APPOINTMENT LETTER. — In Curial usage, this term denotes a brief letter, written in the Pope’s name, by which a given person is customarily informed of an appointment or promotion to some dignity, office, position, rank, benefice, etc. In most cases, it constitutes a swift means of communication, pending the dispatch and delivery of the bull or brief relating to that appointment or promotion. The newly appointed cardinals, for example, receive a letter by which the cardinal secretary of state announces to them their elevation to the cardinalitial dignity at the secret consistory.
Niccolò Del Re