Content
In terms of content, the bull is simply the format in which a decree of the Pope appears. Any subject may be treated in a bull, and many were and are, including statutory decrees, episcopal appointments, dispensations, excommunications, apostolic constitutions, canonizations and convocations. The bull was the exclusive letter format from the Vatican until the fourteenth century, when the papal brief began to appear. The brief is the less formal form of papal communication and is authenticated with a wax impression (now a red ink impression) of the Ring of the Fisherman. There has never been an exact distinction of usage between a bull and a brief, but nowadays most letters, including encyclicals, are issued as briefs.
Read more about this topic: Papal Bull
Famous quotes containing the word content:
“Know how to be content and you will never be disgraced; practice self-restraint and you will never be in danger.”
—Chinese proverb.
Laozi.
“In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.”
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)
“I am as content to die for God’s eternal truth on the scaffold as in any other way.”
—John Brown (1800–1859)