I think it’s an appropriate animal for that infamous family. Cesare Borgia apparently liked to display his physical finesse by competing in bull-fighting competitions where he could kill up to eight bulls. And Pope Alexander decorated his papal apartments by displaying the Borgia bull everywhere[1].
The term papal bull does not come from the Borgias, but since they are my current favorite malevolent family, I thought using them would make an excellent introduction. Plus, Alexander VI issued several papal bulls in order to take care of some dubious occurrences (such as that of Lucrezia’s first child).
Borgia coat of arms.[2]
Before the 15th century, the term bull was used to describe many documents issued from the papacy. A bulla was originally a metallic circular plate. Afterwards, the term named a lead seal put on official documents. By the 1400s, a papal bull referred to an Apostolic letter (a document signed by a pope regarding less significant issues of church management) with a leaden (official) seal. They were very formal with many written rituals and long addresses, and the pope referred to himself in the third person.
Borgia crest on a wall [3]
--------------- 
Leaden seal of Gregory IX (1220s-40s)[4] --------------- Papal bull of Urban VII (1637)[5]
Papal decrees changed a little when Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447) started using briefs, which are, as the name suggests, shorter. They are also much less formal than bulls and so came to replace less important papal bulls. For many years, it is unclear when one was used over the other. Who knows? It could have been up to the feelings of the pope.
Here are some examples of briefs and bulls before the 19th century:
- Bulls used in canonizing a saint, nominating a bishop, granting a marriage dispensation, and promoting someone to a benefice (the privilege of profiting from a Church position or property)
- Julius II (**SPOILERS** formerly Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere) wrote a hasty brief so Henry VIII could marry his brother’s widow (Catherine of Aragon) and later issued a papal bull for the same act
- In 1850 (under Pope Pius IX) a brief was used to re-establish the Catholic hierarchy in England. In 1878, however, Leo XIII used a bull to install the Catholic episcopate (bishop-dom) in Scotland.
- In 1773, our friends the Jesuits were suppressed by a brief but then in 1818 were restored by a papal bull
If you can find make sense of those examples, good for you.
Papal bulls are still issued on occasion today, the most recent (according to Wikipedia) in 1998 by John Paul II. The Mystery of the Incarnation was issued for the Jubilee year 2000 and was addressed rather formally:
JOHN PAUL BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
TO ALL THE FAITHFUL
JOURNEYING TOWARDS
THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
HEALTH AND THE APOSTOLIC BLESSING
You can read the rest of the bull here. I am far too lazy to see what it’s actually about. Thus concludes a brief overview of papal bulls, which I hope will prove helpful for the next installment of Dope Popes (which should happen once I finish reading The Borgias and Everyone Else, I mean, The Borgias and Their Enemies by Christopher Hibbert).
~
Sources:
http://www.newadvent.org/
www.secondexodus.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_
