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No copyright. This is perpetually bequeathed unto the Public Domain.
About the superiority, number, order, age, and qualities, of the Cardinals to be created of the Holy Roman Church,
and about the choice of 6 Cathedral churches which are conferred upon the Cardinals.
[Prologue] - Sixtus, the Bishop, the servant of the servants of God, [writes this] to be remembered: After that true eternal pastor and Bishop of the souls, Christ our Lord, for governing the universal church which, by his precious blood he had acquired, he handed over the plenitude of both heavenly and earthly power to blessed Peter, the Prince of the apostles, and to him committed its alterations, in earthly matters, just as the successor on the seat of the same Peter, and the true Vicar of Christ, the Roman pontiff, by divine pre-ordinance, holds the highest place of the same supreme apostolic dignity, and a place in earthly matters, so also the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church representing the persons of the holy apostles, insofar as they (I.) would minister to Christ the Savior (A) preaching the kingdom of God, and (B) working the mystery for[/of?] human salvation; and [as] counselors and coadjutors they assist, to the same pontiff, in the exercise of his sacerdotal office, and in the Catholic Church to be directed, over which he is preeminent, just as if eyes, and ears, and [as] the noblest parts of the holy head; and [as] that one’s chief members, ordered and constituted by the Holy Spirit, Who, by divine disposition, in this same ecclesiastical hierarchy, [as] an image of that celestial one, to which it corresponds; [and as] borne aloft to the highest rank, with the same Roman pontiff, the common pastor and father, unto whom, the faithful, out of all the nations and peoples from all sides, of all kinds, of all orders, the highest, the lowest, co-breathe, in the most dire and greatest and most arduous things, they would (II.) sustain the mass and burden of such a great weight of the peoples, and for the salvation of souls, for faith, for justice, for unity, they (III.) would assiduously watch over, and (IV.) labor, so that, (I.) in regard to the same, they may apply themselves, by serving the universal church, and the conveniences of the individual churches; (II.) to their council, the same Pontiff may distribute things to be done; (III.) by their works, and needs, and especially fruits, he may be able to be, to the universal Christian Republic/Commonwealth, as a ornament and pleasure in favorable times, and as a guard and help in doubtful ones. Finally, so that (IV.) for the exultation of the Catholic religion, for the Christian people’s peace and tranquility, for the increase and honor of the Holy See, they may constantly pour out spirit, and blood, if thus it may be called for.
§ 1. [The Office of Cardinal] - And so, whereas they truly are Cardinals, and the brightest lights of the church, and foundations of the temple of God, and buttresses, and columns of the Christian Commonwealth, they ought to abound with a singular, certain-kind-of piety, and teaching, and not just vulgar, or mediocre virtue, but with a distinguished and extraordinary virtue. And as they are chief parts of the highest Roman prelat[ur]e, in order that they may be held worthy of this greater honor, it is necessary to apply exquisite diligence, and to foresee, with accurate circumspection, in those to-be-received [into the college], that there may be taken [only] excellent and choicest men, and that there may be a consultation in regard to this matter chiefest for the necessity and utility of the whole church committed to them, so that also prelates and other ecclesiastical persons promoted to the sublimity of so great a dignity, may shine by the praise of their previous life, and by a certain excellence, and by the esteemed approval of their merits, in the sight of others. Indeed, their life and habits ought to be as an example for others; their words and responses like oracles; their warnings and injunctions ought to be thought of by all Christians as rules and norms of rightly living and rightly thinking; from them, as if from the wisest teachers, a form of ecclesiastical discipline is [to be?] received, which may be diffusely propagated far and wide for confirming the customs and life of all the faithful. Finally, they, themselves, truly are the salt of the earth and lamps placed upon a stand, that they may discern between blood and blood, cause and cause, leper and leper, and by the opportunity of teaching, and by truth, they may confirm the infirm, solidify the unsolid, convert the depraved, that they may shine to all those who dwell in the house of the Lord, and, for this primary See, assisting all pastors when they consult that same See in weightier matters, or implore its richness, that they may not cease (1) to instruct, (2) direct, and (3) teach, with their judgment, counsel, and authority. One other thing: Since not only unto them many things pertain, but also matters of greatest importance, [let them not cease] (4) to know with clearest faith and prudence the causes which, for days, are committed to them, and (5) to perform as legates in provinces-to-be-governed, and in weightier things, and rather frequently to kings and emperors.
§ 2. [Supernatural Needs for such a College] - But, because there is a highest head [to be taken] out of the body, number, and College of all of them, who is to be established over all pastors, and is going to have the care of the whole flock of Christ, let that one himself, the highest pontiff be chosen, and let the same ones create that one by their votes, so that then, at last, the best one without any doubt may exist for the public good of the Christian people; if out of the number, and votes of good ones he will be chosen, in this holy election, then they are to be thought of as true interpreters and inter-messengers of the Will of God; just as by His spirit, the whole body of the church is sanctified and is ruled, so [also] maximally the whole work of an election of this sort by the inspiration and impulse of the same One, is most certainly to be carried out, and made known to all, so that, from this very thing, at least, it may be perceived what great sincerity and purity is required among them, from every (1) affectation of the flesh, and (2) foreign care of private conveniences, and (3) endeavors of factions, [they] whose breasts, and utterances, may be future temples and organs of the Holy Spirit and out of whose members, as it were, like seeds, that one man may be going to be produced, upon whom the fullness of the entire apostolic power, with God consenting, meritoriously may be conferred.
§ 3. [General Reasons for this Decree] - On account of which, let the fullness of so great an office, be honored with that observance and admiration, which is fitting among all mortals, and unto which degrees, on account of their excellence, the eyes of all, the faces of all are turned, in them, let there shine a brightness and splendor equal to the highest dignity, and in them, let God be glorified, let the sacerdotal ministry be honored, and let the souls of the faithful be gladdened; finally, they certainly are seen to be decorated with the sacred, most generous insignia of this honor, who may have been illustrated with exceptional erudition, innocence, and sanctity, and with every class of virtues, from the true bestower upon others of solid goods: God. Consequently, we, after it pleased to the divine goodness to call our feebleness to the apex of that highest up Apostleship, among other cares and thoughts, which day and night we have undertaken for the good of the universal church, in these exceptionally turbulent times, we’ve judged this very one most worthy of our pontifical solicitude, that for the common salvation, and proficiency of the Christian people entrusted to our care and for the honor and ornament of the same holy Roman church, regarding the election and choosing of Cardinals, as much from our predecessors, as from us, that we would weigh the decrees and sanctions so far published; in which, although they may have been ordained and disposed completely prudently and healthily, yet however because human matters easily will slip into worser state, unless there may be one who may assiduously renew and preserve them, . . . [therefore] those same sanctions and decrees, [now] held, partly by renovating, partly by declaring, partly by filling them in, and by reforming them for the better, for the demands of times and matters, . . . , by mature deliberation with these our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, about the Council of those same brothers, and by unanimous consent, we have led [forth] this our perpetually-to-be-valid Constitution to-be-promulgated, by which we admonish even our very selves in so grave a matter of our office, and which we have imposed as a law upon ourselves, and indicate the same to our successors, whom, we trust will not be forgetful of their duty, and to be going to render an accounting of their stewardship, sooner or later, in a strict and to-be-feared judgment of God, with the Apostle saying: “we will all stand before the tribunal of Christ, and each and every one of us will render to God an accounting of themself.”
§ 4. [Total Number of Members] - Firstly, therefore, since (I.) thus at the demands of times, both in quality, and on occasion, there may have been a departure from that old custom of ascribing, up to a certain number, few men into the sacred college, and now [there are] more Cardinals in our age, than were accustomed to be elected into the same College of antiquity; then also, so that, (II.) according to the decree of the general Council of Trent, some account may be had of all the nations of Christianity; then also because (III.) in the same council, many, weighed down frequently by old age or illnesses (which is the weakness of the human body), are not able conveniently to suffice for so great a burden to be continuously undertaken; so that (IV.) in this matter, a congruent moderation may be applied, and certain limits may be prescribed; [and] (V.) lest we should drive them back to that ancient scarcity of material in this matter; or (VI.) should cheapen the honor of the matter of them, with too numerous and superfluous a number, which intermittently, we ourselves saw and experienced, when we were in lower offices. And so that (VII.) the figure of the old synagogue may respond to the truth of the Holy & Apostolic Church, [we,] wishing to follow the command of the Lord made unto Moses, about the 70 men to-be-gathered from amongst the elders of Israel, whom he had known to be the people’s old men, and teachers, so that they might bear with him the burden of the people, and so that he himself would not be weighed down alone, and upon whom, having been led to the door of the Tabernacle, the Spirit rested, with the Lord speaking: about the Council of our brother preachers, we perpetually establish, and ordain, that, into the hereafter, with anumbered all the Episcopal, sacerdotal, and diaconal Cardinals of whatsoever order, who now are, and to will be created in the future, that all together, shall, at no time ever exceed the number of 70, and such number shall not be increased for any pretext, occasion, or cause, even most urgent. That if it will have happened, that one (or more [than one]), by us, or by the Roman pontiff existing at that time in the future, either to be chosen or to be pronounced as a cardinal, we decree that an election, creation, and pronouncement of this type to be going to be null, bankrupt, and void, and to be thought to be, and that no right is acquired thus by the chosen one or ones, whether the title is in reality or in name [only], neither that anyone of them is to be held for a cardinal, or to be able for owing to be reputed [as a cardinal], nor that the stated election, creation, or pronouncement from the beginning to be invalid [valid?], and made beyond the number, if afterwards, with one or more cardinals dying, to the prescribed number, the same College may be returned, [and] on account of which things, retroactively to make good, but as from the beginning, thus from then onward perpetually it [the decree] to be of no assistance or importance.
§ 5. [Numbers of each Rank] - Since indeed, now then, from earliest times, even of the apostles, the order of deacons is recognized as having been instituted unto serving and ministering in the Church, by the great Providence of God, and by the variation of times, was accustomed to be a number now more, now less, thus so that the deacons were sometimes 7, now again 14, and occasionally indeed 10, and 8, yet however, at this time, on account of the small number of them, then also on account of the absence of them from the Roman Curia, so greatly few are found, so that they are not able to fulfill their office, but rather more frequently Presbyterial cardinals are forced to minister and assist in the place of deacons, against the instructions of the Fathers and of the Pope.... With regard to which we establish, that from the aforesaid number of Cardinals 14 deacons, and all the rest, besides the 6 bishops, may be presbyters, and ought to be.
§ 6. [Age & Holy-orders requirement] - Neither after this anyone to be able to be assumed into a cardinal-deacon, unless he will've been constituted in at least the 20th year of his age, thus so that completely within a year he may attain to the holy order of the diaconate, and ought to be promoted; otherwise if, with a year elapsed, to the sacred order of the diaconate, he will not have been promoted, that, by that very thing, not only in consistorial matters, but in all other acts and businesses of Cardinals, he may exist deprived, and that may lack from active and passive voice in an election, which also [is], according to the Constitution published by our predecessor, Pope Pius IV, of blessed memory, regarding the Reformation of the conclave.
§ 7. [Retention of some of the Diaconal Rank] - But let the number of deacons. Thus, predefined be perpetually retained, and let the deacons always remain in the same order, and if any of them, out of the fervor of devotion, will’ve been promoted to the order of the presbyterate, that, however, always in the same order of the diaconate, they may always officially minister, and may hold their place among the cardinal-deacons, until from Cardinals newly to be created or chosen, other deacons may complete the aforesaid number, and into their place may be subrogated and substituted. In which case, the older deacons promoted to the order of the presbyterate, are able to transition into cardinal-presbyters, and among them to sit and be co-numbered.
§ 8. [Succession of Cathedral-Churches & Cardinal-Episcopacies] - As truly we follow cardinal-deacons with greater honors, who in their vocation will have remained, and in the ministry of their order will have persevered, we will it that when some transfer thru death of the thing [of that church], out of the 6 Cathedral-churches, which the cardinal-bishops preside over, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, will’ve happened, or, at other times, when it will’ve happened to lie vacant for a time , . . . that the senior, indeed, cardinal-presbyter present (but with preserved the right of each cardinal-Bishop of transferring to it), with the prior [church] dismissed over which he was in charge, as is of custom, he may be promoted, but when after 3 vacancies, 3 in the same way out of the cardinal-presbyters will’ve been established into bishops, then if a 4th vacancy of any 1 of these churches will have happened, then with the older presbyter excluded, only by that turn-of-events, the prior of the cardinal-deacons, who will’ve been present and at a legitimate age constituted, if that one will not have wanted the matter, or will not have been able to assume it, then the following deacon endowed with the same qualities may be promoted to it; and so from then on, in vacancies of this sort, 6 of the aforesaid churches will be perpetually observed, so that after 3 promotions of presbyters to the aforesaid churches, with a 4th vacancy occurring, the 1st of the deacons, or the following one, as is preferred, may be perfected into a bishop.
§ 9. [Multiplicity of Talents] - Among the 70 Cardinals, besides those outstanding of either right, whether doctors of Laws, let there not be lacking several men-to-be-taken, distinguished in sacred theology as teachers, especially out of the regulars and orders of mendicants, at least 4, but no fewer.
§ 10. [Time of Consistory] - Innovating the ancient custom, truly, of Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, and of our other predecessors of the Holy Pontificate, thru 600+ years, wishing to follow, in a continued series the observance and decree, innovating what was published otherwise through us, in our consistory, perpetually we sanction the time of creating Cardinals, or of their promotion-to-be-made to the honor of cardinalship, to be owing to be in the month of December, provided that it is in the very times or days of fastings, and not at other times.
§ 11. [International Character] - But in order that the same Cardinals, in the regime of the universal church, may be able to usefully assist us, and [or] the temporarily-existing Roman pontiff, and [so that], upon the occasion of transpiring events, a certain knowledge from them may be readily and faithfully had, about all the customs, matters, and businesses of the Christian kingdoms and provinces, adhering to the decree of the aforesaid Tridentine council, we establish, that from all the nations of Christianity, as conveniently as it can come about, suitable ones [cardinals] may be taken.
§ 12. [Of Legitimate Birth] - Besides these things, let they who are going to be created Cardinals, have arisen by legitimate and honest births, neither indeed with any blemish, or any-at-all-suspicion of any sort, of illegitimate births, but let them lack from every stain and impurity, otherwise let them be thought to be completely unable [of rising] to so eminent a grade of dignity, and incapable of it. Considering the same topic, that although there may be so great a force and efficacy of the sacrament of matrimony, that with the apostle as witness, great is [the mystery] in Christ and in the Church; that they who before hand may have been begotten, from an unbound man, and unbound woman, between whom a matrimony was able to rightly occur, after that contract are held [’s to be] legitimate [children]; but however, in some provinces and dominions, they do not enjoy the privileges of nobility, nor are they admitted to secular offices, honors, and dignities, neither to the successions of noble fifes or states; which also would seem much more indecent, and foreign from the dignity of the Apostolic See, if ones illegitimate, thru a subsequent marriage of this sort, as it is preferred [to think about them], were taken as legitimized, for Cardinals, and the excellence and splendor of the cardinalship, which is compared to a regal dignity, would be able to be easily degraded, stained, or in some way obscured. Therefore, so that purer births may respond to the purer dignity, we declare and decree that whomsoever sons illegitimately born, of whatsoever principates, even of great ones, even of those shining by ducal, or mayorial, even by regal, and Imperial authority, endowed at whatsoever level and dignity and preeminence, . . . even ones begotten from an unbound man, and unbound woman, between whom a marriage then was able to occur, and afterwards thru a subsequent matrimony, even rightly and solemnly contracted in front of the church, . . . or legitimized otherwise, and rehabilitated howsoever-you-please, and restored to their birthrights, and effected capable of whatsoever goods, . . . even if, with them, so that they may be able to obtain this very dignity, regarding the defect of their births, it were expressly, and in appearance dispensed by apostolic authority, howsoever-it-may-occur, . . . nevertheless, . . . [we declare and decree them] of the dignity of the aforesaid Cardinalship utterly incapable, and perpetually unsuitable for obtaining it.
§ 13. [Capability of Receiving Holy Orders] - But also, in addition, we prohibit, lest they should ever, at any time, be taken as cardinals, whom, because of defects, vices, or impediments of any sort, it is not right, according to canonical sanctions, to be promoted to the holy orders, , . . . even if, with these things, it were dispensed by the aforesaid apostolic authority, or neither sprinkled with the reputation of any crime or infamy.
§ 14. [Requisite Virtues] - Another thing: so that not only honorarily, but even in very reality they may be Cardinals [hinges], upon whom the doors of the universal church securely rest, and so that divine and human mysteries committed to them may be more usefully carried out, we establish that the choicest and most excelling men should be ascribed into the same college, of whom there are known and tested [these qualities:], their honesty of life, and candor of morals, and ready teaching and education, and incredible piety, and ardent endeavor and zeal for the salvation of souls, and sincere faith, and counsels to be given, and integrity and singular prudence in matters to be undertaken, and constancy, and authority, and other qualities required by right, as much for the very Pope, as for the universal college.
§ 15. [Office-Climbers] - And moving on, lest men clearly rough and unskilled in sacred things, and unaware of ecclesiastical functions, like guests and travelers in the house of God, should suddenly be perfected to an office of such sort, according to the decree sanctioned long ago by us in our aforesaid consistory, which equally we innovated from the series of these things, we strictly interdict, lest anyone should be able to be assumed, in any respect whatever, to the honor of the Cardinalship, except he who will’ve borne a clerical tonsure, having been previously marked with the clerical character, and been constituted in the 4 minor orders, possessed for at least a year.
§ 16. [Parents] - But whereas the ones to be promoted to an honor so greatly sublime, ought to be exceedingly eminent, beyond others, in every virtue, and especially in the praise of their chastity, (I.) He who, at another time, is recognized to have received sons, even legitimate ones, from his wife, may be unable to provide sure testimony of his continence, and (II.) a father is borne toward his own sons, by natural affection, by a certain-too-great-propensity, . . . Let it be worried lest, on account of these things, distracted by the various businesses of his own house, and by the complex care of children, he should either negligently treat the business of the church entrusted to him, or less solicitously and faithfully than what is equal [to the job], so that the rights of the same church may be safeguarded, . . . We prohibit lest anyone who may have a child, or children, of either sex, even received from a legitimate marriage, or a nephew, or nephews from them, shall be able to be promoted or assumed, in any respect whatever, into a Cardinal.
§ 17. [Blood-Brothers] - Moreover, so that we may amputate any stimulus to factions, and the opportunities of rivalries, out of this holy gathering, as much as in the Lord we are able, approving the decree of our predecessor of holy memory, Pope Julius III, published upon [the topic of] one such holy consistory, and declaring similarly, we perpetually interdict lest at any time after this there should be taken for a Cardinal of the same Holy Roman Catholic Church, someone who may exist as a blood-brother on either side, from either parent in the matter, of some other living Cardinal, thus so that at the same time two blood-brothers, in the same college may not ever be able to occur, in any respect whatever. Furthermore, extending the same decree, and amplifying it, we prohibit also lest, with any living cousin, (whether of a paternal brother, paternal sister, or maternal sibling), another cousin (whether of a paternal brother, paternal sister, or maternal sibling) of him may be able to be promoted to the Cardinalship.
§ 18. [Nepotism] - But, by an equal reason, we sanction, lest there should be able to be assumed into a Cardinal (a.) a nephew, with a Cardinal paternal-relative, or uncle, living, of either his brother or sister; nor again [conversely] (b.) the fatherly relative or uncle, with a Cardinal nephew existing of that man, from either his brother or sister; nor finally, (c.) any other man, who by so much as the 1st or 2nd grade of foreign consanguinity may be conjoined to a living Cardinal, as long as he may yet have been alive. Thus it is that all those individually aforesaid, . . . so much (a.) a father having sons or nephews, as (b.) blood-brothers, (c.) paternal cousins, maternal cousins, (d.) a paternal relative, and uncle, or (e.) a nephew by a brother or sister, and (f.) whosoever, as stated above, may be conjoined at the 1st or 2nd grade, with another corresponding Cardinal living . . . let them ALL be deemed unsuitable for the Cardinalship and thus incapable of it, neither let anyone out of them be able to be created a Cardinal, neither against this prohibition, even for whatsoever even most urgent cause, let it be permitted to be dispensed with. And no less, let the election, creation, and pronouncement of Cardinals in this manner, against the present prohibition or interdict, by that very thing, be null, bankrupt, and void, whether made, or [just] attempted, and with all these things followed, then, let it be of no help or importance.
§ 19. [Requisite Visit to the Holy See] - Finally, noticing that it is the proper office of those same Cardinals (a.) to assist, as earlier stated, to the Vicar of Christ in the lands, and (b.) to render counsel and assiduous labor to him in regard to ruling the Catholic Church, and with that (c.) to foresee, for the necessities of the church; and that the same things are to be held, so much from the duty unto it, by the [nature of the] very office, as much as out of the decrees of the holy Fathers; . . . that on account of these things, it is absurd that (a.) Cardinals should live their life far off from the Pontiff himself, and (b.) neglect and desert their so-greatly-exultant place and dwelling in the Church of God, against the duty of an office of the sort, and unto destruction of their souls; adhering to the recent decree, similarly promulgated by us in our consistory, about the Council of the same brothers, we establish and ordain, lest anyone in the hereafter, being absent from the Roman Curia should be created or pronounced a Cardinal, except with this additional condition, that he shall be bound, within a year, to come unto the Roman Curia, and to make a visit to the threshold of the Apostles, and no less, before the red Beretta (which, by custom, is to be blessed by the Roman Pontiff, and through a certain announcement is accustomed to be sent) may be handed over to him, or may be placed upon his head, let him vow, in the hands of some person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, to whom that job will’ve been given, that he himself is going to personally come, within a year from the day of the rendered oath (counting with every delay postponed, and with every impediment removed), to the City (or elsewhere, where the Roman Curia at that time will’ve been), so that he may stand himself before us (or to the Roman Pontiff at that time existing), and to this Holy Apostolic See, in whose services he will’ve been enrolled, and may apply himself to his office, for as long as he will’ve been present to the same Pontiff: and thus he may be fully instructed about laws, customs, practices, and about the whole state of the same See, and unto the church’s, or his own-perhaps-personally-ruled-province’s (a.) needs to-be-upheld, (b.) abuses-to-be-removed, (c.) customs to-be-reformed, and (d.) Ecclesiastical discipline to-be-restored (if on any side, it may’ve slipped), . . . he may receive opportune and salutary counsels from the paternal charity and wisdom and vigilance of the same Pontiff, and so that, for his efforts [before men?], he may carry them out. Of this, indeed, oath, after he will have rendered it, let a public document [of it] then be created, and, in an authentic form, let it be transmitted to us (or to our successor, at that time), without delay. For, if by chance he will've refused to swear it, then we want that the red Beretta may be completely denied to him, and that it may be handed over not at all, but by that very deed, without any declaration or decree, he may exist deprived from the honor of the Cardinalship, and may be held, in all things, and through all things, as if he had never been promoted or taken for a Cardinal. Let them be effected, also unsuitable for obtaining that dignity, afterwards, and incapable of it. But if, however, he shall swear, and shall receive the red Beretta, but however afterwards to the City, and Roman Curia, as it is preferred, within a year from the day of the rendered oath, he shall not have appeared, then equally, by that very thing, without any declaration, he shall be perpetually deprived and lack from the dignity, office, title, class, and from all things, and from whatsoever insignias, faculties, privileges, or authorities of the same Cardinalship, and shall be so-thought-of, from then on, as if he had never been co-chosen among the cardinals, neither had received the red Beretta. Indeed, let him be held to immediately and completely dispense with the Beretta, after that time.
§ 20. [Enforcement] - [We are] decreeing thus, in all the individual foregoing things, through whomsoever judges, and commissaries, and even auditors of the cases of the Apostolic Palace, and thru the same Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, in whatsoever case, and instance having arisen unto them; that [thus] they ought to judge and define, and this by whatsoever faculty, and authority of judging and interpreting differently, belonging to each and every one of them; and, additionally, that anything besides [against] these [decrees] is attempted, bankruptly and voidedly, whether it may have happened knowingly, or ignorantly, and by whomever, and by whatever authority.
§ 21. [Supremacy] - Notwithstanding the published apostolic constitutions and ordinances of the general/ecumenical councils, even prescribing a certain other number of the same Cardinals, or treating otherwise than in the foregoing decrees, . . . these all, to whatever degree they may militate in some way, against the present Constitution, . . . [yet once] having the senses of those things for fully and sufficiently expressed, we completely abrogate, abolish, and annul all other contrary things whatsoever, even if, with regard to those things, a special, specific, express, and individual mention would have to be made, about one word or another, but not in general clauses, suggesting the same [as our decrees].
§ 22. [Promulgation of Copies] - Another thing: As the present letters become known to all, we command that those be published in the accustomed way, and affixed therein, to the doors of the Lateran and of the Basilicas of the Prince of the Apostles round about the City, and of the Apostolic Chancel, and in the front of the Campi Florae, and through some space of time to be [direirti = displayed?]; And with them having been taken down, that the examples of them to be left in [the archive of] that same place. And we wish that, from the translations and copies of those, once written down by the hand of some Notary-Public, and ratified by the seal of a prelate or person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, that both in a judgment and outside of it, where there will’ve been need, that the same indeed faith [respect] may be applied [to them], which would be applied to the very originals, if they were going to be exhibited and displayed.
§ 23. [Admonitions] - Therefore, to no man is it permitted, this page, to . . . etc.
But if anyone will’ve presumed to attempt this, [he will incur] the indignation of the Almighty God, and of the blesseds . . . etc.
Given at Rome, near St. Peter, in the one-thousand-five-hundred-eighty-sixth year of the Incarnation of the Lord, the 3rd [day before the] Nones of December, in the 2nd year of our pontificate.