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Pope And Talbot, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History

1500 S.W. First Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97201
U.S.A.

History of Pope And Talbot, Inc.

Pope and Talbot, Inc., is one of America's oldest and most successful wood-fiber products companies. The firm makes and markets wood pulp, softwood lumber, consumer tissue, and disposable diaper products. Pope and Talbot serves a variety of markets, including the housing industry, newsprint manufacturers, printing and writing paper manufacturers, supermarkets, mass merchandisers, food and drug distributing firms, and drugstores. The company's Ultra Thin disposable diaper has become one of the leading products in the consumer tissues market.

Andrew Jackson Pope and Frederick Talbot, two ambitious young men from Maine, arrived in San Francisco on December 1, 1849, after a grueling 51-day journey around South America on a number of different steam ships. Although they were exhausted when they stepped ashore, the excitement of San Francisco, which had grown from a population of 6,000 to 20,000 in just six months, overwhelmed the two Easterners. Pope and Talbot immediately recognized the potential for starting a new business, and on the following day, they joined with partners Lucius Sanborn and J. P. Keller to establish a company to operate barges in San Francisco bay.

A short two months later, the partners were able not only to pay for the cost of their new barges and boats, but also to turn a profit of more than $800. After buying out Sanborn's interest, Pope, Talbot, and Keller decided to enter the lumber business. A number of disastrous fires in San Francisco had convinced the partners that demand for lumber would remain high. Soon they opened a lumber yard and began transporting consignments of the product from one area to another. A stroke of good fortune occurred when Frederick Talbot's older brother, W. C. Talbot, arrived in California with his brig, the Oriental. A large, sea-worthy vessel, the Oriental provided the firm with a greater range of transport. When Frederick Talbot decided to permanently return to the East Coast and open a business in New York, his older brother replaced him as a partner in the company.

For a short time, the partners shipped lumber from Maine to California through arrangements with Pope's relatives. They found this impractical as a long-term strategy, however, especially given the enormous demand for lumber in and around the San Francisco area. They built their own mill in the Oregon Territory on Puget Sound, on a site that Native Americans called Teekalet, or "Brightness of the Noonday Sun"; settlers renamed it Port Gamble. By 1853 the partners' mill was producing nearly 2,000 board feet of lumber per day. Four years later production had jumped to a total of eight million board feet for the year, and the company was known as the largest and most successful business on Puget Sound.

The late 1850s brought an Indian war, a gold rush that destabilized the labor market, and a short period of overproduction as a result of new lumber mills established on Puget Sound. Yet the mill at Port Gamble, now called the Puget Mill Company, continued to prosper. In response to a growing demand for lumber during and after the Civil War, the Puget Mill Company added new equipment and began to acquire smaller mills in the area, including important mills on Camano Island and Port Ludlow. By 1879 the company was producing more than 200,000 board feet per day and nearly 70 million feet per year.

As the nineteenth century progressed, leadership of the firm changed hands. J. P. Keller died in June 1862, and was replaced as a partner of the firm by mill superintendent Cyrus Walker. Andrew Pope died in September 1878, and Captain Talbot in August 1881. William H. Talbot, the son of Captain Talbot, had been groomed by his father in every aspect of the lumber business, and when the elder Talbot died, the son quickly became the driving force behind the company, relying heavily on Cyrus Walker's 28 years of experience in the mill. In 1882 the total capacity of all the Puget Mill operations amounted to 99,000,000 board feet of lumber per year. In 1885 the number of cargoes of lumber shipped from the mill at Port Gamble alone reached 49; by 1888, the number had risen to 78. The company also owned one of the largest shipping fleets for the transportation of its lumber, with fourteen ships carrying lumber to customers in Japan, Hawaii, Australia, South America, China, Korea, India, and South Africa. During this same period, the Puget Mill Company was also purchasing enormous tracts of timberland in order to maintain a reliable source of wood for its mills; by 1892, the firm reported ownership of 186,000 acres.

During the 1890s and the years immediately following the turn of the century, Puget Mill Company expanded its marketing operations and opened three new offices in San Francisco. The development of railroad traffic heralded even greater prosperity for the company, since it transformed the isolated state of Washington into America's largest distributor of lumber. As timberlands in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota were depleted, demand for Washington's lumber skyrocketed. The number of mills in Washington had grown from 46 in 1870 to 310 by 1890. By 1906 there were more than 900 lumber mills in the state producing 4,305,000,000 board feet of lumber.

Beginning in 1907, however, the Puget Mill Company suffered a series of setbacks. When the state of Washington levied a tax increase on the acreage of timberland held by the company, Puget Mill's extensive holdings nearly became a liability. In addition, equipment used in the company's mills had become antiquated, and Puget Mill's operations were running inefficiently. In 1908 the company sold the last of its aging fleet of schooners, once the largest lumber armada on the West Coast. The company joined an organization that chartered the tonnage for shipment, thus relieving Puget Mill Company of the burden of maintaining its own fleet. By the end of World War I, the company had grown large, diverse, and somewhat cumbersome, with some 15 corporations under the direct management of Puget Mill. Labor unrest, which occurred throughout the Northwest region during this time, affected all of the company's holdings.

In July 1925, William Talbot, exhausted and in ill health, decided to sell Puget Mill Company to the Charles R. McCormick Lumber Company. McCormick, a native of Michigan, had arrived in Portland, Oregon, in 1901. He renovated a dilapidated millsite at St. Helens on the Columbia River, and from there he created a lumber empire that grew to become one of the largest on the Pacific Coast. McCormick purchased all of Puget Mill Company, including mills and timberlands, at a price of $15,000,000. Talbot, known as a shrewd businessman, made McCormick agree to build a new mill at Port Gamble, with Puget Mill Company holding a mortgage on all the mills, timberlands, and logging camps operated by McCormick.

From the beginning of the takeover, McCormick's management team made serious errors and miscalculations. Modernizations and improvements at Port Ludlow and St. Helens, as well as the new mill at Port Gamble, were plagued by cost overruns. McCormick soon faced rising interest rates, amortization payments, and annual taxes of more than $1 million. As his debts steadily increased, McCormick devised a strategy of expansion, hiring a larger sales staff and increasing production. Costs continued to outrun revenues, however, and by the start of the Depression in 1930 the company had posted a loss of $858,587. The company's situation only worsened with the economic problems brought on by the Depression.

After William Talbot died, George Pope, Sr., assumed the position of president of Puget Mill Company and began to pressure McCormick to resign. When McCormick's expansion strategy failed to revitalize the company, he vacated his position in December 1931. Pope was then elected chairman of the board of Charles R. McCormick Lumber Company, with the intention of protecting the interests of the Puget Mill Company. He immediately appointed managers who exemplified his own financially conservative viewpoint, and began to reduce the debt incurred by McCormick. By 1937 all the bank loans and a significant portion of the mortgage bonds were retired. In 1938 the Puget Mill Company brought a suit of foreclosure against the Charles R. McCormick Lumber Company. Unable to pay its obligations of over $7 million, the McCormick Company was forced to cede all of its holdings to the owners of Puget Mill. The principals of the foreclosure suit, George Pope, Sr.; George Pope, Jr.; Frederic C. Talbot; and Talbot Walker, all descendants of the original owners, reacquired the company their forefathers had labored to build.

George Pope, Sr., became president of the company, which was renamed Pope & Talbot, Inc. Before any analysis and reorganization of the lumber operations and steamship activities could take place, however, World War II began. George Pope, Sr., became chairman of the board, allowing his son, George Pope, Jr., to assume the position of president and deal with the demands of the war years.

Pope & Talbot mills operated at full capacity during the entire war. The company produced lumber for panel bridges used in the invasion of Europe, tent poles, and Signal Corps material for communication lines. Company lumber was used for the construction of naval housing, and the company's fleet of steamships made vital contributions to the American war effort. Pope & Talbot vessels transported the supplies necessary for waging war in every area of conflict, and stopped at ports including Murmansk, Bizerte, Salerno, Guadalcanal, and Okinawa. The company also suffered casualties: four ships were sunk during the war, including the S.S. West Ivis, which lost its entire crew. During the height of worldwide hostilities, Pope & Talbot was responsible for more than 75 ships. The war helped improve the financial position of the company, which was one of the three largest lumber producers in the entire Northwest by the end of the war.

The future appeared especially promising for the company's steamship operations during the postwar years: industry along the Pacific Coast needed large quantities of bulk materials, while the East Coast needed lumber and other products from the western United States. However, volatile labor relations plagued the company. In 1948 a three-month strike by dock workers cost the firm more than $1,250,000, and a series of strikes in 1954 caused Pope & Talbot to lose a significant portion of its steamship cargoes. By 1958 the company was down to one shipping route, and another year of strikes in the maritime industry during 1959 brought its vessels to a standstill. Competition from the railroad industry also began to take business away from shipping. As a result, in 1963 Pope & Talbot decided to terminate shipping operations by selling the four remaining vessels in its once-proud fleet.

In contrast to its shipping activities, the company's lumber operations were highly successful. Having purchased a large tract of timberland near Oakridge, Oregon, in 1946, management assured itself of adequate timber holdings for the foreseeable future. By 1950 the company owned over one billion board feet of timber ready for cutting, and during the next decade it opened new mills in the United States and Canada. Pope & Talbot also implemented a diversification strategy which included building a particleboard plant, a veneer mill, and a wood treatment facility, and in 1961 the company purchased a plywood plant. These moves brought the company closer to fulfilling its goal of a fully integrated wood products program.

In 1963 George Pope, Jr., resigned as president of the company and was replaced by Cyrus T. Walker, a descendant of one of the company's early partners. In 1966 Pope & Talbot reported that its lumber division provided 61.6 percent of its revenues, plywood 13.9 percent, veneer 7.1 percent, particleboard 6.2 percent, and hardboard 6.2 percent. Net earnings increased from $717,000 in 1965 to $1,203,000 in 1966. In 1968 sales increased an astronomical 73 percent over the previous year, totaling $3,025,238. The company's success lay in the fact that management was moving quickly to take advantage of growing markets for new wood products. In 1969 the firm continued its expansion strategy by purchasing another mill in Canada, procuring cutting rights to more than a million acres of timberland in Canada, and constructing a new log utilization plant.

The company changed leadership in 1971 when Cyrus Walker retired and the fourth generation of Popes and Talbots assumed control. Peter T. Pope was elected chairman of the board, and Guy B. Pope was appointed president and chief operating officer. Under their tenure, the firm continued to grow. In 1972 Pope & Talbot was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and the following year the company surpassed $100 million in revenues. When the housing and construction industry was hit hard by a recession during the mid-1970s, Pope & Talbot made plans to enter the pulp and paper industry, which would allow the company to utilize all of the yield from its timberlands. Consequently, in March 1978, the firm invested $24 million in a joint venture with American Can Company to operate a bleached kraft pulp mill near Halsey, Oregon.

During the 1980s, Pope & Talbot insulated itself as much as possible from the cyclical nature of the housing and construction industry. The pulp mill at Halsey took the company into a entirely new, and highly profitable, direction. Pulp is made from softwood chips, hardwood chips, and sawdust, and is used to manufacture newspaper and printing and writing grade paper. Soon the company had major contracts throughout the Pacific Northwest to sell its pulp. Not content with just pulp production, Pope & Talbot began to diversify into the consumer products market by either acquiring or building diaper and tissue plants. By the early 1990s, Pope & Talbot listed two tissue plants and six diaper plants as part of its holdings. Manufacturing an entire line of napkins, paper towels, and facial and bath tissues from 100 percent recycled paper for private label customers became highly profitable. The Ultra Thin disposable diaper developed into the company's most lucrative product. By 1993 Pope and Talbot's wood products were bringing in approximately 48 percent of revenues, while its pulp, tissue, and diaper products were generating 52 percent.

Throughout its history, Pope & Talbot has demonstrated the ability to divest itself of unprofitable operations and diversify into growing, productive markets. Led by new generations of Popes and Talbots, the company is heading into the future with strong leadership and the expectation of continued prosperity.

Related information about Pope

Tewa Pueblo medicine man and revolutionary leader, probably born on the San Juan Pueblo in present-day New Mexico, USA. He first came to the attention of the Spanish when in 1675 he led the resistance against the Spaniard's treatment of Native American medicine men. He then masterminded and led a successful Indian revolt against the Spanish rulers in New Mexico (1680). After many Spanish were killed and most others fled, he and his followers eradicated every visible trace of the Spanish presence in their region, and tried to return to a traditional way of life. He ruled in an arbitrary manner and alienated many of his people as well as neighbouring tribes, and was deposed and died soon afterwards. Although the Spanish reconquered the area (1692), he had led what was probably the most successful revolt by Native Americans.

The title of the Bishop of Rome as head or Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church; also, the title given to the head of the Coptic Church. The Bishop of Rome is elected by a conclave of the College of Cardinals, his authority deriving from the belief that he represents Christ in direct descendancy from the Apostle Peter, said to be the first Bishop of Rome. After the decline of the ancient churches of the Eastern Roman Empire, resulting from the spread of Islam, the pope in Rome became the undisputed centre of the Christian Church, and enjoyed considerable political power as the temporal sovereign of extensive papal states in Europe (now restricted to the Vatican City in Rome). The claim to infallibility was formalized at the First Vatican Council in 1870.

The Pope (from Greek: pappas / , father; from Latin: papa, Papa, father) is the Bishop of Rome, and, as Successor of Saint Peter, is the head of the Catholic Church. his ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See (Sancta Sedes in Latin) or Apostolic See (this latter, on the basis that both St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred at Rome). this designation was first used by the Roman Synod of 495 to refer to Pope Gelasius I, an advocate of papal supremacy among the patriarchs. 304) is the first Bishop of Rome whom sources show used the title of pope. The current Pope is Benedict XVI.

In addition to his service in this spiritual role, the pope is also Head of State of the independent sovereign State of the Vatican City, a city-state and nation entirely enclaved by the city of Rome. Before 1870 the pope's temporal authority extended over a large area of central Italy: the territory of the Papal States. The Papacy retained sovereign authority over the Papal States until the Italian unification of 1870; a final political settlement with the Italian government was not reached until the Lateran treaties of 1929.

Titles of the Pope

Currently used

Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province
Bishop of Rome
His Holiness The Pope
Primate of Italy
Servant of the Servants of God
Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City
Successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles
Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church
Vicar of Christ

Formerly used

Patriarch of the West (dropped 2006)
Vicar of the Apostolic See

Early history

It is generally accepted amongst most Catholic and non-Catholic historians that the institution of the papacy as it exists today developed through the centuries, after the traditional arrival of Peter in Rome c. 50.

During the first century of the Christian Church, the Roman capital became recognized as a Christian center of exceptional note since it was founded by St. Peter, the "prince of the apostles"; but there are only a few 1st century references to the recognition of the authoritative primacy of the Roman See outside of Rome. The fact that Clement of Rome's letter to the Corinthians (written c. 96,) adapted a pastoral tone, and also the fact that St. Ignatius of Antioch once used the word "preside" in the same sentence that he used the word, "Romans" in his letter to the Romans (written c. 105) are seen by some historians to present proof of the existence of a certain early Papal primacy.

In the second century (AD 189), the primacy of the Church of Rome is clearly indicated in St. Irenaeus of Lyon's Against Heresies (3:3:2): "With the Church of Rome, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree... (add authors)

The First Council of Constantinople (AD 381) suggested strongly that Roman primacy was already established, but was not until 440 that Leo the Great more clearly articulated the extension of papal authority as doctrine, promulgating in edicts and in councils his right to exert "the full range of apostolic powers that Jesus had first bestowed on the apostle Peter". At this same Council the bishop of Constantinople was given a primacy of honour only second to that of the Bishop of Rome, because "Constantinople is the New Rome".

The dogmas and traditions of the Catholic Church teach - along with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Church of England, and Islam - that the institution of the papacy was first mandated by the Biblical passages: fact

Matt.16:18-19: "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it. The reference to the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" here are the basis for the symbolic keys often found in Catholic Papal symbolism, such as in the Vatican Coat of Arms (see below).

History of Papal titles

As mentioned above, the pope's titles include: Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, and Servant of the Servants of God.

The title "Vicar of Christ" refers to the pope's divine commission. The Second Vatican Council confirmed the titles "Vicar of Christ" and "Successor of Peter".

The term "Supreme Pontiff" can be traced back to the end of the 5th century. The addition of the phrase "of the Universal Church" is a more recent alteration of this title.

Finally, the title attached to the Pope, "Servant of the Servants of God", was used by Church leaders including St. Augustine and St. Benedict, though it was popularized by Pope Gregory the Great'. The documents of Vatican II reinforced the understanding of this title as a reference to the Pope's role as a function of collegial authority, in which the Bishop of Rome serves the world's bishops.

The titles "Primate of Italy", "Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province", and "Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City" are references to the legal and canonical authority of the Pope as defined by the laws of the Church and the Lateran Treaties of 1929.

The pope's signature is usually in the format NN. Benedict XVI.

The pope's official seat or cathedral is the Basilica of St. John Lateran, and his official residence is the Palace of the Vatican. He also possesses a summer palace at Castel Gandolfo (situated on the site of the ancient city-state Alba Longa). Historically, the official residence of the pope was the Lateran Palace, donated by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. for hundreds of years, the pope's court (the Roman Curia) has functioned as the government of the Catholic Church.
The name "Holy See" (also "Apostolic See") is in ecclesiastical terminology the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome (including the Roman Curia); the pope's various honors, powers, and privileges within the Catholic Church and the international community derive from his Episcopate of Rome in lineal succession from the Apostle St. Peter (see Apostolic Succession). As such, between 1309 and 1378, the popes lived in Avignon (the Avignon Papacy), a period often called the Babylonian Captivity in allusion to the Biblical exile of Israel.

The title Patriarch of the West did not appear in the 2006 pontifical yearbook, and this led to considerable media speculation. On 22 March 2006, the Vatican released a statement explaining this omission on the grounds of expressing a "historical and theological reality" and of "being useful to ecumenical dialogue". In liturgical ceremonies popes wear an episcopal mitre (an erect cloth hat).

Staff topped by a crucifix, a custom established before the 13th century.
Pallium (a circular band of fabric about two inches wide, worn over the chasuble about the neck, breast and shoulders and having two twelve-inch-long pendants hanging down in front and behind, ornamented with six small black crosses distributed about the breast, back, shoulders, and pendants).
"Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven", the image of two keys, one gold and one silver. The use of the sedia gestatoria and of the flabella was discontinued by Pope John Paul II, with the former being replaced by the so-called Popemobile.

In heraldry each pope has his own Papal Coat of Arms. With the recent election of Benedict XVI in 2005, his personal coat of arms eliminated the papal tiara; a mitre with three horizontal lines is used in its place, with the pallium, a papal symbol of authority more ancient than the tiara, the use of which is also granted to metropolitan archbishops as a sign of communion with the See of Rome, was added underneath of the shield. The omission of the tiara in the pope's personal coat of arms, however, did not mean the total disappearance of it from papal heraldry, since the coat of arms of the Holy See was kept unaltered.

Status and authority

The status and authority of the pope in the Catholic Church was dogmatically defined by the First Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ (July 18, 1870). The first chapter of this document is entitled "On the institution of the apostolic primacy in blessed Peter", and states that (s.1) "according to the Gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the Lord" and that (s.6) "if anyone says that blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ the Lord as prince of all the apostles and visible head of the whole church militant; or that it was a primacy of honor only and not one of true and proper jurisdiction that he directly and immediately received from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: let him be anathema..."

The Dogmatic Constitution's second chapter, "On the permanence of the primacy of blessed Peter in the Roman pontiffs", states that (s.1) "that which our Lord Jesus Christ ... or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema."

The Dogmatic Constitution's third chapter, "On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman pontiff," states that (s.1) "the definition of the ecumenical council of Florence, which must be believed by all faithful Christians, namely that the apostolic see and the Roman pontiff hold a worldwide primacy, and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole church and father and teacher of all Christian people," that (s.2) "by divine ordinance, the Roman church possesses a preeminence of ordinary power over every other church, and that the jurisdictional power of the Roman pontiff is both episcopal and immediate" and that "clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world."

The powers of the pope are defined by the Dogmatic Constitution (ch.3, s.8) such that "he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases which fall under ecclesiastical jurisdiction recourse may be had to his judgment" and that "the sentence of the apostolic see (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgment thereupon" (can. It also dogmatically defined (ch.4, s.9) the doctrine of Papal infallibility, sc. such that

when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed His church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every creature to be united to the Roman Pontiff" (Pope Boniface VIII). Many popes stressed that those who are "invincibly ignorant of the Catholic religion" can still obtain salvation. He can appoint bishops to dioceses, erect and suppress dioceses, appoint prefects to the Roman dicasteries, approve or veto their acts, modify the Liturgy and issue liturgical laws, revise the Code of Canon Law, canonize and beatify individuals, approve and suppress religious orders, impose canonical sanctions, act as a judge and hear cases, issue encyclicals, and issue infallible statements on matters pertaining to faith and morals which, according to the Church, must be believed by all Catholics. Most of these functions are performed by and through the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, with the pope simply approving their actions prior to becoming official. While approval is generally granted, it is at the pope's discretion.

(See Donation of Constantine for discussion of the broader authority the papacy has argued the Catholic Church possesses in affairs of state..)

Political role

Though the progressive Christianisation of the Roman Empire in the fourth century did not confer upon bishops civil authority within the state, the gradual withdrawal of imperial authority during the fifth century left the pope the senior Imperial civilian official in Rome, as bishops were increasingly directing civil affairs in other cities of the Western Empire. This status as a secular and civil leader was vividly displayed by Pope Leo I's confrontation with Attila in 452 and was substantially increased in 754, when the Frankish ruler Pippin the Younger donated to the pope a strip of territory which formed the core of the so-called Papal States (properly, the Patrimony of St. Peter). In 800 Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish ruler Charlemagne as Roman Emperor, a major step toward establishing what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire; As has been hitherto mentioned, the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States ended in 1870 with their annexation by Italy.

In addition to the pope's position as a territorial ruler and foremost prince bishop of Christianity (especially prominent with the Renaissance popes like Pope Alexander VI, an ambitious if spectacularly corrupt politico, and Pope Julius II, a formidable general and statesman) and as the spiritual head of the Holy Roman Empire (especially prominent during periods of contention with the Emperors, such as during the Pontificates of Pope Gregory VII and Pope Alexander III), the pope also possessed a degree of political and temporal authority in his capacity as Supreme Pontiff. Some of the most striking examples of Papal political authority are the Bull Laudabiliter in 1155 (authorizing Henry II of England to invade Ireland), the Bull Inter Caeteras in 1493 (leading to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which divided the world into areas of Spanish and Portuguese rule), the Bull Regnans in Excelsis in 1570 (excommunicating Elizabeth I of England and purporting to release all her subjects from their allegiance to her), and the Bull Inter Gravissimas in 1582 (establishing the Gregorian Calendar). During the "Sede Vacante", the Sacred College of Cardinals, composed of the pope's principal advisors and assistants, is collectively responsible for the government of the Church and of the Vatican itself, under the direction of the Cardinal Chamberlain; Any decision that needs the assent of the pope has to wait until a new pope has been elected and takes office.

It has long been claimed that a pope's death is officially determined by the Cardinal Chamberlain by gently tapping the late pope's head thrice with a silver hammer and calling his birth name three times, though this is disputed and has never been confirmed by the Vatican; The deceased pope's seals are defaced, to keep them from ever being used again, and his personal apartment is sealed.

The body then lies in state for a number of days before being interred in the crypt of a leading church or cathedral; the popes of the 20th century were all interred in St. Peter's Basilica.

Abdication

The Code of Canon Law 332 則2 states, "If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone."

This right has been exercised by Pope Celestine V in 1294 and Pope Gregory XII in 1409, Gregory XII being the last to do so.

It was widely reported in June and July 2002 that Pope John Paul II firmly refuted the speculation of his resignation using Canon 332, in a letter to the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Nevertheless, 332 則2 caused speculation that:

Pope John Paul II would have resigned as his health failed, or
a properly manifested legal instrument had been prepared which effected his resignation if he could not perform his duties.

Pope John Paul II did not resign. He died on 2 April 2005 after a long period of ill-health and was buried on 8 April 2005.

After his death it was reported in his last will and testament that he considered abdicating in 2000 as he neared his 80th birthday. However, that portion of the will is unclear and others interpret it differently.

Election

The pope was originally chosen by those senior clergymen resident in and near Rome. In 1059 the electorate was restricted to the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all Cardinal Electors were made equal in 1179. Pope Urban VI, elected 1378, was the last pope who was not already a cardinal at the time of his election. Under present canon law, the pope is elected by the cardinal electors, comprising those cardinals who are under the age of 80.

The Second Council of Lyons was convened on May 7, 1274, to regulate the election of the pope. this was prompted by the three-year Sede Vacante following the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268. Pope John Paul II abolished vote by acclamation and by selection by committee, and henceforth all popes will be elected by full vote of the Sacred College of Cardinals by ballot.

The election of the pope almost always takes place in the Sistine Chapel, in a meeting called a "conclave" (so called because the cardinal electors are theoretically locked in, cum clavi, until they elect a new pope). At the end of the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, church bells were also rung to signal that a new pope had been chosen.

The Dean of the College of Cardinals then asks the successfully elected Cardinal two solemn questions. The new pope then announces the regnal name he has chosen for himself.

The new pope is led through the "Door of Tears" to a dressing room in which three sets of white Papal vestments ("immantatio") await: small, medium, and large. Donning the appropriate vestments and reemerging into the Sistine Chapel, the new pope is given the "Fisherman's Ring" by the Cardinal Camerlengo, whom he either reconfirms or reappoints. The pope then assumes a place of honor as the rest of the Cardinals wait in turn to offer their first "obedience" ("adoratio") and to receive his blessing.

The senior Cardinal Deacon then announces from a balcony over St. Peter's Square the following proclamation: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum! He then announces the new pope's Christian name along with the new name he has adopted as his regnal name.

Until 1978 the pope's election was followed in a few days by a procession in great pomp and circumstance from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's Basilica, with the newly elected pope borne in the sedia gestatoria.

Some traditionalist Catholics claim the existence of a Papal oath (the so-called "Oath against modernism") which they assert that Popes up from John Paul I refused to swear, but there is no reliable authority for this claim.

The Latin term sede vacante ("vacant seat") refers to a papal interregnum, the period between the death of the pope and the election of his successor. From this term is derived the name Sedevacantist, which designates a category of dissident, schismatic Catholics who maintain that there is no canonically and legitimately elected pope, and that there is therefore a Sede Vacante; one of the most common reasons for holding this belief is the idea that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and especially the replacement of the Tridentine Mass with the Mass of Paul VI are heretical, and that, per the dogma of Papal infallibility (see above), it is impossible for a valid pope to have done these things.

For many years, the Papacy was an institution dominated by Italians. Before the election of the non Italian Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II in 1978, the last non-Italian was the Dutch-German Pope Adrian VI of the Netherlands, elected in 1522.

Objections to the Papacy

The pope's position as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church is dogmatic and therefore not open to debate or dispute within the Catholic Church; the First Vatican Council anathematized all who dispute the pope's primacy of honor and of jurisdiction (it is lawful to discuss the precise nature of that primacy, provided that such discussion does not violate the terms of the Council's Dogmatic Constitution). and (2) objections to the institution of the Papacy itself.
Some non-Roman-Catholic Christian communities, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Independent Catholic Churches, and even some Lutherans, accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, and therefore accept (to varying extents) the papal claims to a primacy of honour. The primacy is therefore regarded primarily as a consequence of the pope's position as bishop of the original capital city of the Roman Empire, a definition explicitly spelled out in the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon. Several of these communities refer to such claims as "Ultramontanism".

Other non-Catholic Christian denominations do not accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, or do not understand it in hierarchical terms, and therefore do not accept the claim that the pope is heir either to Petrine primacy of honor or to Petrine primacy of jurisdiction, or they reject both claims of honor or jurisdiction, as well as claims of Papal Infallibility, as unscriptural. The Papacy's complex relationship with the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and other secular states, and the Papacy's territorial claims in Italy, are another focal point of these objections; These denominations vary from simply not accepting the pope's authority as legitimate and valid, to believing that the pope is the Antichrist or the False Prophet spoken in the Book of Revelation citation needed. For instance, some argue that claimed successors to St. Peter, like Callixtus III and Alexander VI from the Borgia family, were so corrupt as to be unfit to wield power to bind and loose on Earth or in Heaven. -->

Some objectors to the papacy habitually refer to the Catholic Church and its members by the pejorative term papist to point up what they believe to be an inappropriate focus of attention on the office and an improper attribution of certain divine favors ex officio. The existence of an antipope is usually due either to doctrinal controversy within the Church or to confusion as to who is the legitimate pope at the time (see Papal Schism). Though antipope movements were significant at one time, they are now overwhelmingly minor fringe causes.

"The Black Pope" is a derogatory name given to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus due to the Jesuits' practice of wearing black cassocks (compared to the pope's always wearing white robes), and to the order's specific allegiance to the Roman pontiff.

The Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) is known as the "Red Pope": "red, because he is a cardinal; pope, because he has almost absolute power over mission territories for Catholicism, essentially the Churches of Africa and Asia" (Sandro Magister, www.chiesa).

The heads of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria are also called "popes", the former two being called "Coptic Pope" or, more properly, "Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Holy See of St. Mark" and the latter called "Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa".

In the Russian Orthodox Church and Serbian Orthodox Church, it is not unusual for a village priest to be called a "pope" (???).

Footnotes

References

. St. Louis, B.Herder 1898 - www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/b92040657d7c02f6.html
Vatican Information Service number 060322
Hartmann Grisar (1845-1932), History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, AMS Press;

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