AUDITOR OF HIS HOLINESS. – The A. of H.H. (Auditor S. M. Domini Nostri Papae, from which the false translation “Uditore Santissimo,” iudex sacrarum cognitionum, cognoscentes vice sacra) is one of the four palatine prelates (along with the Majordomo of His Holiness, the Master of the Chamber, and the Master of the Sacred Palace) who serve as intimate counsellors to the Pope in judicial matters. He belongs to the noble secret antechamber of the Papal Household (v.).
Originally this office carried great weight, for it exercised superior jurisdiction over all civil and criminal causes. There was a right of appeal to the Pope’s Auditor against every decision of the tribunals and Congregations, since he could, in the Pope’s name, quash them. For this reason the Pope granted him a special audience twice a week and chose him from among the most capable jurists. Yet such extensive jurisdiction proved too much for one man; it was therefore progressively restricted and gradually lost importance, especially from the beginning of the 19th century. Under Benedict XIV the Auditor of H.H. received a new assignment when, by office (17 Oct 1740), he was named Secretary of the renewed Special Congregation for Candidates for the Episcopate (Bullarium Benedicti XIV, I, Prato 1845, p. 10).
Leo XII abolished all the Auditor of H.H.’s powers to reform the sentences of the tribunals and Congregations (cf. motu proprio: Dopo le orribili calamità, 5 Oct 1824; Bullarii Romani continuati, VIII, Prato 1854, p. 133 ff.). After him, Gregory XVI in his Organic Regulation for the Administration of Civil Justice (Acta Gregorii XVI, IV, Rome 1904, p. 43) and in his Legislative and Judicial Regulation for Civil Affairs of 10 Nov 1834 (ibid., p. 340 ff.) decreed the end of the residual jurisdiction of the Auditor of H.H. Nevertheless, all his other faculties and attributions in non-contentious matters were preserved. Pius IX, by an edict of Cardinal Antonelli dated 11 Mar 1854 (nos. 60 and 61 of the Giornale di Roma), removed from the Auditor of H.H. further powers concerning the distribution of dowries. Blessed Pius X, with the motu proprio Romanis pontificibus of 19 Dec 1903 (Acta Pii X, I, Rome 1905, p. 113), entrusted the examination of candidates for the episcopate to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office; consequently the Auditor of H.H. also lost the post of Secretary of the Congregation established for this purpose. Benedict XV, by a chirograph of 28 Jun 1915 (AAS, 7 [1915], p. 325), ordained that the Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura should also hold the office of Auditor of H.H., as has remained in the present arrangement.