Papal legate

A representative appointed by the pope to exercise delegated authority or conduct diplomacy on his behalf. Legates may serve temporarily on a mission or hold a continuing office.

Legatus a latere: A papal legate sent directly from the pope’s side, traditionally carrying especially extensive delegated authority. This title marks the most prestigious form of papal mission and its unusually broad powers.
Roman legate: An envoy or governor commissioned by ancient Rome to represent its authority in a province or foreign mission. The papacy adapted a Roman model of delegated representation for ecclesiastical use.
Papal conclave: The closed gathering of cardinals that elects a pope. Special legates can represent the pope at events where his presence is impossible or inappropriate.
Apostolic delegate: A papal representative who oversees relations with local Catholic churches but lacks diplomatic accreditation to a state. The delegate’s church-facing role differs from a legate’s specifically delegated mission or authority.
Investiture Controversy: A conflict in the eleventh and twelfth centuries over whether secular rulers could appoint bishops and abbots. Legates carried reforming papal demands into disputes over appointments and church independence.
Apostolic nuncio: A permanent papal diplomatic representative accredited to a state and usually serving as its senior Catholic diplomat. Nuncios are the enduring diplomatic form of papal representation, unlike many temporary legations.
Papal States: Territories in central Italy ruled by the pope from the eighth century until Italian unification. Temporal rule gave popes diplomatic interests that legates could advance and administer.
Council of Trent: The ecumenical council held in Trent between 1545 and 1563 to address Catholic reform and doctrine. Papal legates presided over the council and managed its proceedings on the pope’s behalf.
Vicar apostolic: A titular bishop appointed to govern a missionary territory that is not yet an established diocese. A vicar apostolic governs a defined church territory, rather than acting primarily as an envoy.
Concordat of Worms: The 1122 agreement that ended the Investiture Controversy between Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V. Papal representatives helped negotiate the settlement of a conflict central to papal authority.

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