CARDINAL PROTECTOR. — The cardinal who, at the request of a religious society, is designated by the Roman Pontiff as a helper, counsellor, and moral assistant to the same.
I. HISTORY
Although the institution of the cardinal protector may have some connection with the *protectores romani* and the *defensores* or *protectores* of ecclesiastical history in the 8th–10th centuries (Moroni, LV, col. 317), its origin in the specific modern sense is due to St Francis, who between 1220 and 1221 asked and obtained from Pope Honorius III the cardinal Ugolino as *pastor* of the entire Franciscan movement. The Saint imposed in the Rule the requirement to seek a cardinal who would be *gubernator*, *protector et corrector* of the brotherhood he had founded.The institution extended also to other mendicant and monastic orders; indeed, in the latter almost every monastery came to have its own cardinal protector. The principal aim was to secure a patron in controversies and business before the Pope, and also a wise counsellor in governance. Unfortunately, however, abuses soon arose, both on the part of the cardinal protectors who sought to interfere too much in the actual government of the societies they protected, and on the part of the subjects of these societies who sheltered behind the name and authority of the protector to refuse obedience to their own superiors. Gregory XI with the bull *Cunctos Christifideles* of 25 May 1373 (Bullarium Romanum, IV, Turin 1859, p. 562) put an end to such abuses and better defined the proper functions of the cardinal protector, which nevertheless remained very extensive: presiding over Chapters, electing the procurator and the apostolic syndic, dividing provinces, interpreting the law, confirming acts of the Chapter, etc.
It was only the bull of Innocent XII, *Christifidelium*, of 16 February 1694 (Bullarium Romanum, p. 594) that brought secure legislation on the subject. The Innocentian bull addressed itself to all cardinal protectors and not only to that of the Friars Minor; it absolutely removed from the protector any authority to interfere in the causes of individual members of the protected society, and finally deprived him of all direct jurisdiction, leaving him only moral authority. The provisions of Innocent were later confirmed by Clement XI in a letter of 9 May 1715, and the Innocentian bull may be regarded as the immediate source of the present discipline of can. 499.
In the historical development of congregations under simple vows, the institution of the cardinal protector has no importance for male congregations, whereas for female congregations there is a return almost to the ancient practice of absolute interference. The reason for this lies in the opposition of the Roman Curia to the centralisation of female congregations with houses in many dioceses dependent on a superior general from another diocese. Since, however, in reality such institutions had multiplied and spread throughout the world in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was deemed necessary to entrust the institution to a supreme and unimpeachable director, the cardinal protector. From this point of view, he was of great advantage to the development of female congregations, because he gave support to the universal and centralised regime of the new institutions. When the feared drawbacks did not materialise, and the need for a central regime became ever more evident, the functions of the cardinal protector were again reduced to the limits set by the bull of Innocent XII. The change was not brought about by a single explicit act, but by the corrections which the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars made to the Constitutions before granting approval.
II. PRESENT DISCIPLINE
Can. 499 § 2 summarises all current legislation by establishing that the cardinal protector, except where the constitutions expressly provide otherwise, has no jurisdiction and must not interfere in any way in the internal discipline or administration of the institute or of individuals, but promotes its good by his counsel and patronage. To carry out this task the CIC and the practice of the Roman Curia grant the cardinal protector the right to have free epistolary relations with individual religious, without superiors being able to read letters sent by the protector or addressed to him; the forwarding and execution of certain rescripts, etc. Sometimes his opinion is sought on a particular question; at other times he may be permitted to preside at the election of the superior general in place of the local ordinary, to whom such a right would belong under can. 506 § 6. Extraordinarily and by delegation he may have greater powers, such as visitation, correction, etc.Ordinarily the appointment is made by the Secretariat of State of His Holiness, either in the form of a simple note or by apostolic letters in the form of a Brief. Requests for a cardinal protector may be addressed to the Sacred Congregation of Religious, which forwards them ex officio to the Secretariat of State; this, having obtained the prior consent of the cardinal, presents the name to the Supreme Pontiff, who decrees the appointment.
As a rule, the cardinal protector is granted only to institutes of pontifical right. Some societies have the Pope himself as their natural protector.