AUDITOR OF HIS HOLINESS. - The Auditor of H.H. (Auditor S.mi Domini Nostri Papae, whence the false translation "Most Holy Auditor," iudex sacrarum cognitionum, cognoscens vice sacra) is one of the four palatine prelates (together with the Majordomo of His Holiness, the Master of the Chamber, and the Master of the Sacred Palace), whose office is that of intimate counselor to the Pope in judicial matters. He is part of the noble secret antechamber of the Pontifical Family (v.).
In former times it was an office of great prominence, because it exercised a superior jurisdiction in all civil and criminal causes. There was the right of appealing to the Pope's Auditor against all decisions of the tribunals and Congregations, inasmuch as he could, in the Pope's name, quash them. For this reason the Pope received him in private audience twice a week and chose him from among the most capable jurists. But such jurisdiction was too extensive for one man alone; it was therefore limited on several occasions and gradually lost importance, especially from the beginning of the 19th century. Under Benedict XIV, the Auditor of H.H. had received a new assignment, with appointment by virtue of his office (Oct. 17, 1740) as Secretary of the renewed special Congregation on those to be promoted to the episcopate (Bullarium Benedicti XIV, I, Prato 1845, p. 10).
Leo XII abolished all the attributions of the Auditor of H.H. with regard to the power to reform the sentences of the Tribunals and Congregations (cf. motu proprio: Dopo le orribili calamità, Oct. 5, 1824; Bullarii Romani continuatio, VIII, Prato 1854, p. 133 ff.). After him, Gregory XVI in his Regolamento organico per l'amministrazione della giustizia civile (Acta Gregorii XVI, IV, Rome 1904, p. 43) and in his Regolamento legislativo e giudiziario per gli affari civili of Nov. 10, 1834 (ibid., p. 340 ff.) established the cessation of the contentious jurisdiction of the Auditor of H.H. Nevertheless, all the other faculties and attributions in matters not belonging to the contentious forum were preserved to him. Pius IX, by an edict of Card. Antonelli, dated March 11, 1854 (nos. 60 and 61 of the Giornale di Roma), removed from the Auditor of H.H. other attributions, in the matter of the distribution of dowries. Bl. Pius X, by the motu proprio Romanis pontificibus of Dec. 19, 1903 (Acta Pii X, I, Rome 1905, p. 113), entrusted to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office the task of examining those to be promoted to the episcopate: consequently the Auditor of H.H. also lost the assignment of being secretary of the Congregation erected for that purpose. Benedict XV, by a chirograph of June 28, 1915 (AAS, 7 [1915], p. 325), established that the Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura should also hold the post of Auditor of H.H., as has remained in the current order.