Cardinal (Catholicism) - Title and Reference Style

Title and Reference Style

Since 1630, cardinals have taken the style Eminence. In accordance with tradition, they sign by placing the title "Cardinal" (abbreviated Card.) after their personal name and before their surname as, for instance, "John Card(inal) Doe" or, in Latin, "Ioannes Card(inalis) Cognomen". Similarly, the official signature of popes inserts the Latin title Papa (abbreviated Pp.) immediately after the personal name, as "Benedictus Pp. XVI" for Pope Benedict XVI. Some writers, such as James-Charles Noonan, hold that, in the case of cardinals, the form used for signatures should be used also when referring to them, even in English; and this is the usual but not the only way of referring to cardinals in Latin. Several influential stylebooks, both secular and religious, however, indicate that the correct form for referring to a cardinal in English is as "Cardinal . This style is also generally followed on the websites of the Holy See and episcopal conferences.

A well-known instance of the "John Cardinal Doe" style is that in the proclamation, in Latin, of the election of a new pope by the cardinal protodeacon: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam: Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum (first name) Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem (last name), ..." (Meaning: "I announce to you a great joy; we have a Pope: The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Lord (first name) Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church (last name), ...")