In the papal bull Manifestis Probatum, Pope Alexander III acknowledged Afonso as King and Portugal as an independent crown with the right to conquer lands from the Moors.

In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, granting Afonso V the right to reduce " Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers " to hereditary slavery.

This petition was complied with by Pope Pius IV, January 26, 1564, in the papal bull, Benedictus Deus, which enjoins strict obedience upon all Catholics and forbids, under pain of excommunication, all unauthorized interpretation, reserving this to the Pope alone and threatens the disobedient with " the indignation of Almighty God and of his blessed apostles, Peter and Paul.

The Tridentine Creed was initially contained in the papal bull Iniunctum Nobis, issued by Pope Pius IV on November 13, 1565.

These new lands were divided between the Portuguese Empire and Spanish Empire, first by the papal bull Inter caetera and then by the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza ( 1529 ).

More likely, Pope Sixtus IV granted Cesare a release from the necessity of proving his birth in a papal bull of 1 October 1480.

* 1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the most oppressive witch hunts in European history.

* 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

* Regimini militantis Ecclesiae was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

The papal bull provoked legislative initiatives against Catholics by Parliament, which were however mitigated by Elizabeth's intervention.

The inscription declares, citing a 12 November 1548 papal bull of Pope Paul III, that God inflicts " maledictions and excommunications " on all who abandon a child of theirs whom they have the means to rear, and that they cannot be absolved unless they first refund all expenses incurred.

German peasants greet the fire and brimstone from a papal bull of Pope Paul III in Martin Luther's 1545 Depictions of the Papacy

The Fourth Council of the Lateran was convoked by Pope Innocent III with the papal bull of April 19, 1213, and the Council gathered at Rome's Lateran Palace beginning November 11, 1215.

Although the belief was widely held since at least Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not formally proclaimed until December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus.

It was not until 1854 that Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted between 1851 – 1853, promulgated the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus ( Latin for " Ineffable God "), which defined ex cathedra the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

* 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

* 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.

* 1514 – Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery.

Another major benefit came in 1139, when Pope Innocent II's papal bull Omne Datum Optimum exempted the Order from obedience to local laws.

After more bullying from Philip, Pope Clement then issued the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae on November 22, 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.

* 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.

* 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.

The first medieval inquisition, the episcopal inquisition, was established in the year 1184 by a papal bull entitled Ad abolendam, " For the purpose of doing away with.

On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by inquisitors.

* 1307 – Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.

Trevelyan accepts Italian nationalism with little analysis, he is unduly critical of papal and French policy, and he is more than generous in assessing British policy.

And, Offa is not known to have issued a law code, leading historian Patrick Wormald to speculate that Alfred had in mind the legatine capitulary of 786 that was presented to Offa by two papal legates.

The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, by Pope John XV in 999 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome ( Some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804 ).

He is to collate information about the financial situation of all administrations dependent on the Holy See and present the results to the College of Cardinals, as they gather for the papal conclave.

It may be that this is a papal compliment, rather than a description of the relationship between the kingdoms.

* Faith and reason as essential together: This is the papal view that faith without reason leads to superstition, while reason without faith leads to nihilism and relativism.

Its best-known decision is its definition of papal infallibility.

Whether and how far the council was confirmed by Pope John VIII is also a matter of dispute: The council was held in the presence of papal legates, who approved of the proceedings, Roman Catholic historian Fr.

What Contarini had to do with it is shown by his letters to the pope in which he complained of the schism in the church, of simony and flattery in the papal court, but above all of papal tyranny, its least grateful passages.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies ( apart from the strictly liturgical part ).

The Pope, head of state of Vatican City, is chosen by previously appointed cardinals under 80 years of age from among themselves in a papal conclave.

In the Roman Catholic Church, bishops, like priests, are celibate and thus unmarried ; further, a bishop is said to possess the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, empowering him to ordain deacons, priests, and – with papal consent – other bishops.

The Senate of Bolivia passed a resolution, stating that Humanae Vitae can be discussed in its implications on individual consciences, but, it is of greatest significance, because the papal document defends the rights of developing nations to determine their own population policies.

The first step, which carried him to the outbreak of the schism, involves moderate recognition of the papal primacy ; the second, which carried him to 1381, is marked by an estrangement from the papacy ; and the third shows him in sharp contest.

The modern interpretation, following that of Louis Duchesne, who compiled the major scholarly edition, is that the Liber Pontificalis was gradually and unsystematically compiled, and that the authorship is impossible to determine, with a few exceptions ( e. g. the biography of Pope Stephen II ( 752 – 757 ) to papal " Primicerius " Christopher ; the biographies of Pope Nicholas I and Pope Adrian II ( 867 – 872 ) to Anastasius ).

Duchesne and others have viewed the beginning of the Liber Pontificalis up until the biographies of Pope Felix III ( 483 – 492 ) as the work of a single author, who was a contemporary of Pope Anastasius II ( 496-498 ), relying on Catalogus Liberianus, which in turn draws from the papal catalogue of Hippolytus of Rome, and the Leonine Catalogue, which is no longer extant.

Guillermi's version is mostly copied from other works with small additions or excisions from the papal biographies of Pandulf, nephew of Hugo of Alatri, which in turn was copied almost verbatim from the original Liber Pontificalis ( with the notable exception of the biography of Pope Leo IX ), then from other sources until Pope Honorius II ( 1124 – 1130 ), and with contemporary information from Pope Paschal II ( 1099 – 1118 to Pope Urban II ( 1088 – 1099 ).

The fourth important source of information is William of Saint-Parthus ' biography, which he wrote using the papal inquest mentioned above.

* 1800 – With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.

Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a papal nuncio is an ambassador like those from any other country.

The office-holder is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in a papal conclave on 19 April 2005.