A Papal bull is a patent from the Vatican Chancery, bearing a metal papal seal. The title of a bull is its opening words, or incipit.

The most distictive characteristic of a bull was the metal seal, usually made of lead but sometimes other metals, depicting the saints Peter and Paul on one side and the name of the issuing pope on the other. This was attached to the document by a chain that was looped through slits in the document. The term bulla comes from the fact that the metalic seal looked like a bubble floating on water. Bulla in Latin comes from bullire which means "to boil".

There has never been an exact distinction of usage between a bull and other forms of communication, such as a Papal brief . The difference between the two is that the brief was authenticated with a wax impression (now a red ink impression) of the Ring of the Fisherman and that bulls are the more formal of the two documents.

Examples of papal bulls

• Omne Datum Optimum, 1139 (recognizing the Knights Templar)
• Milites Templi, 1144 - Celestine II (granting privileges to the Templars)
• Militia Dei, 1145 - Eugenius III (granting more privileges to the Templars)
• Ad extirpanda, May 15, 1252 - Innocent IV (authorizing torture of heretics)
• Clericis Laicos, 1296 - Boniface VIII (prohibiting seizure of clerical revenues by the state)
• Unam Sanctam, 1302 - Boniface VIII (supremacy of the Church over the state)
• Fasciens misericordiam , 1308 - Clement V
• Regnans in coelis , 1308 - Clement V
• Dum diversas , 1452 - Pope Nicholas V (authorizing Alfonso V of Portugal enslave infidels in West Africa)
• Romanus Pontifex 1455 - Pope Nicholas V (follow up to Dum diversas, authorizing conquest and enslavement of all people south of Cape Bojador)
• Aeterni regis, 1481 - Sixtus IV (dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal)
• Summis desiderantes, 1484 - Innocent VIII (suppressing witchcraft along the Rhein river).
• Inter caetera, 1493 - Alexander VI (realigning the New World division between Spain and Portugal)
• Exsurge Domine, 1520 - Leo X (warning Martin Luther)
• Docet Romanum Pontificem, 1521 - Leo X (excommunicating Martin Luther)
• Regimini militantis, September 27, 1540 - Paul III (establishing the Jesuits)
• Injunctum nobis , March 14, 1543 - Paul III
• In Coena Domini , 1568 - Pius V
• Regnans in Excelsis, 1570 - Pius V (anathemising Elizabeth I)
• Inter gravissimas, 1582 - Gregory XIII (calendar reform)
• Gratia Divina , 1656
• Unigenitus, 1713 - Clement XI (condemning Jansenism)

See also

• Abbreviator

External links

• Papal bulls
• Papal Encyclicals at Vatican
• Papal Encyclicals Online