Keywords

• The establishment of the modern Pontifical State
• as from the Mid-fifteenth
• Century
• is complemented by the formation of the Court of Rome
• incorporating two closely related structures: the Roman Curia &ndash
• as the ensemble of authority governing the Universal Church and the Pontifical State &ndash
• and the Papal Court &ndash
• consisting of dignitaries responsible of personally assisting the pope
• a service run by both clergymen and lay people. In the course of the Sixteenth Century one can observe a tendency
• primarily determined by ecclesiastical policy
• to promote the clergy into the administration
• a practice that was consolidated in time. The distinction between clergymen and lay people
• structured during the fourth century for reasons linked to the administration of sacraments
• is redefined between the Eleventh and the Twelfth Century
• with the intention of restricting the government of the Church to the clergy. Enforced in the first modern era of the Court of Rome
• the legislation clericalized the whole government
• on the premise
• however
• that the principle of eminence and dignity were not given in virtue of the sacrament of the Holy Orders
• but through jurisdiction