title: Pope

text: To combat this and other practices that had corrupted the Church between the years 900 and 1050, centres emerged promoting ecclesiastical reform, the most important being the Abbey of Cluny, which spread its ideals throughout Europe. This reform movement gained strength with the election of Pope Gregory VII in 1073, who adopted a series of measures in the movement known as the Gregorian Reform, in order to fight strongly against simony and the abuse of civil power and try to restore ecclesiastical discipline, including clerical celibacy.


title: Pope

text: This conflict between popes and secular autocratic rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and King Henry I of England, known as the Investiture controversy, was only resolved in 1122, by the Concordat of Worms, in which Pope Callixtus II decreed that clerics were to be invested by clerical leaders, and temporal rulers by lay investiture. Soon after, Pope Alexander III began reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law.


title: Pope

text: Since the beginning of the 7th century, the Caliphate had conquered much of the southern Mediterranean, and represented a threat to Christianity. In 1095, the Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, asked for military aid from Pope Urban II in the ongoing Byzantine–Seljuq wars. Urban, at the council of Clermont, called the First Crusade to assist the Byzantine Empire to regain the old Christian territories, especially Jerusalem.


title: Pope

text: With the East–West Schism, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church split definitively in 1054. This fracture was caused more by political events than by slight divergences of creed. Popes had galled the Byzantine emperors by siding with the king of the Franks, crowning a rival Roman emperor, appropriating the Exarchate of Ravenna, and driving into Greek Italy.


title: Pope

text: From 1309 to 1377, the pope resided not in Rome but in Avignon. The Avignon Papacy was notorious for greed and corruption. During this period, the pope was effectively an ally of the Kingdom of France, alienating France's enemies, such as the Kingdom of England.


title: Pope

text: The pope was understood to have the power to draw on the Treasury of Merit built up by the saints and by Christ, so that he could grant indulgences, reducing one's time in purgatory. The concept that a monetary fine or donation accompanied contrition, confession, and prayer eventually gave way to the common assumption that indulgences depended on a simple monetary contribution. The popes condemned misunderstandings and abuses, but were too pressed for income to exercise effective control over indulgences.


title: Pope

text: Popes also contended with the cardinals, who sometimes attempted to assert the authority of Catholic Ecumenical Councils over the pope's. Conciliarism holds that the supreme authority of the church lies with a General Council, not with the pope. Its foundations were laid early in the 13th century, and it culminated in the 15th century with Jean Gerson as its leading spokesman. The failure of Conciliarism to gain broad acceptance after the 15th century is taken as a factor in the Protestant Reformation.


title: Pope

text: Various Antipopes challenged papal authority, especially during the Western Schism (1378–1417). In this schism, the papacy had returned to Rome from Avignon, but an antipope was installed in Avignon, as if to extend the papacy there. It came to a close when the Council of Constance, at the high-point of Concilliarism, decided among the papal claimants.


title: Pope

text: The Eastern Church continued to decline with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, undercutting Constantinople's claim to equality with Rome. Twice an Eastern Emperor tried to force the Eastern Church to reunify with the West. First in the Second Council of Lyon (1272–1274) and secondly in the Council of Florence (1431–1449). Papal claims of superiority were a sticking point in reunification, which failed in any event. In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire.


title: Pope

text: Popes instituted a Catholic Reformation (1560–1648), which addressed the challenges of the Protestant Reformation and instituted internal reforms. Pope Paul III initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), whose definitions of doctrine and whose reforms sealed the triumph of the papacy over elements in the church that sought conciliation with Protestants and opposed papal claims.


title: Pope

text: Gradually forced to give up secular power to the increasingly assertive European nation states, the popes focused on spiritual issues. In 1870, the First Vatican Council proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility for the most solemn occasions when the pope speaks when issuing a definition of faith or morals. Later the same year, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy seized Rome from the pope's control and substantially completed the unification of Italy.


title: Pope

text: In 1929, the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See established Vatican City as an independent city-state, guaranteeing papal independence from secular rule.


title: Pope

text: In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as dogma, the only time a pope has spoken since papal infallibility was explicitly declared.


title: Pope

text: The Primacy of St. Peter, the controversial doctrinal basis of the pope's authority, continues to divide the eastern and western churches and to separate Protestants from Rome.


title: Pope

text: The Catholic Church teaches that, within the Christian community, the bishops as a body have succeeded to the body of the apostles ("apostolic succession") and the bishop of Rome has succeeded to Saint Peter.


title: Pope

text: The symbolic keys in the Papal coats of arms are a reference to the phrase "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" in the first of these texts. Some Protestant writers have maintained that the "rock" that Jesus speaks of in this text is Jesus himself or the faith expressed by Peter. This idea is undermined by the Biblical usage of "Cephas", which is the masculine form of "rock" in Aramaic, to describe Peter. The "Encyclopædia Britannica" comments that "the consensus of the great majority of scholars today is that the most obvious and traditional understanding should be construed, namely, that rock refers to the person of Peter".


title: Pope

text: The pope was originally chosen by those senior clergymen resident in and near Rome. In 1059, the electorate was restricted to the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all cardinal electors were made equal in 1179. The electors are now limited to those who have not reached 80 on the day before the death or resignation of a pope. The pope does not need to be a cardinal elector or indeed a cardinal; however, since the pope is the bishop of Rome, only those who can be ordained a bishop can be elected, which means that any male baptized Catholic is eligible. The last to be elected when not yet a bishop was Gregory XVI in 1831, the last to be elected when not even a priest was Leo X in 1513, and the last to be elected when not a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378. If someone who is not a bishop is elected, he must be given episcopal ordination before the election is announced to the people.


title: Pope

text: The Second Council of Lyon was convened on 7 May 1274, to regulate the election of the pope. This Council decreed that the cardinal electors must meet within ten days of the pope's death, and that they must remain in seclusion until a pope has been elected; this was prompted by the three-year "sede vacante" following the death of Clement IV in 1268. By the mid-16th century, the electoral process had evolved into its present form, allowing for variation in the time between the death of the pope and the meeting of the cardinal electors. Traditionally, the vote was conducted by acclamation, by selection (by committee), or by plenary vote. Acclamation was the simplest procedure, consisting entirely of a voice vote.


title: Pope

text: The election of the pope almost always takes place in the Sistine Chapel, in a sequestered meeting called a "conclave" (so called because the cardinal electors are theoretically locked in, "cum clave", i.e., with key, until they elect a new pope). Three cardinals are chosen by lot to collect the votes of absent cardinal electors (by reason of illness), three are chosen by lot to count the votes, and three are chosen by lot to review the count of the votes. The ballots are distributed and each cardinal elector writes the name of his choice on it and pledges aloud that he is voting for "one whom under God I think ought to be elected" before folding and depositing his vote on a plate atop a large chalice placed on the altar. For the Papal conclave, 2005, a special urn was used for this purpose instead of a chalice and plate. The plate is then used to drop the ballot into the chalice, making it difficult for electors to insert multiple ballots. Before being read, the ballots are counted while still folded; if the number of ballots does not match the number of electors, the ballots are burned unopened and a new vote is held. Otherwise, each ballot is read aloud by the presiding Cardinal, who pierces the ballot with a needle and thread, stringing all the ballots together and tying the ends of the thread to ensure accuracy and honesty. Balloting continues until someone is elected by a two-thirds majority. (With the promulgation of "Universi Dominici Gregis" in 1996, a simple majority after a deadlock of twelve days was allowed, but this was revoked by Pope Benedict XVI by "motu proprio" in 2007.)


title: Pope

text: One of the most prominent aspects of the papal election process is the means by which the results of a ballot are announced to the world. Once the ballots are counted and bound together, they are burned in a special stove erected in the Sistine Chapel, with the smoke escaping through a small chimney visible from Saint Peter's Square. The ballots from an unsuccessful vote are burned along with a chemical compound to create black smoke, or "fumata nera". (Traditionally, wet straw was used to produce the black smoke, but this was not completely reliable. The chemical compound is more reliable than the straw.) When a vote is successful, the ballots are burned alone, sending white smoke ("fumata bianca") through the chimney and announcing to the world the election of a new pope. Starting with the Papal conclave, 2005, church bells are also rung as a signal that a new pope has been chosen.


title: Pope

text: The dean of the College of Cardinals then asks two solemn questions of the man who has been elected. First he asks, "Do you freely accept your election as supreme pontiff?" If he replies with the word ""Accepto"", his reign begins at that instant. If he replies "not", his reign begins at the inauguration ceremony several days afterward. The dean asks next, "By what name shall you be called?" The new pope announces the regnal name he has chosen. If the dean himself is elected pope, the vice dean performs this task.


title: Pope

text: The new pope is led to the Room of Tears, a dressing room where three sets of white papal vestments ("immantatio") await in three sizes. Donning the appropriate vestments and reemerging into the Sistine Chapel, the new pope is given the "Fisherman's Ring" by the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. The pope assumes a place of honor as the rest of the cardinals wait in turn to offer their first "obedience" ("adoratio") and to receive his blessing.


title: Pope

text: The cardinal protodeacon announces from a balcony over St. Peter's Square the following proclamation: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum! Habemus Papam!" ("I announce to you a great joy! We have a pope!"). He announces the new pope's Christian name along with his newly chosen regnal name.


title: Pope

text: Until 1978, the pope's election was followed in a few days by the papal coronation, which started with a procession with great pomp and circumstance from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's Basilica, with the newly elected pope borne in the "sedia gestatoria". After a solemn Papal Mass, the new pope was crowned with the "triregnum" (papal tiara) and he gave for the first time as pope the famous blessing "Urbi et Orbi" ("to the City [Rome] and to the World"). Another renowned part of the coronation was the lighting of a bundle of flax at the top of a gilded pole, which would flare brightly for a moment and then promptly extinguish, as he said, "Sic transit gloria mundi" ("Thus passes worldly glory"). A similar warning against papal hubris made on this occasion was the traditional exclamation, ""Annos Petri non-videbis"", reminding the newly crowned pope that he would not live to see his rule lasting as long as that of St. Peter. According to tradition, he headed the church for 35 years and has thus far been the longest-reigning pope in the history of the Catholic Church.


title: Pope

text: The Latin term, "sede vacante" ("while the see is vacant"), refers to a papal interregnum, the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of his successor. From this term is derived the term sedevacantism, which designates a category of dissident Catholics who maintain that there is no canonically and legitimately elected pope, and that there is therefore a "sede vacante". One of the most common reasons for holding this belief is the idea that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and especially the reform of the Tridentine Mass with the Mass of Paul VI, are heretical and that those responsible for initiating and maintaining these changes are heretics and not true popes.


title: Pope

text: For centuries, from 1378 on, those elected to the papacy were predominantly Italians. Prior to the election of the Polish-born John Paul II in 1978, the last non-Italian was Adrian VI of the Netherlands, elected in 1522. John Paul II was followed by election of the German-born Benedict XVI, who was in turn followed by Argentine-born Francis, the first non-European after 1272 years and the first Latin American (albeit of Italian ancestry).


title: Pope

text: The current regulations regarding a papal interregnum—that is, a "sede vacante" ("vacant seat")—were promulgated by Pope John Paul II in his 1996 document "Universi Dominici Gregis". During the "sede vacante" period, the College of Cardinals is collectively responsible for the government of the Church and of the Vatican itself, under the direction of the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church; however, canon law specifically forbids the cardinals from introducing any innovation in the government of the Church during the vacancy of the Holy See. Any decision that requires the assent of the pope has to wait until the new pope has been elected and accepts office.


title: Pope

text: In recent centuries, when a pope was judged to have died, it was reportedly traditional for the cardinal camerlengo to confirm the death ceremonially by gently tapping the pope's head thrice with a silver hammer, calling his birth name each time. This was not done on the deaths of popes John Paul I and John Paul II. The cardinal camerlengo retrieves the Ring of the Fisherman and cuts it in two in the presence of the cardinals. The pope's seals are defaced, to keep them from ever being used again, and his personal apartment is sealed.


title: Pope

text: The body lies in state for several days before being interred in the crypt of a leading church or cathedral; all popes who have died in the 20th and 21st centuries have been interred in St. Peter's Basilica. A nine-day period of mourning ("novendialis") follows the interment.


title: Pope

text: It is highly unusual for a pope to resign. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states, "If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone." Benedict XVI, who vacated the Holy See on 28 February 2013, was the most recent to do so since Gregory XII's resignation in 1415.


title: Pope

text: Popes adopt a new name on their accession, known as papal name, in Italian and Latin. Currently, after a new pope is elected and accepts the election, he is asked, "By what name shall you be called?" The new pope chooses the name by which he will be known from that point on. The senior cardinal deacon, or cardinal protodeacon, then appears on the balcony of Saint Peter's to proclaim the new pope by his birth name, and announce his papal name in Latin. It's customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into all local languages. For example, the current pope bears the papal name Papa Franciscus in Latin and Papa Francesco in Italian, but Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, Pope Francis in English, etc.


title: Pope

text: The official list of titles of the pope, in the order in which they are given in the "Annuario Pontificio", is:


title: Pope

text: The best-known title, that of "pope", does not appear in the official list, but is commonly used in the titles of documents, and appears, in abbreviated form, in their signatures. Thus Paul VI signed as "Paulus PP. VI", the "PP." standing for ""papa pontifex"" ("pope and pontiff").


title: Pope

text: The title "pope" was from the early 3rd century an honorific designation used for "any" bishop in the West. In the East, it was used only for the bishop of Alexandria. Marcellinus (d. 304) is the first bishop of Rome shown in sources to have had the title "pope" used of him. From the 6th century, the imperial chancery of Constantinople normally reserved this designation for the bishop of Rome. From the early 6th century, it began to be confined in the West to the bishop of Rome, a practice that was firmly in place by the 11th century, when Pope Gregory VII declared it reserved for the bishop of Rome.


title: Pope

text: In Eastern Christianity, where the title "pope" is used also of the bishop of Alexandria, the bishop of Rome is often referred to as the "pope of Rome", regardless of whether the speaker or writer is in communion with Rome or not.


title: Pope

text: "Vicar of Jesus Christ" ("Vicarius Iesu Christi") is one of the official titles of the pope given in the "Annuario Pontificio". It is commonly used in the slightly abbreviated form "vicar of Christ" ("vicarius Christi"). While it is only one of the terms with which the pope is referred to as "vicar", it is "more expressive of his supreme headship of the Church on Earth, which he bears in virtue of the commission of Christ and with vicarial power derived from him", a vicarial power believed to have been conferred on Saint Peter when Christ said to him: "Feed my lambs...Feed my sheep".


title: Pope

text: The first record of the application of this title to a bishop of Rome appears in a synod of 495 with reference to Gelasius I. But at that time, and down to the 9th century, other bishops too referred to themselves as vicars of Christ, and for another four centuries this description was sometimes used of kings and even judges, as it had been used in the 5th and 6th centuries to refer to the Byzantine emperor. Earlier still, in the 3rd century, Tertullian used "vicar of Christ" to refer to the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus. Its use specifically for the pope appears in the 13th century in connection with the reforms of Pope Innocent III, as can be observed already in his 1199 letter to Leo I, King of Armenia. Other historians suggest that this title was already used in this way in association with the pontificate of Eugene III (1145–1153).


title: Pope

text: This title "vicar of Christ" is thus not used of the pope alone and has been used of all bishops since the early centuries. The Second Vatican Council referred to all bishops as "vicars and ambassadors of Christ", and this description of the bishops was repeated by John Paul II in his encyclical "Ut unum sint," 95. The difference is that the other bishops are vicars of Christ for their own local churches, the pope is vicar of Christ for the whole Church.


title: Pope

text: On at least one occasion the title "vicar of God" (a reference to Christ as God) was used of the pope.


title: Pope

text: The title "vicar of Peter" ("vicarius Petri") is used only of the pope, not of other bishops. Variations of it include: "Vicar of the Prince of the Apostles" ("Vicarius Principis Apostolorum") and "Vicar of the Apostolic See" ("Vicarius Sedis Apostolicae"). Saint Boniface described Pope Gregory II as vicar of Peter in the oath of fealty that he took in 722. In today's Roman Missal, the description "vicar of Peter" is found also in the collect of the Mass for a saint who was a pope.


title: Pope

text: The term "pontiff" is derived from the , which literally means "bridge builder" ("pons" + "facere") and which designated a member of the principal college of priests in pagan Rome. The Latin word was translated into ancient Greek variously: as , , , (hierophant), or (archiereus, high priest) The head of the college was known as the (the greatest pontiff).


title: Pope

text: In Christian use, "pontifex" appears in the Vulgate translation of the New Testament to indicate the High Priest of Israel (in the original Koine Greek, ). The term came to be applied to any Christian bishop, but since the 11th century commonly refers specifically to the bishop of Rome, who is more strictly called the "Roman Pontiff". The use of the term to refer to bishops in general is reflected in the terms "Roman Pontifical" (a book containing rites reserved for bishops, such as confirmation and ordination), and "pontificals" (the insignia of bishops).


title: Pope

text: The "Annuario Pontificio" lists as one of the official titles of the pope that of "Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church" (). He is also commonly called the Supreme Pontiff or the Sovereign Pontiff ().


title: Pope

text: "Pontifex Maximus", similar in meaning to "Summus Pontifex", is a title commonly found in inscriptions on papal buildings, paintings, statues and coins, usually abbreviated as "Pont. Max" or "P.M." The office of Pontifex Maximus, or head of the College of Pontiffs, was held by Julius Caesar and thereafter, by the Roman emperors, until Gratian (375–383) relinquished it. Tertullian, when he had become a Montanist, used the title derisively of either the pope or the bishop of Carthage. The popes began to use this title regularly only in the 15th century.


title: Pope

text: Although the description "servant of the servants of God" () was also used by other Church leaders, including Augustine of Hippo and Benedict of Nursia, it was first used extensively as a papal title by Gregory the Great, reportedly as a lesson in humility for the patriarch of Constantinople, John the Faster, who had assumed the title "ecumenical patriarch". It became reserved for the pope in the 12th century and is used in papal bulls and similar important papal documents.


title: Pope

text: From 1863 until 2005, the "Annuario Pontificio" also included the title "patriarch of the West". This title was first used by Pope Theodore I in 642, and was only used occasionally. Indeed, it did not begin to appear in the pontifical yearbook until 1863. On 22 March 2006, the Vatican released a statement explaining this omission on the grounds of expressing a "historical and theological reality" and of "being useful to ecumenical dialogue". The title patriarch of the West symbolized the pope's special relationship with, and jurisdiction over, the Latin Church—and the omission of the title neither symbolizes in any way a change in this relationship, nor distorts the relationship between the Holy See and the Eastern Churches, as solemnly proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council.


title: Pope

text: Other titles commonly used are "His Holiness" (either used alone or as an honorific prefix as in "His Holiness Pope Francis"; and as "Your Holiness" as a form of address), "Holy Father". In Spanish and Italian, ""Beatísimo/Beatissimo Padre"" (Most Blessed Father) is often used in preference to ""Santísimo/Santissimo Padre"" (Most Holy Father). In the medieval period, ""Dominus Apostolicus"" ("the Apostolic Lord") was also used.


title: Pope

text: Pope Francis signs some documents with his name alone, either in Latin ("Franciscus", as in an encyclical dated 29 June 2013) or in another language. Other documents he signs in accordance with the tradition of using Latin only and including the abbreviated form "PP.", for the Latin "Papa" ("Pope"). Popes who have an ordinal numeral in their name traditionally place the abbreviation "PP." before the ordinal numeral, as in "Benedictus PP. XVI" (Pope Benedict XVI), except in papal bulls of canonization and decrees of ecumenical councils, which a pope signs with the formula, "Ego N. Episcopus Ecclesiae catholicae", without the numeral, as in "Ego Benedictus Episcopus Ecclesiae catholicae" (I, Benedict, Bishop of the Catholic Church). The pope's signature is followed, in bulls of canonization, by those of all the cardinals resident in Rome, and in decrees of ecumenical councils, by the signatures of the other bishops participating in the council, each signing as Bishop of a particular see.


title: Pope

text: Papal bulls are headed "N. Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei" ("Name, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God"). In general, they are not signed by the pope, but John Paul II introduced in the mid-1980s the custom by which the pope signs not only bulls of canonization but also, using his normal signature, such as "Benedictus PP. XVI", bulls of nomination of bishops.


title: Pope

text: In heraldry, each pope has his own personal coat of arms. Though unique for each pope, the arms have for several centuries been traditionally accompanied by two keys in saltire (i.e., crossed over one another so as to form an "X") behind the escutcheon (shield) (one silver key and one gold key, tied with a red cord), and above them a silver "triregnum" with three gold crowns and red "infulae" (lappets—two strips of fabric hanging from the back of the triregnum which fall over the neck and shoulders when worn). This is blazoned: "two keys in saltire or and argent, interlacing in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or". The 21st century has seen departures from this tradition. In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI, while maintaining the crossed keys behind the shield, omitted the papal tiara from his personal coat of arms, replacing it with a mitre with three horizontal lines. Beneath the shield he added the pallium, a papal symbol of authority more ancient than the tiara, the use of which is also granted to metropolitan archbishops as a sign of communion with the See of Rome. Although the tiara was omitted in the pope's personal coat of arms, the coat of arms of the Holy See, which includes the tiara, remained unaltered. In 2013, Pope Francis maintained the mitre that replaced the tiara, but omitted the pallium. He also departed from papal tradition by adding beneath the shield his personal pastoral motto: "Miserando atque eligendo".


title: Pope

text: Pope Pius V (reigned 1566–1572), is often credited with having originated the custom whereby the pope wears white, by continuing after his election to wear the white habit of the Dominican order. In reality, the basic papal attire was white long before. The earliest document that describes it as such is the "Ordo XIII", a book of ceremonies compiled in about 1274. Later books of ceremonies describe the pope as wearing a red mantle, mozzetta, camauro and shoes, and a white cassock and stockings. Many contemporary portraits of 15th and 16th-century predecessors of Pius V show them wearing a white cassock similar to his.


title: Pope

text: The status and authority of the pope in the Catholic Church was dogmatically defined by the First Vatican Council on 18 July 1870. In its Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ, the council established the following canons:


title: Pope

text: If anyone says that the blessed Apostle Peter was not established by the Lord Christ as the chief of all the apostles, and the visible head of the whole militant Church, or, that the same received great honour but did not receive from the same our Lord Jesus Christ directly and immediately the primacy in true and proper jurisdiction: let him be anathema.


title: Pope

text: If anyone says that it is not from the institution of Christ the Lord Himself, or by divine right that the blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in the same primacy, let him be anathema.


title: Pope

text: If anyone thus speaks, that the Roman pontiff has only the office of inspection or direction, but not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not only in things which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the discipline and government of the Church spread over the whole world; or, that he possesses only the more important parts, but not the whole plenitude of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate, or over the churches altogether and individually, and over the pastors and the faithful altogether and individually: let him be anathema.


title: Pope

text: We, adhering faithfully to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, to the glory of God, our Saviour, the elevation of the Catholic religion and the salvation of Christian peoples, with the approbation of the sacred Council, teach and explain that the dogma has been divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when carrying out the duty of the pastor and teacher of all Christians by his supreme apostolic authority he defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, through the divine assistance promised him in blessed Peter, operates with that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer wished that His church be instructed in defining doctrine on faith and morals; and so such definitions of the Roman Pontiff from himself, but not from the consensus of the Church, are unalterable. But if anyone presumes to contradict this definition of Ours, which may God forbid: let him be anathema.


title: Pope

text: On 11 October 2012, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council 60 prominent theologians, (including Hans Küng), put out a Declaration, stating that the intention of Vatican II to balance authority in the Church has not been realised. "Many of the key insights of Vatican II have not at all, or only partially, been implemented... A principal source of present-day stagnation lies in misunderstanding and abuse affecting the exercise of authority in our Church."


title: Pope

text: The pope's official seat is in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, considered the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, and his official residence is the Apostolic Palace. He also possesses a summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, situated on the site of the ancient city of Alba Longa. Until the time of the Avignon Papacy, the residence of the pope was the Lateran Palace, donated by Roman emperor Constantine the Great.


title: Pope

text: The pope's ecclesiastical jurisdiction (the Holy See) is distinct from his secular jurisdiction (Vatican City). It is the Holy See that conducts international relations; for hundreds of years, the papal court (the Roman Curia) has functioned as the government of the Catholic Church.


title: Pope

text: The names "Holy See" and "Apostolic See" are ecclesiastical terminology for the ordinary jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome (including the Roman Curia); the pope's various honors, powers, and privileges within the Catholic Church and the international community derive from his Episcopate of Rome in lineal succession from the Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles. Consequently, Rome has traditionally occupied a central position in the Catholic Church, although this is not necessarily so. The pope derives his pontificate from being the bishop of Rome but is not required to live there; according to the Latin formula "ubi Papa, ibi Curia", wherever the pope resides is the central government of the Church. As such, between 1309 and 1378, the popes lived in Avignon, France, a period often called the "Babylonian captivity" in allusion to the Biblical narrative of Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah living as captives in Babylonia.


title: Pope

text: Though the pope is the diocesan bishop of Rome, he delegates most of the day-to-day work of leading the diocese to the cardinal vicar, who assures direct episcopal oversight of the diocese's pastoral needs, not in his own name but in that of the pope. The current cardinal vicar is Angelo De Donatis, who was appointed to the office in June 2017.


title: Pope

text: Though the progressive Christianisation of the Roman Empire in the 4th century did not confer upon bishops civil authority within the state, the gradual withdrawal of imperial authority during the 5th century left the pope the senior imperial civilian official in Rome, as bishops were increasingly directing civil affairs in other cities of the Western Empire. This status as a secular and civil ruler was vividly displayed by Pope Leo I's confrontation with Attila in 452. The first expansion of papal rule outside of Rome came in 728 with the Donation of Sutri, which in turn was substantially increased in 754, when the Frankish ruler Pippin the Younger gave to the pope the land from his conquest of the Lombards. The pope may have utilized the forged Donation of Constantine to gain this land, which formed the core of the Papal States. This document, accepted as genuine until the 15th century, states that Constantine the Great placed the entire Western Empire of Rome under papal rule. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish ruler Charlemagne as Roman emperor, a major step toward establishing what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire; from that date onward the popes claimed the prerogative to crown the emperor, though the right fell into disuse after the coronation of Charles V in 1530. Pius VII was present at the coronation of Napoleon I in 1804 but did not actually perform the crowning. As mentioned above, the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States ended in 1870 with their annexation by Italy.


title: Pope

text: Popes like Alexander VI, an ambitious if spectacularly corrupt politician, and Julius II, a formidable general and statesman, were not afraid to use power to achieve their own ends, which included increasing the power of the papacy. This political and temporal authority was demonstrated through the papal role in the Holy Roman Empire (especially prominent during periods of contention with the emperors, such as during the pontificates of Pope Gregory VII and Pope Alexander III).


title: Pope

text: Papal bulls, interdict, and excommunication (or the threat thereof) have been used many times to exercise papal power. The bull "Laudabiliter" in 1155 authorized King Henry II of England to invade Ireland. In 1207, Innocent III placed England under interdict until King John made his kingdom a fiefdom to the Pope, complete with yearly tribute, saying, "we offer and freely yield...to our lord Pope Innocent III and his catholic successors, the whole kingdom of England and the whole kingdom of Ireland with all their rights and appurtenences for the remission of our sins". The Bull "Inter caetera" in 1493 led to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which divided the world into areas of Spanish and Portuguese rule. The bull "Regnans in Excelsis" in 1570 excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England and declared that all her subjects were released from allegiance to her. The bull "Inter gravissimas" in 1582 established the Gregorian calendar.


title: Pope

text: Under international law, a serving head of state has sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of other countries, though not from that of international tribunals. This immunity is sometimes loosely referred to as "diplomatic immunity", which is, strictly speaking, the immunity enjoyed by the "diplomatic representatives" of a head of state.


title: Pope

text: International law treats the Holy See, essentially the central government of the Catholic Church, as the juridical equal of a state. It is distinct from the state of Vatican City, existing for many centuries before the foundation of the latter. (It is common for publications and news media to use "the Vatican", "Vatican City", and even "Rome" as metonyms for the Holy See.) Most countries of the world maintain the same form of diplomatic relations with the Holy See that they entertain with other states. Even countries without those diplomatic relations participate in international organizations of which the Holy See is a full member.


title: Pope

text: It is as head of the state-equivalent worldwide religious jurisdiction of the Holy See (not of the territory of Vatican City) that the U.S. Justice Department ruled that the pope enjoys head-of-state immunity. This head-of-state immunity, recognized by the United States, must be distinguished from that envisaged under the United States' Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which, while recognizing the basic immunity of foreign governments from being sued in American courts, lays down nine exceptions, including commercial activity and actions in the United States by agents or employees of the foreign governments. It was in relation to the latter that, in November 2008, the United States Court of Appeals in Cincinnati decided that a case over sexual abuse by Catholic priests could proceed, provided the plaintiffs could prove that the bishops accused of negligent supervision were acting as employees or agents of the Holy See and were following official Holy See policy.


title: Pope

text: In April 2010, there was press coverage in Britain concerning a proposed plan by atheist campaigners and a prominent barrister to have Pope Benedict XVI arrested and prosecuted in the UK for alleged offences, dating from several decades before, in failing to take appropriate action regarding Catholic sex abuse cases and concerning their disputing his immunity from prosecution in that country. This was generally dismissed as "unrealistic and spurious". Another barrister said that it was a "matter of embarrassment that a senior British lawyer would want to allow himself to be associated with such a silly idea".


title: Pope

text: Sovereign immunity does not apply to disputes relating to commercial transactions, and governmental units of the Holy See can face trial in foreign commercial courts. The first such trial to take place in the English courts is likely to occur in 2022 or 2023.


title: Pope

text: The pope's claim to authority is either disputed or rejected outright by other churches, for various reasons.


title: Pope

text: Other traditional Christian churches (Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Independent Catholic churches, etc.) accept the doctrine of Apostolic succession and, to varying extents, papal claims to a primacy of honour, while generally rejecting the pope as the successor to Peter in any other sense than that of other bishops. Primacy is regarded as a consequence of the pope's position as bishop of the original capital city of the Roman Empire, a definition explicitly spelled out in the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon. These churches see no foundation to papal claims of "universal immediate jurisdiction", or to claims of papal infallibility. Several of these churches refer to such claims as "ultramontanism".


title: Pope

text: In 1973, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the USA National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation in the official Catholic–Lutheran dialogue included this passage in a larger statement on papal primacy:


title: Pope

text: Protestant denominations of Christianity reject the claims of Petrine primacy of honor, Petrine primacy of jurisdiction, and papal infallibility. These denominations vary from denying the legitimacy of the pope's claim to authority, to believing that the pope is the Antichrist from 1 John 2:18, the Man of Sin from 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12, and the Beast out of the Earth from Revelation 13:11–18.


title: Pope

text: This sweeping rejection is held by, among others, some denominations of Lutherans: Confessional Lutherans hold that the pope is the Antichrist, stating that this article of faith is part of a "quia" ("because") rather than "quatenus" ("insofar as") subscription to the Book of Concord. In 1932, one of these Confessional churches, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), adopted "A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod", which a small number of Lutheran church bodies now hold. The Lutheran Churches of the Reformation, the Concordia Lutheran Conference, the Church of the Lutheran Confession, and the Illinois Lutheran Conference all hold to the "Brief Statement", which the LCMS places on its website. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), another Confessional Lutheran church that declares the Papacy to be the Antichrist, released its own statement, the "Statement on the Antichrist", in 1959. The WELS still holds to this statement.


title: Pope

text: Historically, Protestants objected to the papacy's claim of temporal power over all secular governments, including territorial claims in Italy, the papacy's complex relationship with secular states such as the Roman and Byzantine empires, and the autocratic character of the papal office. In Western Christianity these objections both contributed to and are products of the Protestant Reformation.


title: Pope

text: Groups sometimes form around antipopes, who claim the Pontificate without being canonically and properly elected to it.


title: Pope

text: Traditionally, this term was reserved for claimants with a significant following of cardinals or other clergy. The existence of an antipope is usually due either to doctrinal controversy within the Church (heresy) or to confusion as to who is the legitimate pope at the time (schism). Briefly in the 15th century, three separate lines of popes claimed authenticity. Even Catholics do not all agree whether certain historical figures were popes or antipopes. Though antipope movements were significant at one time, they are now overwhelmingly minor fringe causes.


title: Pope

text: In the earlier centuries of Christianity, the title "Pope", meaning "father", had been used by all bishops. Some popes used the term and others did not. Eventually, the title became associated especially with the Bishop of Rome. In a few cases, the term is used for other Christian clerical authorities.


title: Pope

text: In English, Catholic priests are still addressed as "father", but the term "pope" is reserved for the head of the church hierarchy.


title: Pope

text: "Black Pope" is a name that was popularly, but unofficially, given to the superior general of the Society of Jesus due to the Jesuits' importance within the Church. This name, based on the black colour of his cassock, was used to suggest a parallel between him and the "White Pope" (since the time of Pius V the popes dress in white) and the cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (formerly called the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith), whose red cardinal's cassock gave him the name of the "Red Pope" in view of the authority over all territories that were not considered in some way Catholic. In the present time this cardinal has power over mission territories for Catholicism, essentially the Churches of Africa and Asia, but in the past his competence extended also to all lands where Protestants or Eastern Christianity was dominant. Some remnants of this situation remain, with the result that, for instance, New Zealand is still in the care of this Congregation.


title: Pope

text: Since the papacy of Heraclas in the 3rd century, the bishop of Alexandria in both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria continues to be called "pope", the former being called "Coptic pope" or, more properly, "Pope and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Orthodox and Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark the Evangelist and Holy Apostle" and the latter called "Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa".


title: Pope

text: In the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church and Macedonian Orthodox Church, it is not unusual for a village priest to be called a "pope" ("поп" "pop"). However, this should be differentiated from the words used for the head of the Catholic Church (Bulgarian "папа" "papa", Russian "папа римский" "papa rimskiy").


title: Pope

text: Some new religious movements within Christianity, especially those that have disassociated themselves from the Catholic Church yet retain a Catholic hierarchical framework, have used the designation "pope" for a founder or current leader. Examples include the African Legio Maria Church and the European Palmarian Catholic Church in Spain. The Cao Dai, a Vietnamese faith that duplicates the Catholic hierarchy, is similarly headed by a pope.


title: Pope

text: Although the average reign of the pope from the Middle Ages was a decade, a number of those whose reign lengths can be determined from contemporary historical data are the following:


title: Pope

text: During the Western Schism, Avignon Pope Benedict XIII (1394–1423) ruled for 28 years, seven months and 12 days, which would place him third in the above list. However, since he is regarded as an anti-pope, he is not included here.


title: Pope

text: There have been a number of popes whose reign lasted about a month or less. In the following list the number of calendar days includes partial days. Thus, for example, if a pope's reign commenced on 1 August and he died on 2 August, this would count as having reigned for two calendar days.


title: Pope

text: Stephen (23–26 March 752) died of stroke three days after his election, and before his consecration as a bishop. He is not recognized as a valid pope, but was added to the lists of popes in the 15th century as "Stephen II", causing difficulties in enumerating later popes named Stephen. The Holy See's "Annuario Pontificio", in its list of popes and antipopes, attaches a footnote to its mention of Pope Stephen II:


title: Pope

text: Published every year by the Roman Curia, the "Annuario Pontificio" attaches no consecutive numbers to the popes, stating that it is impossible to decide which side represented at various times the legitimate succession, in particular regarding Pope Leo VIII, Pope Benedict V and some mid-11th-century popes.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Man of Steel is a 2013 superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Syncopy, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the first installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and a reboot of the "Superman" film series that portrays the character's origin story. The film is directed by Zack Snyder, written by David S. Goyer from a story by him and Christopher Nolan, who also produces, and stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, and Russell Crowe. In the film, Clark Kent learns that he is a superpowered alien from the planet Krypton. He assumes the role of mankind's protector as Superman, making the choice to face General Zod and prevent him from destroying humanity.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Development began in 2008 when Warner Bros. took pitches from comic book writers, screenwriters, and directors, opting to reboot the franchise. In 2009, a court ruling resulted in Jerry Siegel's family recapturing the rights to Superman's origins and Siegel's copyright. The decision stated that Warner Bros. did not owe the families additional royalties from previous films, but if they did not begin production on a Superman film by 2011, then the Shuster and Siegel estates would be able to sue for lost revenue on an unproduced film. Producer Christopher Nolan pitched Goyer's idea after story discussion on "The Dark Knight Rises", and Snyder was hired as the film's director in October 2010. Principal photography began in August 2011 in West Chicago, Illinois, before moving to Vancouver and Plano, Illinois.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" premiered in the Alice Tully Hall on June 10, 2013, and was released in the United States on June 14, 2013 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided on Cavill's performance as Superman, and it grossed over $668million worldwide becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2013. It is also the final DC film co-financed by Legendary Pictures. A follow-up titled "" was released on March 25, 2016.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The planet Krypton is destabilized from the mining of the planetary core. Just before the planet explodes, Krypton's supreme council chief advisor Jor-El infuses the genetics codex into his infant son, Kal-El, the first naturally born Kryptonian child in centuries. Jor-El manages to send Kal-El in a spacecraft toward Earth before being killed by General Zod during an uprising. Kal-El lands in Kansas, where he is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent and named Clark. As he grows older, he develops superhuman powers that Jonathan urges him to keep hidden, even refusing Clark's help years later during a tornado incident where he loses his life. Burdened with guilt over Jonathan's death, Clark travels the globe hiding under various aliases seeking a purpose in life.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Daily Planet" reporter Lois Lane receives an assignment to investigate the discovery of a Kryptonian scout ship in the Canadian Arctic. Clark enters the ship disguised as a worker and learns from its artificial intelligence (AI), modeled after his father Jor-El, that Clark was sent to Earth to guide its people. While following Clark, Lois inadvertently triggers the ship's security system, and he uses his powers to rescue Lois from its defenses. He wears a uniform provided by the ship's AI and begins testing his flying abilities. Unable to convince supervisor Perry White to publish an article on the incident, Lois tracks down Clark in Smallville, with the intent of exposing him. However, Lois drops the story upon hearing of Jonathan Kent's sacrifice, keeping Clark's identity safe, which fuels Perry's suspicions.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Zod and his crew escape the Phantom Zone, where they were imprisoned for treason for their actions against Krypton. They travel to Earth to turn it into a new Krypton, possessing several terraforming devices salvaged from Kryptonian outposts. Following Clark and Lois' capture, Zod's science officer, Jax-Ur, extracts Clark's genes to create Kryptonian colonists who will build a society based on Zod's ideals of genetic purity. Using the Jor-El AI to take over the ship, Clark and Lois flee and warn the U.S. military of Zod's plan, resulting in an explosive confrontation between Clark and Zod's troops.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Zod deploys his most powerful terraforming device, the World Engine, which severely damages Metropolis and puts humanity's existence at risk. Clark destroys the terraforming platform while the military launches a suicide attack, sending Zod's troops back to the Phantom Zone. With the ship destroyed and Krypton's only hope of revival gone, Zod vows to destroy Earth and its inhabitants out of revenge. The two Kryptonians engage in a lengthy battle across Metropolis, which concludes when Clark is forced to kill Zod as he attacks a family in a train station. Sometime later, Clark adopts the moniker "Superman" and persuades the government to let him act independently, under the condition he does not turn against humanity. To gain covert access to dangerous situations, he takes a job under his civilian identity, Clark Kent, as a freelance reporter for the "Daily Planet".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Additionally, Harry Lennix plays Lieutenant General Calvin Swanwick, a United States Army general officer and the deputy commander of United States Northern Command. Christina Wren plays Capt. Carrie Ferris, a United States Air Force officer and the assistant to General Swanwick. Richard Schiff plays Dr. Emil Hamilton, a scientist who works with the United States Armed Forces for DARPA. Carla Gugino portrays the voice of Kelor, the Kryptonian AI service-robot. Mackenzie Gray plays Jax-Ur, a Kryptonian scientist who is one of General Zod's followers. Michael Kelly plays Steve Lombard, an employee of the "Daily Planet", and Rebecca Buller plays Jenny Jurwich, an intern of the "Daily Planet". Jadin Gould, Rowen Kahn, and Jack Foley, respectively, play Lana Lang, Kenny Braverman, and Pete Ross, classmates of Clark Kent in high school. Joseph Cranford portrays Ross as an adult. Richard Cetrone, Samantha Jo, Revard Dufresne and Apollonia Vanova, respectively, play Tor-An, Car-Vex, Dev-Em II and Nadira, Kryptonian soldiers that follow General Zod.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: In June 2008, Warner Bros. took pitches from comic book writers, screenwriters and directors on how to successfully reboot the "Superman" film series. Comic book writers Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer were among those who pitched their ideas for a reboot: "I told them, it's not that bad. Just treat "Superman Returns" as the Ang Lee "Hulk"", Morrison said. Waid said: ""The Incredible Hulk" has proven the audience will forgive you and let you redo the franchise". Morrison's idea was similar to their work on "All-Star Superman", while Waid's was akin to "". Mark Millar, teaming with director Matthew Vaughn, also planned an epic eight-hour "Superman" trilogy, each installment released a year apart, similar to "The Lord of the Rings". Millar compared it to "The Godfather" trilogy, in which it would chronicle the entire life of Superman, from the early days of Krypton, where little Kal-El witnesses his father's tireless struggle to save the planet, to the finale where Superman loses his powers as the Sun starts to go supernova. According to Millar, Vaughn suggested his "Stardust" actor Charlie Cox as a Golden-Age inspired Superman "when he was a bit more of a regular person".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: In August 2008, Warner Bros. suggested a reboot of the film series. Studio executive Jeff Robinov planned to have the film released either by 2010 or 2011, explaining that ""Superman Returns" didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to. It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. Now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all." Paul Levitz stated in an interview that Batman holds the key to the Superman reboot. He elaborated: "Everyone is waiting for Nolan to sign on for another Batman, once that happens, the release date for Superman and all other future projects will follow." In February 2009, McG, who previously planned to direct "Superman: Flyby", expressed interest in returning to the Superman franchise. August 2009 saw a court ruling in which Jerry Siegel's family recaptured 50% of the rights to Superman's origins and Siegel's share of the copyright in "Action Comics" #1. In addition, a judge ruled that Warner Bros. did not owe the families additional royalties from previous films. However, if they did not begin production on a Superman film by 2011, then the Siegel estate would have been able to sue for lost revenue on an unproduced film.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The plot of "Man of Steel" employs a nonlinear narrative, and tells parts of the story in flashbacks. During story discussions for "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2008, David S. Goyer told Christopher Nolan his idea regarding how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, who hired Nolan to produce and Goyer to write based on the financial and critical success of "The Dark Knight". Nolan admired Bryan Singer's work on "Superman Returns" for its connection to Richard Donner's version, stating that "a lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that's what I know how to do", emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the "Man of Steel" would assure the integrity needed for the film. Nolan, however, clarified that the new film would not have any relationship with the previous film series, in which he commented: "Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Robinov spoke to "Entertainment Weekly", and allowed a peek over the wall of secrecy surrounding their DC Comics plans: "It's setting the tone for what the movies are going to be like going forward. In that, it's definitely a first step." Plans included for the film to contain references to the existence of other superheroes, alluding to the possibility of a further DC Universe, and setting the tone for a shared fictional universe of DC Comics characters on film. Guillermo del Toro, with whom Goyer worked on "Blade II", turned down the director's position on the reboot because of his commitment on a film adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness", while Robert Zemeckis was also approached. Ben Affleck (who would eventually be cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in ), Darren Aronofsky, Duncan Jones, Jonathan Liebesman, Matt Reeves (who would later direct a Batman reboot), and Tony Scott were considered as potential directors, before Zack Snyder was hired in October 2010. Casting began the following November. Snyder confirmed both Booster Gold and Batman references in the film, indicating their presence in the DC shared film universe. When Zod destroys a satellite, the words "Wayne Enterprises" are scrolled on the satellite.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The film's storyboard was created by storyboard artist Jay Oliva, in his first live-action feature film project, along with Snyder. Oliva has cited the Japanese anime shows "Dragon Ball Z" and "Birdy the Mighty" as an inspiration for the film's epic battle scenes. During the film's brainstorming, Oliva pitched the idea as "I could come up with something I've never seen in live-action American cinema and only in anime".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Principal photography began on August 1, 2011, at an industrial park near DuPage Airport under the codename "Autumn Frost". Zack Snyder expressed reluctance to shooting the film in 3-D, due to the technical limitations of the format, and instead chose to shoot the film two-dimensionally and convert the film into 3-D in post production, for a 2-D, 3-D, and IMAX 3-D release. Snyder also chose to shoot the film on film instead of digitally, because he felt it would make the film "a big movie experience". Cinematographer Amir Mokri shot the film with Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras and C-Series anamorphic lenses. Filming was expected to last for two to three months. Production took place in Plano, Illinois on August 22 to 29. According to an interview with Michael Shannon, filming would continue until February 2012.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" filmed in the Chicago area, California, and Burnaby's Mammoth Studios in Vancouver, which was utilized as a set for Krypton and the extraterrestrial aircraft portrayed in the film. Vancouver's North Shore waterfront area was also used for the oil rig rescue scene where Superman is first introduced. Ucluelet and Nanaimo, British Columbia, feature prominently in the film's first hour—the trademark winter mist and rough seas are passed off as Alaska in the film. Filming took place in the Chicago Loop from September 7 to 17. The Chicago shoot was a unit project, meaning that filming would partake numerous establishing shots as well as cutaways and might not necessarily include principal cast members.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" features a redesigned Superman costume by James Acheson and Michael Wilkinson. The costume preserves the color scheme and "S" logo, but adopts darker tones, and notably does not feature the red trunks usually worn by Superman. Zack Snyder said the costume is "a modern aesthetic". He and the producers attempted to devise a suit featuring the red trunks, but could not design one that fit into the tone of the film, leading to their removal from the suit. Because of Wilkinson's unavailability, Snyder chose Acheson to design the suit; however, he only started developing it, and Wilkinson finished the development when he returned, and designed the other character's costumes as well. Due to the substantial weight a practical suit would yield, the Kryptonian armor for General Zod was constructed through CGI to allow Shannon "freedom of movement". In a March 2014 interview with "Esquire", Wilkinson explained the reason for the look of Superman's redesigned suit:


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: John "DJ" Desjardin served as the visual supervisor for "Man of Steel", with Weta Digital, MPC and Double Negative providing the visual effects for the film. Zack Snyder wanted the film to "appear very natural because there's some very fantastical things in there and he wanted people to suspend their disbelief, and we the visual effects team had to make it as easy as possible for them to do so." Desjardin noted that the intent in shooting the film was to utilize handheld devices to make the film feel like a "documentary-style" film. Desjardin said: "We had to think about what that would mean, since we also had to photograph some crazy action. So for a lot of the previs we did, we'd start to think where our cameras were and where our cameraman was. A lot of the rules are the "Battlestar Galactica" rules for the space cams that Gary Hurtzel developed for that miniseries, where we want to make sure if we're translating the camera at all it makes sense. Unless the action is so over the top, like in the end where Superman is beating up Zod—we had to break it a bit."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: For the first act of the film taking place on the planet Krypton, Weta Digital placed alien-like planet environments, creatures and the principal means of display—a technology the filmmakers called "liquid geometry". Weta Digital visual effects supervisor Dan Lemmon explained that "it's a bunch of silver beads that are suspended through a magnetic field, and the machine is able to control that magnetic field so that the collection of beads behave almost like three-dimensional pixels, and they can create a surface that floats in the air and describes whatever the thing is you're supposed to be seeing." The beads of the display, which up close would appear to be pyramids with a slight bevel, were designed to create a surface of the object to depict inside a "console-like" figure.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: In the modeling and animation aspect of the liquid geometry, Goodwin explained: "We had to develop a pipeline to bring in assets, so instead of going through the route of reducing the polygon count to something usable what we would then do—you would take the model in whatever way it was made and just scatter discrete points onto it, and extract the matrix onto the animation and copy these points onto the matrix and have these sparse points behaving in a way that the model would." After the animation, artists duplicated the beads onto the animated geometry for a pre-simulated lighting version to get approval on how the object would read. Sims were then run "on all the targets which would be discrete beads floating around on top of the surface which would have its own set of parameters", in which Goodwin further explained: "The bead size or the turbulence that would crawl along the surface constantly updating the orientation was based on the normal provided by the surface. That was then saved to disk and we would use that sim as the final target for the simulation." After the simulation process, Weta Digital ran every bead through a temporal filter to remove jitter to control the noise. Lighting solutions directly worked on the set. Weta utilized RenderMan to take advantage of improved ray tracing and instancing objects.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The sequences where Superman utilizes close-combat fight scenes with the other Kryptonians proved to be a major challenge for the filmmakers and the visual effects crew. Desjardin explained: "When we do these fights and these hyper-real things, we don't want to do the traditional, 'OK I'm a cameraman, I'm shooting a clean plate, I'm going to pan over here to follow the action that's not really there yet but we'll put the action in later. Because that's us animating the characters to the camera. So we would do that animation with the characters—grappling, punching or flying away—and we would take the real guys up until the point until they were supposed to do that and we'd cut. Then we'd put an environment camera there and take the environment. And then a camera for reference of the actors and get each moment. So then we had a set of high-res stills for the environment and the characters. Then, in post, we take the digi-doubles and animate them according to the speeds we want them to move in our digital environment."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: MPC handled the visual effects for the "Smallville encounter" sequence. Before providing the visual effects, the shots were previsualized for the fight choreography. After the previsualizations, live action portions of the scene would be filmed in small pieces: "If say Superman was being punched and would land 50 meters away, we would shoot our start position and end position, and then bridge that gap with the CG takeovers", says Guillaume Rocheron, the MPC visual effects supervisor. A camera rig would then obtain key frames of the choreographed actor; Desjardin said "it's a six-still camera rig that's built on a pipe rig so that you can run it in at the end of a setup and get stills of key frames of a performance or an expression, and then we could use those hi-res stills to project onto the CG double and get really accurate transition lighting and color—right from the set."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: On set, a camera rig was used to capture the environment of the sequence. Dubbed "enviro-cam", the visual effects crew would mount a Canon EOS 5D and a motorized nodal head, allowing the crew to capture the environment at a 360-degree angle with 55K resolution for every shot, the process would take approximately two to four minutes. The set capture resulted in lighting and textures that could be reprojected onto geometry. Full-screen digital doubles were a major component for the fighting sequences. Digital armor was also added, along with the energy-based Kryptonian helmets. Cyberscan and FACS were conducted with the actors, and polarized and non-polarized reference photos were taken. Superman's cape and costume were scanned in high detail—the cape in particular became a direct extension of Superman's actions.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: For the sequences involving the terraforming of the city Metropolis, Double Negative handled the visual effects for the sequence. In order to construct a Metropolis that seemed convincing and realistic, Double Negative utilized Esri's CityEngine to help procedurally deliver the city. According to Ged Wright, a Double Negative visual effects supervisor, it was a much more sci-fi based role, "so we took what they had done and extended it a great deal. The work we were doing was based around the Downtowns for New York, L.A. and Chicago and that gave us the building volumes for heights. We'd skin those volumes with kit parts, but most of it then had to fall down! So we had to rig it for destruction and use it for other aspects of the work as well."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: For the destruction of the buildings, the studio rewrote its own asset system to focus towards its dynamic events. The Bullet physics software was a heavily impacted component for the utilization of the destruction. Wright said that "we wanted to be able to run an RBD event and trigger all these secondary events, whether it was glass or dust simulations—all of those things needed to be chained up and handled in a procedural way. One of the advantages of this was that, because it was all based around a limited number of input components, you can make sure they're modeled in a way they're usable in effects—you can model something but they'll be another stage to rig it for destruction." Fire, smoke, and water stimulation tools were developed at the Double Negative studio. The studio transitioned between the existing proprietary volume rendering software to rendering in Mantra for elements such as fireball sims. Double Negative also used the in-house fluids tool "Squirt" to handle larger-scale sims and interaction for more tightly coupled volumes and particles. Regarding the battle between Superman and Zod, Double Negative implemented real photography onto its digital doubles.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Hans Zimmer initially denied popular rumors that he would be composing the film's score, but in June 2012, it was confirmed that Zimmer would, in fact, be doing so after all. To completely distinguish "Man of Steel" from the previous films, the iconic "Superman March" by John Williams was not used. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for "Man of Steel" was released publicly on June 11, 2013. An unofficial rip of the musical score from the third trailer, entitled "An Ideal of Hope", confirmed to be a cut-down version of the track "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?", was released on April 19. In late April, the official track listing of the two-CD deluxe edition was revealed.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Many reviewers interpreted "Man of Steel" as a religious allegory, especially since Warner Bros. set up a website that contains "a nine-page pamphlet entitled "Jesus: The Original Superhero"". Justin Craig compares Kal-El's struggle to the Passion of Christ, stating that "Kal-El is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save the people of Earth. Originally reluctant to reveal his identity and powers to the world, Superman decides to turn himself over to Zod to save humanity from annihilation." Craig also states that there is an allegory to the Trinity within "Man of Steel": "Jor-El returns to Kal-El on Earth as a ghost, guiding his budding superhero son on his journey to salvation. Before Jor-El sends his son off to Earth baby Moses-style, he tells his wife that, like Jesus, 'He'll be a god to them.'" Paul Asay of "The Washington Post" writes that "Superman floats in space with his arms splayed out as if nailed to an invisible cross," a fact that Craig also mentioned in his assessment of the film. The protagonist of the film is also 33 years old and seeks "counsel at a church."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Writing for "The Huffington Post", Colin Liotta compared Zod to Adolf Hitler, citing: "He feels his vision for a pure Krypton (i.e. a society like the one Hitler envisioned with his eugenics program) is the only answer for survival."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The sequence where a young Clark's powers overwhelm him in grade school, leading to him shutting himself in a closet, has led many to speculate that DC Extended Universe Superman is either autistic or meant to represent the struggles of autism. Many noted that when Martha comforts him, she encourages him to hone out the world by focusing on her voice, an example of hyperfocus; a necessary tool for many autistics to reduce overstimulation.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Warner Bros. and DC Comics won the rights to the domain name manofsteel.com, in use by a member of the public, for use for the film's official website. On November 20, 2012, for the release of "The Dark Knight Rises" DVD and Blu-ray, Warner Bros. launched a countdown on the film's website where fans could share the countdown on websites like Facebook or Twitter to unlock an "exclusive reward". On December 3, 2012, the "exclusive reward" was revealed to be an official "Man of Steel" teaser poster. The poster, which depicts Superman being arrested, generated a positive response and much speculation about the film's story. On December 10, 2012, a website appeared at dsrwproject.com that provided audio signals to be decoded by viewers. It was discovered to be related to the film due to the copyright on the website. By December 11, 2012, the decoded message led readers to another website with a countdown that led to the public release of the trailer. In anticipation of the film, Mattel unveiled a toy line which includes Movie Masters action figures. In addition, Lego released three "Man of Steel" sets, inspired by scenes from the film; Rubie's Costume Co. also released a new line of "Man of Steel"-inspired costumes and accessories for both kids and adults. The film has reportedly earned over $160 million from promotional tie-ins.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Viral marketing campaigns for the film began when the official website was replaced by "deep space radio waves". The message was decoded to reveal a voice that said "You Are Not Alone". The official site continued to be updated with new static files that slowly revealed the symbol for the film's villain, General Zod. Shortly after, the website was replaced with a "message" from Zod, who requested that Earth must return Kal-El to his custody and told Kal-El to surrender within 24 hours or the world would suffer the consequences. A viral site called "IWillFindHim.com" was released that showed a countdown to the third trailer for the film.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Warner Bros. enlisted Christian-based marketing firm Grace Hill Media to help spread the Christian themes of the film to the religious demographics. Special trailers were created outlining the religious tones, due to Hollywood studios frequently marketing movies to specific religious and cultural groups. Warner Bros. previously marketed films such as "The Blind Side", "The Notebook", "The Book of Eli" and the "Harry Potter" series to faith-based groups. Warner Bros. also asked Professor Craig Detweiler of Pepperdine University to "create a Superman-centric sermon outline for pastors titled "Jesus: The Original Superhero"." Regarding this, Paul Asay of "The Washington Post" wrote that "the religious themes keep coming: Free will. Sacrifice. God-given purpose. "Man of Steel" isn't just a movie. It's a Bible study in a cape. The messages are so strong that its marketers been explicitly pushing the film to Christian audiences."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" held a red carpet premiere at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City on June 10, 2013, which featured the attendance of the principal cast members. The film received a wide release on June 14, 2013, in conventional, 3D, and IMAX theaters.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" was released as a single-disc DVD (feature film only), on two-disc DVD with bonus features, and respective Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D combo packs on November 12, 2013, and in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2013. As of January 2019, "Man of Steel" has sold more than 2.3 million DVDs along with an estimated of 3.3 million Blu-ray Discs totaling $44.4 million and $76.2 million, respectively, for a total of $120.7 million in sales. The film was later released in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format on July 19, 2016.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" grossed $291 million in the United States and Canada, and $377 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $668 million, making it the highest-grossing solo Superman film of all time and the second-highest when adjusting for inflation. It is also the second-highest-grossing reboot of all time behind "The Amazing Spider-Man". "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the net profit of the film to be $42.7million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the ninth most profitable release of 2013. The film earned $116.6 million on its opening weekend, including $17.5 million from IMAX theaters. "Man of Steel" earned an additional $120 million from DVD and Blu-ray sales.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" made $12 million from a Thursday night Walmart screening program, and an additional $9 million from midnight shows. This marked Warner Bros.' third-highest advance night/midnight opening, and the biggest advance night/midnight debut for a non-sequel. The film eventually earned $44 million during its opening Friday (including midnight grosses) and $56.1 million when the Thursday night showings are included. The opening-day gross was the second-highest for a non-sequel, and the 20th-largest overall. Its opening weekend gross of $116.6 million was the third-highest of 2013, behind "Iron Man 3" ($174.1 million) and "" ($158.1 million), and the third-highest among non-sequels, behind "Marvel's The Avengers" ($207.4 million) and "The Hunger Games" ($152.5 million). It also broke "Toy Story 3"s record ($110.3 million) for the highest weekend debut in June (the record was again broken two years later by "Jurassic World"s opening gross of $208.8 million). However, on its second weekend, "Man of Steel"s box office fell almost 65%–68% if the Thursday night gross is included—putting it in third place, behind "Monsters University" and "World War Z". Box Office Mojo called it an "abnormally large drop," close to the second-weekend decline for "Green Lantern".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: "Man of Steel" earned $73.3 million on its opening weekend from 24 countries, which includes $4.2 million from 79 IMAX theaters, setting a June opening-weekend record for IMAX. The film set an opening-day record in the Philippines with $1.66 million. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta, the film earned $5.6 million on its opening day and £11.2 million ($17.47 million) on its opening weekend. Its biggest opener outside the United States was in China, with $25.9 million in four days (Thursday to Sunday). In total earnings, its three largest countries after North America are China ($63.4 million), the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($46.2 million) and Australia ($22.3 million).


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads, ""Man of Steel"s exhilarating action and spectacle can't fully overcome its detours into generic blockbuster territory." On Metacritic, the film received a weighted score of 55 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audience polls in North America from CinemaScore for the film tallied an average grade of an "A−" on an A+ to F scale, with those under the age of 18 and older than 50 giving it an "A". Cavill's performance as Superman earned mixed reviews, with some critics commenting on perceived stiffness and a lack of charisma.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" said that "Man of Steel" covered no new ground with regard to Superman films, and instead, "we're plunged back into a mostly-underwhelming film, with underdeveloped characters and supercharged-fight scenes that drag on and offer nothing new in the way of special-effects creativity". "The Boston Globe"s Ty Burr wrote, "What's missing from this Superman saga is a sense of lightness, of pop joy". "The Washington Post"s Ann Hornaday stated that with "Hans Zimmer's turgid, over-produced score", the film "is an exceptionally-unpleasant viewing experience". For "The Denver Post"s Lisa Kennedy, the chief problem with "Man of Steel" is the "rhythm and balance in the storytelling and directing" which resulted in a film that swings "between destructive overstatement and flat-footed homilies."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Kofi Outlaw, Editor-in-Chief at "Screen Rant", gave "Man of Steel" a 4-out-of-5-star review, stating that ""Man of Steel" has more than earned its keep, and deserves to be THE iconic Superman movie for a whole new generation". He would go on to name "Man of Steel" the best superhero movie of 2013. Jim Vejvoda of "IGN" gave "Man of Steel" a 9 out of 10 while praising the action sequences and the performances of Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. The performance of Antje Traue as Superman's adversary Faora-Ul, particularly in the Smallville battle scenes, has also been lauded. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave it 3 stars out of 4, saying, "Caught in the slipstream between action and angst, "Man of Steel" is a bumpy ride for sure. But there's no way to stay blind to its wonders." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" said rebooting the franchise was unnecessary, but that the film was confident enough and Snyder's attention to detail careful enough that audiences could overlook another reboot. "PopMatters" journalist J.C. Maçek III, wrote, "The path of this flawed savior isn't quite the one that we have been led to expect and many fans will love that and many fans will decry its comic book-divergent choices. On the other hand, barring Lois Lane's own knowledge of the dual nature of Clark and Superman (thus depriving one of fiction's greatest reveals), the hero we see in the final moments of "Man of Steel" is nothing if not the character Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created ... with just a bit more in the 'imperfections' column." Steve Persall of the "Tampa Bay Times" stated that, ""Man of Steel" is more than just "Avengers"-sized escapism; it's an artistic introduction to a movie superhero we only thought we knew." "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss said, "The movie finds its true, lofty footing not when it displays Kal-El's extraordinary powers, but when it dramatizes Clark Kent's roiling humanity. The super part of "Man of Steel" is just okay, but the man part is super." In a review on Roger Ebert's website, Matt Zoller Seitz awarded the film three out of four stars, calling it an "astonishing movie" and praising the conflict between Clark and Zod. But he criticized the film for not having more personal and intimate moments between Clark and Lois. In 2014, "Empire" ranked "Man of Steel" the 286th-greatest film ever made on their list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers.


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Speaking to Fox Business Channel, Grae Drake, senior editor of Rotten Tomatoes, expressed dismay over the critical reception, stating, "As much as I love and respect our critics at Rotten Tomatoes, I've got to say I am shocked. Listen, the movie's not perfect but ... I just cannot fathom it. It was a good movie, you guys."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: Reaction to the film among comics creators was mixed. Those who enjoyed it include Jeff Parker, Heidi MacDonald, Ethan Van Sciver, Christos Gage and former Superman writer Dan Jurgens. Among its detractors were Joe Keatinge, Sean McKeever, Gabriel Hardman and Mark Waid. MacDonald praised the film's action, drama and leads Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Van Sciver singled out Cavill in particular for praise. Gage called it the best "Superman" film since 1980's "Superman II". Hardman said that he liked a lot of the mechanics but did not connect with the characters, which robbed the story of tension. Waid, who wrote the origin miniseries "", criticized the film for its overall "joyless" tone, and for Superman's decision to kill Zod, a criticism echoed by other creators. Writer Grant Morrison, who wrote the critically acclaimed miniseries "All-Star Superman", expressed mixed reaction to the film, saying that while they "kinda liked it and kinda didn't", it did not present anything new, as they would have preferred a "second act" type story with Lex Luthor instead of re-establishing the character by presenting information Morrison is already familiar with. Morrison also questioned the need for a superhero to kill, as did artist Neal Adams. Adams suggested that other alternatives were open to Superman when Zod threatened innocent people with his heat vision, such as covering his eyes. He also criticized Superman for not moving the battle away from Metropolis as the character did at the end of "Superman II". Jim Lee had a positive opinion: "It’s epic. It’s got a lot of heart, but one of the things that was kind of missing from the last Superman movie I think was the action, and this movie has it in spades. I mean it is a visual thrill ride. It is amazing. You get to see all the powers of Superman, and in all its glory, and I think people are going to be blown away."


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: The success of "Man of Steel" started Warner Bros. plans of a cinematic universe featuring other DC Comics characters. In June 2013, Goyer was hired to write the sequel to "Man of Steel", as well as a "Justice League" script, with the previous draft being scrapped. In July 2013, Zack Snyder announced at San Diego Comic-Con International that the sequel to "Man of Steel" would have Superman and Batman meeting for the first time in the next film. Cavill, Adams, Lane and Fishburne were signed on to reprise their roles. Snyder stated that the film would take inspiration from the comic "The Dark Knight Returns". In August 2013, Ben Affleck was announced to be playing Batman, while Gal Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman in December 2013. Later in December, Chris Terrio was hired to rewrite the script. In January 2014, it was announced that the film had been delayed from its original July 17, 2015 release date to May 6, 2016. In April 2014, it was announced that Snyder would also be directing Goyer's "Justice League" script. In May 2014, the film's title was revealed to be "". Warner Bros. was reportedly courting Terrio to rewrite "Justice League" the following July, after having been pleased with his rewrite of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". While Superman star Henry Cavill does not consider it a Superman sequel, Snyder stated that he "thinks in a way "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is "Man of Steel 2"".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: In August 2016, "TheWrap" reported that Warner Bros. put a second standalone "Superman" film in active development as a top priority. The news was later confirmed by Dany Garcia, Cavill's manager. While promoting "Arrival", Amy Adams confirmed that work had begun on the screenplay. In March 2017, it was announced that Matthew Vaughn was being eyed by Warner Bros. to direct. In April 2018, it was reported that Christopher McQuarrie was considering directing the film but later dropped it. In May 2019, however, "Polygon" reported that Vaughn is no longer in negotiations to direct, adding that the project was going to include some ideas Vaughn and Mark Millar initially pitched in 2008 for their proposed "Superman" trilogy, whose first film would have taken place mostly on Krypton. In July 2019, McQuarrie revealed that he and Cavill had pitched a "Superman" film and a "Green Lantern" film for the studio, but they were rejected. In January 2020, James Gunn said that he was offered to direct a Superman film, which he declined in favor of directing "The Suicide Squad". However, he denied the film was going to be a sequel to "Man of Steel".


title: Man of Steel (film)

text: It was announced in October 2022 that a sequel to "Man of Steel" was back in development with Cavill returning as Superman and Charles Roven returning from the first film as a producer. In December 2022, reports surfaced that Cavill may not reprise his role, and that the sequel may be cancelled after Gunn and Peter Safran agreed to take over co-CEOs of DC Studios. Gunn acknowledged that there would be "major shakeups" and asking fans to wait, adding that the future of DC Studios was still under discussion. Less than a week later, Gunn confirmed the cancellation of a "Man of Steel" sequel, as well as Cavill's involvement, announcing that the next "Superman" film would be a reboot that focuses on the superhero's younger years.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an elaborately designed lid called the mercy seat. According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to the New Testament Book of Hebrews, it also contained Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The biblical account relates that approximately one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Ark was created according to the pattern given to Moses by God when the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Thereafter, the gold-plated acacia chest was carried by its staves by the Levites approximately 2,000 cubits (approximately ) in advance of the people when on the march. God spoke with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: According to the Book of Exodus, God instructed Moses to build the Ark during his 40-day stay upon Mount Sinai. He was shown the pattern for the tabernacle and furnishings of the Ark, and told that it would be made of shittim wood (also known as acacia wood) to house the Tablets of Stone. Moses instructed Bezalel and Aholiab to construct the Ark.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The Book of Exodus gives detailed instructions on how the Ark is to be constructed. It is to be cubits in length, cubits breadth, and cubits height (approximately ) of acacia wood. Then it is to be gilded entirely with gold, and a crown or molding of gold is to be put around it. Four rings of gold are to be attached to its four corners, two on each side—and through these rings staves of shittim wood overlaid with gold for carrying the Ark are to be inserted; and these are not to be removed. A golden lid, the "kapporet" (translated as "mercy seat" or "cover"), which is ornamented with two golden cherubim, is to be placed above the Ark. Missing from the account are instructions concerning the thickness of the mercy seat and details about the cherubim other than that the cover be beaten out the ends of the Ark and that they form the space where God will appear. The Ark is finally to be placed under a veil to conceal it.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The biblical account continues that, after its creation by Moses, the Ark was carried by the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Whenever the Israelites camped, the Ark was placed in a separate room in a sacred tent, called the Tabernacle.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: When the Israelites, led by Joshua toward the Promised Land, arrived at the banks of the River Jordan, the Ark was carried in the lead, preceding the people, and was the signal for their advance. During the crossing, the river grew dry as soon as the feet of the priests carrying the Ark touched its waters, and remained so until the priests—with the Ark—left the river after the people had passed over. As memorials, twelve stones were taken from the Jordan at the place where the priests had stood.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: During the Battle of Jericho, the Ark was carried around the city once a day for six days, preceded by the armed men and seven priests sounding seven trumpets of rams' horns. On the seventh day, the seven priests sounding the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Ark compassed the city seven times and, with a great shout, Jericho's wall fell down flat and the people took the city.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: After the defeat at Ai, Joshua lamented before the Ark. When Joshua read the Law to the people between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, they stood on each side of the Ark. We next hear of the Ark in Bethel, where it was being cared for by the priest Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron. According to this verse, it was consulted by the people of Israel when they were planning to attack the Benjaminites at the Battle of Gibeah. Later the Ark was kept at Shiloh, another religious centre some north of Bethel, at the time of the prophet Samuel's apprenticeship, where it was cared for by Hophni and Phinehas, two sons of Eli.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: According to the biblical narrative, a few years later the elders of Israel decided to take the Ark out onto the battlefield to assist them against the Philistines, having recently been defeated at the battle of Eben-Ezer. They were again heavily defeated, with the loss of 30,000 men. The Ark was captured by the Philistines and Hophni and Phinehas were killed. The news of its capture was at once taken to Shiloh by a messenger "with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head". The old priest, Eli, fell dead when he heard it; and his daughter-in-law, bearing a son at the time the news of the Ark's capture was received, named him Ichabod—explained as "The glory has departed Israel" in reference to the loss of the Ark. Ichabod's mother died at his birth.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and at each place misfortune befell them. At Ashdod it was placed in the temple of Dagon. The next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it; and on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken. The people of Ashdod were smitten with tumors; a plague of rodents was sent over the land. This may have been the bubonic plague. The affliction of tumours was also visited upon the people of Gath and of Ekron, whither the Ark was successively removed.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: After the Ark had been among them for seven months, the Philistines, on the advice of their diviners, returned it to the Israelites, accompanying its return with an offering consisting of golden images of the tumors and mice wherewith they had been afflicted. The Ark was set up in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and the Beth-shemites offered sacrifices and burnt offerings. Out of curiosity the men of Beth-shemesh gazed at the Ark; and as a punishment, seventy of them (fifty thousand and seventy in some translations) were struck down by the Lord. The Bethshemites sent to Kirjath-jearim, or Baal-Judah, to have the Ark removed; and it was taken to the house of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar was sanctified to keep it. Kirjath-jearim remained the abode of the Ark for twenty years. Under Saul, the Ark was with the army before he first met the Philistines, but the king was too impatient to consult it before engaging in battle. In 1 Chronicles 13:3 it is stated that the people were not accustomed to consulting the Ark in the days of Saul.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: In the biblical narrative, at the beginning of his reign over the United Monarchy, King David removed the Ark from Kirjath-jearim amid great rejoicing. On the way to Zion, Uzzah, one of the drivers of the cart that carried the Ark, put out his hand to steady the Ark, and was struck dead by God for touching it. The place was subsequently named "Perez-Uzzah", literally "Outburst Against Uzzah", as a result. David, in fear, carried the Ark aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, instead of carrying it on to Zion, and it stayed there for three months.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: On hearing that God had blessed Obed-edom because of the presence of the Ark in his house, David had the Ark brought to Zion by the Levites, while he himself, "girded with a linen ephod ... danced before the Lord with all his might" and in the sight of all the public gathered in Jerusalem, a performance which caused him to be scornfully rebuked by his first wife, Saul's daughter Michal. In Zion, David put the Ark in the tent he had prepared for it, offered sacrifices, distributed food, and blessed the people and his own household. David used the tent as a personal place of prayer.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: The Levites were appointed to minister before the Ark. David's plan of building a temple for the Ark was stopped on the advice of the prophet Nathan. The Ark was with the army during the siege of Rabbah; and when David fled from Jerusalem at the time of Absalom's conspiracy, the Ark was carried along with him until he ordered Zadok the priest to return it to Jerusalem.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: According to the Biblical narrative, when Abiathar was dismissed from the priesthood by King Solomon for having taken part in Adonijah's conspiracy against David, his life was spared because he had formerly borne the Ark. Solomon worshipped before the Ark after his dream in which God promised him wisdom.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: During the construction of Solomon's Temple, a special inner room, named "Kodesh Hakodashim" (Eng. Holy of Holies), was prepared to receive and house the Ark; and when the Temple was dedicated, the Ark—containing the original tablets of the Ten Commandments—was placed therein. When the priests emerged from the holy place after placing the Ark there, the Temple was filled with a cloud, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord".


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: When Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, he caused her to dwell in a house outside Zion, as Zion was consecrated because it contained the Ark. King Josiah also had the Ark returned to the Temple, from which it appears to have been removed by one of his predecessors (cf. 2 Chron. 33-34 and 2 Kings 21–23).


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: King Hezekiah is the last biblical figure mentioned as having seen the Ark. Hezekiah is also known for protecting Jerusalem against the Assyrian Empire by improving the city walls and diverting the waters of the Gihon Spring through a tunnel known today as Hezekiah's Tunnel, which channeled the water inside the city walls to the Pool of Siloam.


title: Ark of the Covenant

text: In a noncanonical text known as the Treatise of the Vessels, Hezekiah is identified as one of the kings who had the Ark and the other treasures of Solomon's Temple hidden during a time of crisis. This text lists the following hiding places, which it says were recorded on a bronze tablet: (1) a spring named Kohel or Kahal with pure water in a valley with a stopped-up gate; (2) a spring named Kotel (or "wall" in Hebrew); (3) a spring named Zedekiah; (4) an unidentified cistern; (5) Mount Carmel; and (6) locations in Babylon.