PROTECTION, PONTIFICAL
Pontifical protection is a special guardianship exercised by the Roman Pontiff over religious Orders, abbeys, religious congregations, and pious institutions that enjoy this distinguished privilege. Taken in a broad sense, pontifical protection could be linked to the stagnation that the popes granted over the centuries, especially during the medieval period, to patrimonies, tributary states, churches, dioceses, monasteries, religious Orders, places, corporations, etc., granting these protected entities exemptions, immunities, privileges, and prerogatives (v. EXEMPTION; PETER'S PENCE; PRIVILEGE). Taken in a strict sense, pontifical protection is instead a development of the function of the cardinal protector (v. CARDINAL PROTECTOR).
It often happened that the Supreme Pontiff retained some of those protections he had held as a cardinal.
A kind of pontifical protection is that granted by Pius IV in 1565 to the papal grooms, whose church in Borgo Pio was placed under the immediate protection of the Pope and the Holy See. Gregory XIII declared himself protector of the German-Hungarian College on July 25, 1574 (cf. C. B. Piazza, *Opere pie di Roma*, Rome 1679, p. 234). Paul V retained during his pontificate the protection of the Archconfraternity of Christian Doctrine, which he then entrusted to the cardinal vicar and his successors. Benedict XIV declared himself protector of the Archconfraternity of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum or the Lovers of Jesus and Mary, established shortly before by St. Leonard of Port Maurice, on September 25, 1754, as pontifex pro tempore.
Pius VII, as pope, was protector of the province of Sabina. The same Pius VII, in contributing to the restoration of the collegiate church of SS. Celso e Giuliano ai Banchi in Rome, made known that the church was immediately subject to the Supreme Pontiffs. Confirmation of this is found in Pius IX, who accepted the protection of the same church (*Notizie del giorno*, year 1847, Rome 1847, no. 34). Gregory XVI, as pope, retained the protection of the Chapter and the city of Pergola, assumed as a cardinal (cf. *Prospetto del saggio degli alunni del Seminario di Pergola e studenti delle pubbliche scuole*, Pergola 1839, p. 6).
Lists of the protections retained by the most recent Supreme Pontiffs can be read: from the year 1832: in *Notizie per l'anno* 1832, 1833, etc.; from the year 1851: in *Notizie per l'anno* 1851, 1852, etc.; from the year 1860: in the *Annuario pontificio* for 1860, 1861, etc.; from the year 1873: in *La gerarchia cattolica e la famiglia pontificia per l'anno* 1873, 1874, etc.; from the year 1881: in *La gerarchia cattolica, la cappella e la famiglia pontificia per l'anno* 1881, 1882, etc.; from the year 1906: in *La gerarchia cattolica, la cappella e la famiglia pontificia, le amministrazioni palatine. Le sacre congregazioni e gli altri dicasteri pontifici per l'anno* 1906–1907, etc.; from the year 1912: in the *Annuario pontificio* for 1913, 1914, etc. One may also consult, from the year 1908, A. Battandier, *Annuaire pontifical catholique*, Paris 1908, etc.
Since pontifical protection is reserved to the free will of the popes, in retaining protections already held as cardinals or in assuming new ones, it is not possible to state what criterion the Holy Father follows in granting this protection; however, it is always an act of sovereign benevolence toward this or that Order or religious congregation, church, monastery, or pious institution, benevolence that is demonstrated by signs of particular munificence.