with the
photograph of him leaving the presidential palace in Berlin implied the image
dated from March 1939, the month Pacelli was elected Pope. To add to the deception, it was noted the
photograph (actually from 1927) had been cropped to remove (1) one soldier of
the guard obviously not in a Nazi-era uniform and (2) the details identifying an
automobile as obviously from the 1920s.
Whether any reader deduced from the cropped image that the pope and Führer
(the two never met) had just been scheming and plotting together isn’t known
but the correct details of the photograph were printed on back flap of the jacket,
as in common in publishing.
That
storm in a tea cup quickly subsided and people were left to draw their own
conclusions on substantive matters but it was unfortunate the sensational stuff
drew attention from was a genuinely interesting aspect explored in the book: Pacelli’s
critical role in the (re-)creation of the papacy and the Roman Curia as a centralized
institution with absolute authority over the whole Church. This was something which had been evolving
since Pius IX (1792–1878; pope 1846-1878) convened the First Vatican Council (Vatican
I; 1869-1870) and under subsequent pontificates the process had continued but
it was the publication of Pacelli’s codification of canon law in 1917 which
made this administratively (and legally) possible. Of course, any pope could at any time have
ordered a codification but it was only in the late nineteenth century that
modern communications made it possible for instructions issued from the Vatican
to arrive within days, hours or even minutes, just about anywhere on the
planet. Previously, when a letter could
take months to be delivered, a central authority simply would not function
effectively. It was the 1917
codification of canon law which realised the implications of the hierarchical theocracy
which the Roman church had often appeared to be but never quite was because
until the twentieth century such things were not possible and (as amended), it
remains the document to which the curia cling in their battles. Although, conscious of the mystique of their
two-thousand year history, the Holy See likes people to imagine things about
which they care have been unchanged for centuries, it has for example been only
sine the codification that the appointment of bishops is vested exclusively in
the pope, that battle with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still in an uneasy
state of truce.
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