page_title: Papal tiara
section_title: Abandonment of the tiara
hierarchical_section_title: Papal tiara / Abandonment of the tiara
context_page_description: The papal tiara is a crown that was worn by popes of the Catholic Church from as early as the 8th century to the mid-20th. It was last used by Pope Paul VI in 1963 and only at the beginning of his reign.
  The name "tiara" refers to the entire headpiece, no matter how many crowns, circlets or diadems have adorned it through the ages, while the three-tiered form that it took in the 14th century is also called the triregnum, triple tiara, or triple crown.
  From 1143 to 1963, the papal tiara was solemnly placed on the pope's head during a papal coronation. The surviving papal tiaras are all in the triple form, the oldest being of 1572.
  A representation of the triregnum combined with two crossed keys of Saint Peter continues to be used as a symbol of the papacy and appears on papal documents, buildings and insignia.
context_section_description: Pope Paul VI was crowned with a tiara at the papal coronation. As happened sometimes with previous popes, a new tiara was used, donated by the city of Milan, where he was archbishop before his election. It was not covered in jewels and precious gems, and was sharply cone-shaped. It was also distinctly heavier than the Palatine Tiara previously in use. Near the end of the third session of the Second Vatican Council in 1964, Paul VI descended the steps of the papal throne in St. Peter's Basilica and ascended to the altar, on which he laid the tiara as a sign of the renunciation of human glory and power in keeping with the renewed spirit of the council. It was announced that the tiara would be sold and the money obtained would be given to charity. The tiara was purchased by Catholics in the United States and is now kept in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.. It is on permanent display in Memorial Hall along with the stole that Pope John XXIII wore at the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
  Some traditionalist Catholics considered Pope Paul's abandonment of use of one of the most striking symbols of the papacy, the papal tiara, highly controversial, and they continue to campaign for its reinstatement. Some branded him an antipope, arguing that no valid pope would surrender the papal tiara.
  His immediate successor, Pope John Paul I, decided against a coronation, replacing it with an "inauguration". After John Paul I's sudden death, Pope John Paul II told the congregation at his inauguration: "This is not the time to return to a ceremony and an object considered, wrongly, to be a symbol of the temporal power of the Popes."
  Paul VI's 1975 Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo on the manner of electing the Pope, still envisaged that his successors would be crowned. Pope John Paul II, in his 1996 Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici gregis, removed all mention of a papal coronation, replacing it with a reference to an "inauguration".
  Though not currently worn as part of papal regalia, the papal tiara still appears on the coats of arms of the Holy See and the flag of Vatican City. Later in his reign John Paul II approved depictions of his arms without the tiara, as with the mosaic floor piece towards the entrance of St Peter's Basilica, where an ordinary mitre takes the place of the tiara. Otherwise, until the reign of Benedict XVI the tiara was also the ornament surmounting a Pope's personal coat of arms, as a tasseled hat (under which a 1969 Instruction of the Holy See forbade the placing of a mitre, a second hat) surmounted those of other prelates. Pope Benedict XVI's personal coat of arms replaced the tiara with a mitre containing three levels reminiscent of the three tiers on the papal tiara. The mitre was retained on Pope Francis' personal coat of arms.
  Each year, a small papal tiara is placed on the head of the famous bronze statue of Saint Peter in St. Peter's Basilica from the vigil of the Feast of the Cathedra of Saint Peter on 22 February until the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June. This custom was not observed in 2006, but was reintroduced in 2007.
caption: Coat of arms of the Holy See, incorporating the triple tiara