By Emily Smith

Religions big and small from all corners of the world have their own symbols that define and represent the faiths that give purpose and direction to millions around the world. For example, the cross in Christianity, the crescent and star in Islam, the Star of David in Judaism, and the yin-yang of Taoism. A symbol is one of the easiest ways to represent your religion and proclaim your faith to those around you. These are some of the most well known and easily identified symbols in the world, however, religions often have many more symbols than the ones that are known best to the world. As religions and the world around us evolve and change, however, symbols can fall away and out of practice in response. The Papal Tiara is an example of an important religious symbol, that ultimately fell out of practice with the Church due to the evolving religious practices. The end of this practice posits a question, how can the discontinuation of a symbol in religion be indicative of something more significant and life-altering within a faith?

History of the Papal Tiara

Symbolism is a key aspect of any religion, and symbols, which often are material objects, often serve for countless centuries as a key aspect of a religion. However, some symbols face the real possibility of falling out of practice and becoming “out of touch” from the religion they are designated to represent. The Papal Tiara served many years as a key symbol of Catholicism, which began with the first known acknowledgment of “papal headwear” in 708 with Pope Constantine and ended with Pope Paul VI in 1964 (Sanders). One prominent Biblical reference to the Papal Tiara is 2 Tm 4:7-8, which states “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on a merited crown awaits me…”. (Sanders). The case of becoming “out of touch” with the Catholic Church was the driving force for the end of the Papal Tiara in Catholicism, which has a long and storied history stemming from the Vatican and the Pope.

The issue of becoming “out of touch” stems from the many changes that the Catholic Church was undergoing before, during, and after the Vatican II Conference. The Catholic Church was always a very traditional, grand organization that put a very strong emphasis on reputation. This led to a strong emphasis on the image of the Catholic Church as a whole. The Papal Tiara was a key material object that served as symbolism within the Church but was also a significant symbol of grandeur and extravagance.

The Papal Tiara is known as the Triregnum, which is formed by three different crowns to symbolize the power of the Pope: the father of kinds, the governor of the world, and the Vicar of Christ (“The Papal Tiara.”). The Tiara itself is an ornate headdress that is composed of silver metal and evolved to include the three crowns and a golden cross that rests atop a small globe (“The Papal Tiara.”). As the Tiara evolved over time into the form that was abandoned, different Popes changed the Tiara to fit the narrative of their Papacy. Pope Boniface VIII, for example, added the second crown onto the Tiara as a strong symbolism of his spiritual and temporal jurisdiction as a Pope (Sanders). The time period during and after the Renaissance led to a significant increase in the ornate quality of the Tiara, and the Tiara become increasingly embellished and elaborate (Sanders). The Tiara was not worn on a daily basis, instead, it was left for non-liturgical ceremonies only, such as processions ( “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Tiara.”).

Papal Tiaras are not objects that are specially ordered and curated by the Pope himself, instead, the Papal Tiara served both as a symbol and a key diplomatic object. Papal Tiaras were often commissioned by foreign nations as a diplomatic gift to present the Pope when he came to visit their nation, a practice that is still in use today (Kasten 2018).

The End of the Papal Tiara

November 13th, 1964 (The New York Times 1964). This day was more than just a Friday within the Catholic Church, this was the day that the Pope would unofficially end the practice of the Papal Tiara, marking an essential gesture towards the shifting of ideology and focus within the Church from opulence and grandeur to relatability and connectivity with the people.

During a session of the Ecumenical Council Vatican II, Pope Paul VI, the Pope of the time, removed his Papal Tiara from his head and placed it on the altar in the Byzantine Slavonic Rite in front of the entire conference and the world (The New York Times 1964). Pope Paul VI had found himself incredibly moved by the intense discussion of world poverty that was taking place during the conference, and elected to make the symbolic donation of his Papal Tiara in support of those suffering from poverty around the world (The New York Times 1964). This comes after a time period of the many Councilman encouraging the Church to forgo traditional, opulent clothing in favor of more simple garments that could relate to individuals suffering from poverty during this time period (The New York Times 1964). This was the last time we would see a Pope wear a Papal Tiara.

The Popes that would follow Pope Paul VI took careful consideration to follow his lead in regards to the Papal Tiara. Not once Pope since has been seen in a Tiara, and Popes such as Pope Benedict and Pope Francis elected to have the Tiara removed from their coat of arms, despite the fact that it continues to appear on the coat of arms of the Vatican City State and the Vatican Flag (Kasten 2018). Once the Papal Tiara no longer became something that represented the Catholic Church and its wishes, it became something that stayed in history, instead of bringing it along to the future.

A Changing Catholicism

Since the early days, the Catholic Church put a very strong emphasis on the reputation and image of the Church as a whole. This led to the faith that practiced opulence and grandeur on a daily basis through clothing, architecture, and ceremony. However, as the years evolved, it started to become more clear that this was not the optimal way to run a Church that could withstand the changing times. As the world became more open, communicative, and took a more “liberalized” view of certain issues, the Catholic Church began to look old and out of touch with the rest of the world.

The Vatican II conference stands today as one of the most poignant moments within the Catholic faith and is largely responsible for the Catholicism that we see and is practiced worldwide today. The conference was inspired by the realizations within the Church that the traditional Catholic faith that was encouraged by the Vatican was becoming out of touch with the rest of the world. Pope John XXII, who began the conference, tasked the men with “…renew the spiritual core of Catholicism while safeguarding its essential truths” (McDannell 2011). In short, the Church called the conference in order to bring the Church to modern times while also continuing to respect the core values of Catholicism. Vatican II brought significant and lasting changes to the Catholic Church systematically and ideologically. These changes were created and implemented by “…reformers who wanted the Church to feel more comfortable with the dynamic of change and openness…” (McDannell 2011). The power dynamic in the conference highlights the intentions of the conference, to bring the Catholic Church further into the 20th century, and modernize the Church in an impactful and meaningful way. Without Vatican II, the Church would have continued to fall further and further out of popularity due to its traditional and often oppressive values.

The attitude of reconstruction and new perspectives continued on through the Papacies and continues to be evident today with Pope Francis. The current Pope has worked hard to continue the changes that were initiated by Vatican II, while in many ways growing them even further by bringing Catholicism “back to its simple and radical roots”, and by working to create a more inclusive and decentralized Catholic Church (Horowitz 2018). Pope Francis has worked hard to make himself a more simple Pope than those who came before him, he uses simple cars, has a more humble residence, and wears all white robes, decisions which have all been made to communicate a message of simplicity and to show him as a “man of the people” figure as opposed to what the hierarchy of the Church posits as his position within society, a figure above all (Horowitz 2018). Pope Francis has taken the measures created at Vatican II that were meant to reconstruct the Catholic Church and continued to develop for the modern world and the issues we face today. He is the Pope the Catholic Church needed to be able to survive the ever-changing world we have today, and he too refuses to wear his Papal Tiara. Pope Francis has taken the lead of the Popes before him and elected to reject the use of the Papal Tiara and the extravagance and grandeur that it exemplifies.   

November 13th, 1964 was the last time we ever saw a Pope wear a Papal Tiara, and since this time Catholicism has continued to evolve and change alongside the world (Kasten 2018). The Tiaras, a key symbol of Catholicism and the Papacy, continue to exist today. They have been loaned out to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, alongside other Catholic artifacts, and are kept either in Vatican artifacts or in museums (Kasten 2018). Today, Papal Tiaras is still a valued and prominent diplomatic gift for world leaders around the globe when the Pope pays a visit, for example, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have both received a Papal Tiara (Kasten 2018). They, however, have elected not to wear them, and instead, are kept in the Vatican Museum.

Conclusion

In order to understand why this practice has ended, it is essential to understand how Catholicism has changed in countless ways since the early days of the Papal Tiara. The Church as a whole has grown and evolved to the current time period and has worked to become more relevant and sustainable as an institution. Pope Francis is an essential example of the type of Pope the Church not only wanted but needed in order to stay relevant and survive. The end of the Papal Tiara is more than just the end of the adornment of the Tiara itself, it signifies and demonstrates a provocative change in the ideology of the Church, which was so previously focused on grandeur and opulence. Today, we see a Catholic Church that is more relatable and connected to the community it is meant to serve, and the end of the Papal Tiara is a defining moment in the Catholic Church’s journey to its present form.

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