papacy

English

Etymology

Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pāʹ-pə-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.pə.si/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪpəsi

Noun

papacy (countable and uncountable, plural papacies)

1. The office of a pope.
   1. (usually) The office of the pope of Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

      The Vatican defends the primacy of the papacy.

2. The period of a particular pope's reign.

   The papacy of John Paul II ended in 2005, after the pope's long battle with illness ended.

3. (often derogatory) Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.

Derived terms

• antipapacy
• caesaropapacy

Related terms

• papal
• papism
• pope
• popishness

Translations

the office

• Armenian: պապականություն (hy) (papakanutʻyun), պապություն (hy) (paputʻyun)
• Catalan: papat (ca) m, pontificat m
• Danish: pavedømme n
• Dutch: pausdom (nl) n, pontificaat (nl) n
• French: papauté (fr) m
• Galician: papado (gl) m, pontificado m
• Hungarian: pápaság (hu)
• Italian: papato (it) m
• Maori: popitanga
• Norman: papaûté f
• Norwegian: pavedømme n
• Occitan: papat m, papautat m, pontificat m
• Polish: papiestwo (pl) n, tiara (pl) f, tron Piotrowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: papado (pt) m
• Romagnol: papêt m
• Russian: па́пство (ru) n (pápstvo)
• Spanish: papado (es) m
• Swedish: påvedöme (sv) n

the period

• Armenian: պապություն (hy) (paputʻyun)
• Catalan: papat (ca) m, pontificat m
• Dutch: pausdom (nl) n, pontificaat (nl) n
• Galician: papado (gl) m, pontificado m
• Hungarian: pápaság (hu)
• Italian: pontificato (it) m
• Maori: popitanga
• Norman: papaûté f
• Polish: pontyfikat (pl) m
• Portuguese: papado (pt) m
• Romagnol: papêt m
• Russian: па́пство (ru) n (pápstvo)
• Spanish: papado (es) m

See also

• (the state of being a father or a father figure): abbacy, fatherness, paternity