PONTIFICAL PROTECTORATE. - The p. p. is a particular tutelage of the Roman Pontiff extended to religious Orders, abbeys, religious congregations, and pious institutions that enjoy this distinguished privilege. Taken in a broad sense, the p. p. could be linked to the ius tuitionis, which the popes granted over the course of the centuries, especially in the medieval period, to patrimonies, to tributary States, to churches, to dioceses, to monasteries, to religious Orders, to pious places, to corporations, etc., giving to these protected entities exemptions, immunities, privileges and prerogatives (v. ESENZIONE; OBOLO DI S. PIETRO; PRIVILEGIO). Taken in a strict sense, the p. p. is instead a development of the function of the cardinal protector (v. PROTETTORE CARDINALE).
It often happened that the Supreme Pontiff retained some of those p. that he had held as cardinal.
A kind of p. p. is that granted by Pius IV, in 1565, to the pontifical palafrenieri, whose church in Borgo Pio was subjected to the immediate protection of the Pope and of the Holy See. Gregory XIII on 25 July 1574 declared himself protector of the German-Hungarian College (V. C. B. Piazza, Opere pie di Roma, Rome 1679, p. 234). Paul V retained in the pontificate the p. of the Archconfraternity of Christian Doctrine, which he then entrusted to the cardinal vicar and his successors. Benedict XIV on 25 Sept. 1754 declared protector of the Archconfraternity of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum, or of the Lovers of Jesus and Mary, instituted shortly before by St. Leonard of Port Maurice, the pontiff 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 Sts. Celsus and Julian in Banchi in Rome, makes known that the church is immediately subject to the supreme pontiffs. And a confirmation of this is had with Pius IX, who accepted the p. of the same church (Notizie del giorno, year 1847, Rome 1847, no. 34). Gregory XVI, as pope, retained the p. of the Chapter and of the city of Pergola, assumed as cardinal (cf. Prospetto del saggio degli alunni del Seminario di Pergola e studenti delle pubbliche scuole, Pergola 1839, p. 6).
Of the p. retained by the last supreme pontiffs, one may read the list: from the year 1832: in the Notizie per l'anno 1832, 1833, and following; from the year 1851: in the Notizie per l'anno 1851, 1852, and following; from the year 1860: in the Annuario pontificio for 1860, 1861, and following; from the year 1873: in La gerarchia cattolica e la famiglia pontificia per l'anno 1873, 1874, and following; from the year 1881: in La gerarchia cattolica, la cappella e la famiglia pontificia per l'anno 1881, 1882, and following; 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, for the year 1906, 1907, and following; from the year 1912: in the Annuario pontificio, 1912, 1913, and following. One may also consult, from the year 1908, A. Battandier, Annuaire pontifical catholique, Paris 1908, and following.
Since the p. p. is reserved to the free will of the popes, in retaining the p. already held as cardinal, as in assuming new ones, it is not possible to say what the criterion is by which the Holy Father grants this protection of his; however, it is always an act of sovereign benevolence toward this or that religious Order or congregation, church, monastery or pious institution, etc., a benevolence that is demonstrated by signs of particular munificence.
Bibliography2 works
Guglielmo Felici