Papal allocution explained

In the Roman Catholic Church, a papal allocution (from the Latin allocutio, a commander's battle speech to his troops) is a solemn, private form of address or speech employed by the Pope on certain occasions. Historically, papal allocutions were delivered only in a secret consistory of cardinals; popes since Pope Pius IX have made increasing use of allocutions, and modern allocutions may be delivered in private to any group.^[1]

Papal allocutions generally discuss issues on which church teaching impinges on civil matters, or other conflicts between church and state. The Pope prepares the allocution in consultation with his secretary of state, the cardinals in the consistorial congregation, and subject matter experts; although the allocution is delivered privately, it is usually published afterwards, in order to establish the stance of the Holy See on the relevant topic.

Notable papal allocutions have included:

• the 1808 allocutions of Pius VII on the French Concordat of 1801 and Napoleon^[2]
• the 1837 allocution of Gregory XVI on mixed marriages in Prussia^[3]
• Haerentem diu, the 1842 allocution of Gregory XVI on the persecution of the Church in Russia^[4]
• the allocutions of Pius IX on the temporal power of the Pope^[5]
• the allocutions of Pius X on the separation of Church and State in France

Notes and References

1. Fenton . Joseph Clifford . The Doctrinal Authority of Papal Allocutions . American Ecclesiastical Review . 1956 . CXXXIV . 2 . 109-117 . The papal allocution is a comparative newcomer among the important vehicles of the Holy Father’s ordinary magisterium. The first Sovereign Pontiff to employ the allocution extensively for doctrinal purposes was Pope Pius IX..
2. Bernardini . Philip . The Lateran Concordat with Italy . The Catholic Historical Review The Catholic Historical Review . 1930 . 16 . 1 . 21 . To these imperial contentions presented in the almost brutal form which the emperor used to express his will are sharply opposed the documents of Pius VII, particularly the allocutions given at the consistories of March 16 and July 11, 1808. Here with serenity of style and elevation of thought the Pope enumerates all the arguments, which, whether from the nature of his office or from historical precedent, support the claim of the head of the Church to full and independent sovereignty..
3. Berg . Scott . Seeing Prussia through Austrian Eyes: The Kölner Ereignis and Its Significance for Church and State in Central Europe . The Catholic Historical Review . 2015 . 101 . 1 . 53-54 . The papal allocution on December 10, 1837, shocked the Prussian foreign ministry, which had not expected such a strong reaction from a papacy in the process of reinvigoration. The allocution sharply argued that mixed marriages were the reason for the Prussian state's inappropriate and forceful intervention in the sacraments of the Church..
4. Reinerman . Alan J . Metternich, Pope Gregory XVI, and Revolutionary Poland, 1831-1842 . The Catholic Historical Review The Catholic Historical Review . 2000 . 86 . 4 . 618 . On July 22,1842, the Pope delivered the allocution Haerentem diu, which described, in much more forceful terms and on a broader scale than that of 1839, the persecution of the Church, the Pope's unsuccessful efforts to halt it by appeals to the Tsar, and the resulting complaints that he had abandoned the Catholics in the Empire, which now had made this public protest necessary. It ended with an appeal to the Tsar to end the persecution. The allocution was short, but was accompanied by an Exposé of some ninety documents which demonstrated beyond any doubt the reality of the persecution, the long Papal effort to persuade the Tsar to abandon it, and the intransigent and often dishonest Russian response. The allocution, and especially the Exposé, made a great impact on European opinion..
5. Book: De Mattei . Roberto . Pius IX . 2004 . Gracewing Publishing.