Word of the Day: Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

APOSTOLIC SIGNATURA. The highest tribunal of the Holy See; its origins go back to Pope Eugenius IV (reigned 1431-47). As reconstituted by Pope Paul VI in 1967, the Segnatura has two areas of competency, namely: 1. over tribunals already established, pilgrimages to Rome, matrimonial cases of nullity, erection of regional and interregional tribunals, handling cases involving concordats between various nations and the Holy See; 2. settling disputes arising from acts of administrative ecclesiastical power as a court of appeal, deciding on administrative controversies sent to it by the congregations of the Roman Curia, and judging on controversies submitted by the Roman Pontiff.

In the thirteenth century the Popes made use of "referendarii" to investigate and prepare the signing - hence the name signatura - of petitions and other cases presented to the Holy See. Pope Eugene IV entrusted these referendaries with authority to sign certain petitions and thereby established a permanent office for this purpose. Under Popes Alexander VI, Sixtus IV and Julius II this office was divided into two, the Signatura gratiae for examining petitions for favours, and the Signatura iustitiae for contentious cases. The honourable office of referendary came to be conferred frequently as a merely honorary title, but Pope Sixtus V put a limit on their number, and Pope Alexander VII combined the limited number of voting referendaries into a college, assisted by the simple referendaries, who had only a consultative position. The Signatura gratiae gradually lost its functions to other bodies, and the growth of the work of the Roman Rota, the foundation of the Congregations of Cardinals resulted in the Signatura iustitiae becoming mainly a Supreme Court of the Papal States.

On 29 June 1908, Pope Pius X reestablished a single Apostolic Signatura consisting of six cardinals, one of whom acted as its prefect. On 28 June 1915, Pope Benedict XV reconstituted the college of the voting referendaries and simple referendaries with consultative functions and the 1917 Code of Canon Law removed the limitation of the number of cardinals members of this Supreme Tribunal.

The present competence of the Apostolic Signatura is that laid down in the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus of 28 June 1988.

On 16 March 2020, Pope Francis issued a new Vatican City civil law which makes the Apostolic Signatura itself the final court of cassation for Vatican City State and provides for greater independence of judicial bodies and magistrates dependent on the Pope. It also specifies the requirements for the appointment of judges and it simplifies the judicial system while increasing the staff of the court.  Prior to that, the Cardinal Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura had served ex officio as the President of the Supreme Court of Vatican City (Corte di Cassazione). The two other members of the Supreme Court were also Cardinals of the Apostolic Signatura and were chosen by the Cardinal Prefect on a yearly basis.