APOSTOLIC DELEGATE. – According to the currently accepted understanding, the Apostolic Delegate is a prelate, a titular archbishop, who is sent by the Roman Pontiff as his representative with a permanent mandate but without diplomatic character, to the Catholic communities of a given nation (cf. Communiqué of the Secretariat of State, 8 May 1916: AAS, 8 [1916], p. 213). The Apostolic Delegate is therefore not, in general, the residential bishop of a diocese within the territory where he exercises his functions, although there are examples of Delegates who have been or, according to pontifical decrees, should be bishops of a diocese included within their territorial jurisdiction. According to the definition given by the same CIC (can. 267 § 2), not even the episcopal character is necessarily attached to the office of Apostolic Delegate. Moreover, as has been noted, he does not exercise diplomatic functions: that is, he is the representative of the Roman Pontiff to the bishops and Catholic communities, not to the head of state of the country to which he is sent, and he performs religious duties, not political ones. The representatives of the Roman Pontiff to governments, appointed on a permanent basis to perform political functions, are not in fact called delegates but nuncios or internuncios.
For there to be an Apostolic Delegation in the proper sense, however, the representation it embodies must be of a nature that is permanent, not limited in time or by circumstances already foreseen at the time of its establishment.
The function of the Apostolic Delegate is to oversee the Catholic communities and works in a given nation or region and to keep the Holy See informed; to communicate to bishops, vicars or Apostolic Prefects, superiors of missions or missionaries the instructions of the Apostolic See, and to ensure their observance, as well as the exact observance of all ecclesiastical laws in general (can. 267 § 2).
From the earliest times, the Roman Pontiffs, unable to deal with and resolve all matters personally or to be present in multiple places, were compelled to entrust this duty to others. This practice became even more frequent when, having gained freedom, the Supreme Pontiffs were able to exercise their universal primacy more effectively. However, these were mostly special and temporary delegations, designated in Roman terms in various ways: *missio*, *legatio*, *delegatio*. The substantial difference between these representations, lacking continuity and permanence, and the current Apostolic Delegations is evident, as is the distinction between Delegates, legati missi, and legati a latere. A deeper analogy, however, exists with other forms of stable and permanent representation, such as the ancient Apostolic Vicars, the apostolic legates (v.), and legates *nati*, and, in more recent times, nuncios and internuncios. Like the current Delegates, the ancient Apostolic Vicars represented the Roman Pontiff, were vested with episcopal, indeed metropolitan, dignity, had no political duties or diplomatic functions, and oversaw ecclesiastical discipline in their territory, serving as a channel of communication and information for the Holy See in more serious matters. Unlike the current Delegates, however, the ancient Vicars were residential bishops, and although each new incumbent required apostolic confirmation for the powers proper to his office as Vicar, these were granted solely to bishops of specific sees, not to others. Finally, the ancient Vicars exercised a true and broad jurisdiction, albeit vicarious, even over the dioceses within their territory.
The figure of the apocrisiarius corresponds to that of the current Apostolic Delegate in that he is a permanent representative of the Roman Pontiff, lacking ordinary jurisdiction and tasked with overseeing the integrity of the faith and informing the Roman See of this; it differs, however, not only in the ordinary absence of episcopal character in the former but also in a fundamental aspect: while the Delegate is the representative of the Roman Pontiff to the churches and bishops, the apocrisiarius was the representative of the Roman Pontiff to the imperial court, albeit for matters of a religious nature.
Legates *nati* differ from Delegates in the same respects noted regarding Apostolic Vicars, and for another equally fundamental reason: Delegates derive their title and prerogatives as representatives of the Roman Pontiff from a grant made directly to their person, whereas legates *nati* obtained such title and jurisdiction through the office to which they were elected.
In their capacity as representatives of the Roman Pontiff to Catholic communities, nuncios and Apostolic Internuncios perform a function identical to that of Delegates; however, in addition to this, they are invested with the representation of the Pope to civil governments. Finally, it should be noted that while the ancient Apostolic Vicars, apocrisiarii, legates *nati*, nunciatures, and internunciatures presuppose, by their very origin and the development of their activity, a hierarchy of common law, Apostolic Delegations arose instead in mission territories and generally exercise their functions in regions where the conversion of unbelievers, heretics, or schismatics constitutes the primary task of the Church’s mission.
Before the current Apostolic Delegations came into being, the means by which the Pontiffs informed themselves of the possibilities for life and growth of the Church in pagan, heretical, or schismatic lands were the Latin bishops, Latin Apostolic Vicars, or Prefects of Missions who already existed and carried out their work in those regions. In particular, the Latin bishops and Apostolic Vicars of the Ottoman Empire served as the normal channel through which the Pontiffs corresponded with those invested with supreme civil authority, to initiate, pursue, and sometimes complete the work directed toward the conversion of the heads of schismatic Churches and their followers, and to inform themselves of the state of the Catholic Church. This does not mean that these bishops and Vicars were from the outset true Apostolic Delegates in the modern sense, for they lacked an official and permanent mandate constituting them as representatives of the supreme authority, and the duties entrusted to them—which are now ordinarily fulfilled by Delegates—were generally occasional and not inherent in a prior and general mandate of representation. It was from these Apostolic Vicars and bishops, however, that the current Delegations originated.
From the very beginning of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, ideas and projects were considered which, if not properly anticipations of Apostolic Delegations, paved the way for them. On 2 March 1622, Fr. Diego Collado, Vice-Provincial of the Dominicans in Japan, Fr. Diego of St Francis, Commissary of the Franciscans, Fr. Antonio of St Bonaventure, Commissary of the Discalced Carmelites, and other missionaries addressed a petition to the Supreme Pontiff, requesting that a prelate be designated to represent the Supreme Head of the Church in the East Indies, with authority superior even to that of bishops and with power to settle all controversies, given that the distance made it impossible to submit cases to the Apostolic tribunals. The proposal was repeatedly discussed by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith but was ultimately abandoned due to difficulties arising from the patronage of the Spanish Crown and the persecutions that afflicted the Church in the Empire of the Rising Sun.
The apostolic delegate to be established in the East Indies was intended to have primarily the character of an appellate judge delegated by the Apostolic See, but it was also intended that he should exercise the office of executor of its mandates, supervise the missions and the bishops, and report to the Supreme Pontiff. His office was to be attached to a resident see, and the powers pertaining to it were to be temporary.
The plan, which had not been able to be implemented in Japan, was later realized elsewhere, with notable variations. At the particular congregations of Propaganda Fide on 17 and 27 July 1678, it was decided, in accordance with the proposal of F. Pallu, Apostolic Vicar of Tonkin, to place the six new vicariates into which the missions of the Far East, including Japan, had been divided under the authority of two general administrators: one for the missions of China, the other for those of the neighboring countries. The supreme administration of the missions of China was entrusted to Mons. Pallu, and that of the neighboring countries to Mons. Pietro de La Motte Lambert. These administrators, called d. a., were granted extensive powers: to visit the vicariates, to instruct and ordain clergy, to convene synods of indigenous priests, to examine and decide disputes that might arise between vicariates, and also, in second instance, cases arising between the vicariates themselves, between ecclesiastics—both secular and regular—and between the faithful. These d. a. were tasked with determining the assignment of missionaries and could transfer them from one vicariate to another. They were appointed for seven years but could be removed before the term expired, and in the event of death, they could transmit their faculties to others. At the particular congregation of 5 December 1689, after the death of both administrators, it was decided that they would no longer be replaced.
These delegations were similar to those of today, because in them the functions of transmitting the acts and will of the Holy See, of supervising the missions, and of reporting to the supreme authority were more pronounced than in previous ones; they differed, however, substantially both because the office lacked stability and because they exercised their jurisdiction within the vicariates themselves.
The first d. a. in the modern sense was Mons. Arnoldo Bossù, appointed Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo by a brief of 17 June 1762. In the attached instructions, in addition to the faculties deriving from his ordinary jurisdiction as Latin Apostolic Vicar, he was entrusted with the mandate to supervise all Catholic communities existing in the territory, regardless of rite, to ensure the execution of papal constitutions, and to report to the Apostolic See. The instructions expressly stated that the supervisory functions over the Eastern communities were incumbent upon the new Latin vicar as the representative of the Holy See in the territory that included the Maronite and Armenian patriarchates. The office was not limited in time and was intended to continue even after the death of the person first invested with II. Although there was no formal act of erection as a distinct office from that of Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, it was in fact a true apostolic delegation in the modern sense, and official documents, at the time of the appointment of subsequent Apostolic Vicars of Aleppo, expressly designate them, for the exercise of their powers among the Eastern communities, as d. a. The successful experiment carried out in Syria was then repeated in Mesopotamia, where the apostolic delegation *pro Natione catholica Chaldaeorum* was entrusted to the Latin bishop of Baghdad; then in Constantinople, and thus outside the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
The d. a. is therefore, first and foremost, the official and ordinary organ through which the Holy See communicates its will and directives to bishops, religious superiors, the regular and secular clergy, and the faithful. Indeed, by virtue of his divine primacy, the Roman Pontiff has ordinary and immediate jurisdiction over all the faithful and their pastors (can. 218). The apostolic delegation is also the ordinary channel through which the Holy See transmits its rescripts, grants its favors, sends aid, and is likewise the normal means for forwarding to the Apostolic See the requests and appeals arising from the territory of the delegation. The function of supervision and inspection entrusted to the d. a. pertains to whatever may concern the Holy See in order to be informed both of the state, development, needs, and dangers of individual Churches, and of compliance with its laws, commands, and directives, as well as the advisability of its direct intervention. The primary object of this function is the faith, morals, and discipline of the clergy, public disorders, harmony within the clergy and among Catholics in general, so that they may exercise their beneficial influence in the most effective manner. The d. a. is also entrusted with an unofficial advisory role, in a friendly manner, toward bishops, religious superiors, and even laypeople, for the purpose of resolving disputes, removing abuses, preventing dangers, and promoting the development of the life of the Church.
In the exercise of these functions, however, the d. a. must leave the local Ordinaries free to exercise their jurisdiction (can. 269 § 1), unless he is vested with special and extraordinary faculties to intervene in the governance of their communities.
Ordinarily, the d. a. is invested, as has been said, with an archiepiscopal title. But even if he lacks episcopal character, as the representative of the supreme Head of the Church, he takes precedence over all Ordinaries not vested with cardinalatial dignity (can. 269 § 2), and thus also over patriarchs. If he is a bishop, he may give the blessing to the people in the churches of Ordinaries, except in the cathedral, without their permission, and may celebrate pontifical functions there, with throne and baldachin (can. 269 § 3).
To this representative function has been wisely joined a concentration of faculties that are ordinarily reserved to the Holy See. The exercise of these, while implying recognition of the papal primacy, aims to foster affection and devotion toward the Holy See and the apostolic delegation itself, so that the faithful, priests, and bishops may find in the latter an easy and ready means of obtaining the necessary dispensations, graces, and favors, without being forced to resort to the Apostolic See, with delays that are often dangerous or harmful.
As of 1950, there are in all 23 apostolic delegations, of which 5 (Canada, the Philippines, Great Britain, Mexico, the United States of America) depend on the Sacred Consistorial Congregation; 8 (Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Jerusalem and Palestine, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey) depend on the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Church; and 11 (French Africa or Dakar, Southern Africa, British East and West Africa, Albania, the Indonesian Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, Korea, Japan, Indochina) depend on the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda.