Secretaries of the Sacred Congregations: V. ROMAN CONGREGATIONS, SACRED.
### Secretariat of Briefs to Princes
This is the first Latin Secretariat of the Roman Curia. Its name derives from one of the tasks entrusted to it: namely, the drafting in Latin of letters to sovereigns and heads of state, which the Supreme Pontiff signs with his own hand (*litterae in forma brevi ad Principes*).
In addition to these documents, other no less solemn ones are entrusted to this Secretariat for their drafting, in accordance with canon 264 of the *Codex Iuris Canonici*, including encyclicals, consistorial allocutions, homilies for the canonization of saints, and also certain apostolic constitutions, motu proprios, and papal letters of greater importance. Therefore, this office serves the Supreme Pontiff directly in the exercise of his universal magistero, as under his high guidance and precise orders received from time to time, it contributes to the Latin drafting of the most important documents.
The head of the office is the Secretary of Briefs to Princes, who, as such, is a member of the noble papal antechamber. Moreover, in public consistories where causes of saints are discussed, he responds in Latin on behalf of the Holy Father to the consistorial advocates who have pleaded these causes; in the sacred rite of canonizations, he announces to those present—in the same language—the solemn proclamation of the newly canonized, which is about to be made by the Pope; if a Catholic sovereign dies, he delivers the funeral eulogy of the deceased in the solemn Papal Chapel, which is customarily held on such occasions; and in the event of a *Sede vacante*, before the conclave begins, he delivers the *oratio de eligendo Summo Pontefice* before the Sacred College assembled in the Sistine Chapel.
The historical origin of this office can be traced back to the Apostolic Secretariat, which was charged with drafting all the Latin correspondence of the Roman Curia; it was later regulated by the constitution *Inno-centius VIII* of 31 December 1487 and comprised 24 apostolic secretaries. Subsequently, it became a separate and fully autonomous secretariat with the bull *Romanus Pontifex* of 10 April 1678, when the College of Apostolic Secretaries was suppressed.
In its long history, the Secretariat of Briefs to Princes has included distinguished Latinists, such as among the ancients Bembo, and among more recent figures Nocella, Volpini, Angelini, and Galli.