Holiness (style)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Portuguese. (December 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 493 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Portuguese Wikipedia article at [[:pt:Sua Santidade]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|pt|Sua Santidade}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Holiness" style – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Papal styles of Holiness (style)
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father

The title His Holiness (and the associated form of address Your Holiness) is an official title or style referring to leaders in a number of religious traditions. It is used to refer to the Pope in Roman Catholicism; this use can be traced back several hundred years.^[1] It is also an official title for Oriental Orthodox patriarchs, and used to refer to religious leaders in Islam, Buddhism, and Bon. Buddhist leaders referred to this way include the Dalai Lama, the Menri Trizin, among others; the Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras is one example of a Muslim leader styled this way.

The English-language honorific "His Holiness" and the female version "Her Holiness" have commonly and very recently^[when?] been used for religious leaders from other traditions, including Buddhism^[2][3] leaders such as the Dalai Lama,^[4] the Gyalwa Karmapa,^[5] the Je Khenpo in Bhutan,^[6] and Shinso Ito of the Shinnyo-en branch of Shingon Buddhism.^[7] In the Bön tradition it is used for the Menri Trizin.^[8][9]

• 
  Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935)
• 
  11° Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (b. 1989)
• 
  17° Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje (b. 1983)
• 
  17° Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (b. 1985)
• 
  12° Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen (b. 1963)

His Holiness (Latin: Sanctitas) is the official style used to address the Roman Catholic Pope.

The full papal title, rarely used, is:

His Holiness (Francis), Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God.

The best-known title, that of "Pope", does not appear in the official list of titles, but is commonly used in the titles of documents and appears, in abbreviated form, in their signatures as "PP", standing for Papa (Pope).^{[10][11][12][13][14]} The 2020 Annuario Pontificio lists all of his formal titles, except Bishop of Rome, as "historical titles".^[15]

It is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into local languages. Thus he is Papa Franciscus in Latin (the official language of the Holy See), Papa Francesco in Italian (the language of the Vatican), Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, and Pope Francis in English.^[16]

In February 2013, the Holy See announced that former Pope Benedict XVI would retain the style "His Holiness" after resigning and becoming pope emeritus.

The term is sometimes abbreviated as "HH" or "H.H." when confusion with "His/Her Highness" is unlikely.

His Holiness (Latin: Sanctitas) is the official style also used to address the Oriental Orthodox Catholicoi/patriarchs. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople has the title of His All Holiness (abbreviation HAH). It is also used for certain other Eastern patriarchs, notably those who head a church or rite which recognizes neither Rome's nor Constantinople's primacy.

• 
  Papa Tawadros II of Alexandria of the Coptic Orthodox Church (b. 1952)
• 
  Patriarch Kirill of Moscow
  (b. 1946)
• 
  Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bartholomew I
  (b. 1940)
• 
  Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore II
  (b. 1954)
• 
  Sede vacante, Bulgarian Orthodox Church
• 
  Mar Dinkha IV, Patriarch of the Church of the East (b. 1935)
• 
  Ignatius Aphrem II, of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b.1965)
• 
  Armenian Apostolic Church Garegin II
  (b. 1951)
• 
  Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (b. 1949)

In Islam, it is used in Ahmadiyya for the 5th Caliph Mirza Masroor Ahmad.^[17] It is used in the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Ismaili Shia for the office of Da'i al-Mutlaq, Syedna. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin is recognized by most Dawoodi Bohras as the 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq.^[18][19]

• 
  Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Fifth Ahmadiyya Caliph
• 
  Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq

• Honorifics
• English honorifics
• Honorifics (linguistics)
• Papal titles