HOLY FATHER

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• HOLY FATHER (noun)
The noun HOLY FATHER has 1 sense:

1. the head of the Roman Catholic Church

Familiarity information: HOLY FATHER used as a noun is very rare.

• HOLY FATHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The head of the Roman Catholic Church

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Bishop of Rome; Catholic Pope; Holy Father; pontiff; pope; Roman Catholic Pope; Vicar of Christ

Hypernyms ("Holy Father" is a kind of...):

spiritual leader (a leader in religious or sacred affairs)

Catholic (a member of a Catholic church)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Holy Father"):

antipope (someone who is elected pope in opposition to another person who is held to be canonically elected)

Instance hyponyms:

Leo III (Italian pope from 795 to 816 who in 800 crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans (750-816))

Maffeo Barberini; Urban VIII (Italian pope from 1623 to 1644 who sanctioned the condemnation of Galileo but later freed him (1568-1644))

Bruno; Bruno of Toul; Leo IX (German pope from 1049 to 1054 whose papacy was the beginning of papal reforms in the 11th century (1002-1054))

Giovanni de'Medici; Leo X (son of Lorenzo de'Medici and pope from 1513 to 1521 who excommunicated Martin Luther and who in 1521 bestowed on Henry VIII the title of Defender of the Faith (1475-1521))

Gioacchino Pecci; Giovanni Vincenzo Pecci; Leo XIII (Italian pope from 1878 to 1903 who was interested in the advancement of learning and who opened the Vatican secret archives to all scholars)

Martin V; Oddone Colonna (Italian pope from 1417 to 1431 whose election as pope ended the Great Schism (1368-1431))

Nicholas V; Tomasso Parentucelli (Italian pope from 1447 to 1455 who founded the Vatican library (1397-1455))

Alessandro Farnese; Paul III (Italian pope from 1534 to 1549 who excommunicated Henry VIII of England in 1538 and initiated the Council of Trent in 1545; was active in the Counter Reformation and promoted the Society of Jesus for this purpose (1468-1549))

Giovanni Battista Montini; Paul VI (Italian pope from 1963 to 1978 who eased restrictions on fasting and on interfaith marriages (1897-1978))

Aeneas Silvius; Enea Silvio Piccolomini; Pius II (Italian pope from 1458 to 1464 who is remembered for his unsuccessful attempt to lead a crusade against the Turks (1405-1464))

Antonio Ghislieri; Pius V (Italian pope from 1566 to 1572 who led the reformation of the Roman Catholic Church; he excommunicated Elizabeth I (1504-1572))

Giannangelo Braschi; Giovanni Angelo Braschi; Pius VI (Italian pope from 1775 to 1799 who served during the French Revolution; Napoleon attacked the Papal States and in 1797 Pius VI was taken to France where he died (1717-1799))

Barnaba Chiaramonti; Luigi Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti; Pius VII (Italian pope from 1800 to 1823 who was humiliated by Napoleon and taken prisoner in 1809; he concluded a concordat with Napoleon and crowned him emperor of France; he returned to Rome in 1814 (1740-1823))

Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti; Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti; Pius IX (Italian pope from 1846 to 1878 who in 1854 declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary)

Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; Giuseppe Sarto; Pius X (pope who condemned religious modernism; he was canonized in 1954 because of his interest in the poor (1835-1914))

Achille Ratti; Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti; Pius XI (pope who signed a treaty with Mussolini recognizing the Vatican City as an independent state (1857-1939))

Eugenio Pacelli; Pius XII (pope who maintained neutrality during World War II and was later criticized for not aiding the Jews who were persecuted by Hitler (1876-1958))

Francesco della Rovere; Sixtus IV (Italian pope from 1471 to 1484 who consented to the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition and built the Sistine Chapel (1414-1484))

Gerbert; Sylvester II (French pope from 999 to 1003 who was noted for his great learning (945-1003))

Odo; Odo of Lagery; Otho; Otho of Lagery; Urban II (French pope from 1088 to 1099 whose sermons called for the First Crusade (1042-1099))

Guillaume de Grimoard; Urban V (French pope from 1362 to 1370 who tried to reestablish the papacy in Rome but in 1367 returned to Avignon hoping to end the war between France and England; canonized in 1870 (1310-1370))

Bartolomeo Prignano; Urban VI (Italian pope from 1378 to 1389 whose contested election began the Great Schism; he alienated his political allies by his ruthless treatment of his opponents (1318-1389))

John Paul II; Karol Wojtyla (the first Pope born in Poland; the first Pope not born in Italy in 450 years (1920-2005))

Alexander VI; Borgia; Pope Alexander VI; Rodrigo Borgia (Pope and father of Cesare Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia (1431-1503))

Benedict XIV; Prospero Lambertini (pope who was a patron of the arts and who denounced the cruelty to the indigenous peoples of South America (1675-1758))

Benedict XV; Giacomo della Chiesa (pope who founded the Vatican service for prisoners of war during World War I (1854-1922))

Benedetto Caetani; Boniface VIII (pope who declared that Catholic princes are subject to the pope in temporal as well as in theological matters (1235-1303))

Calixtus II; Guy of Burgundy (pope who in 1122 forced the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V to sign a concordat that recognized the right of the church to choose its own leadership (died in 1124))

Alfonso Borgia; Borgia; Calixtus III (Italian pope whose nepotism put the Borgia family in power in Italy (1378-1458))

Clement VII; Giulio de' Medici (Italian pope from 1523 to 1534 who broke with Henry VIII of England after Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn (1478-1534))

Clement XI; Giovanni Francesco Albani (Italian pope from 1700 to 1721 who condemned Jansenist ideas on papal infallibility)

Clement XIV; Lorenzo Ganganelli (Italian pope from 1769 to 1774 who lost whatever support remained of Catholic Europe, causing the church to fall into the hands of secular princes (1705-1774))

Gregory; Gregory I; Gregory the Great; Saint Gregory I; St. Gregory I ((Roman Catholic Church) an Italian pope distinguished for his spiritual and temporal leadership; a saint and Doctor of the Church (540?-604))

Gregory; Gregory VII; Hildebrand (the Italian pope who fought to establish the supremacy of the pope over the Roman Catholic Church and the supremacy of the church over the state (1020-1085))

Angelo Correr; Gregory; Gregory XII (the Italian pope from 1406 to 1415 who worked to end the Great Schism and who retired to make it possible (1327-1417))

Gregory; Gregory XIII; Ugo Buoncompagni (the pope who sponsored the introduction of the modern calendar (1572-1585))

Bartolomeo Alberto Capillari; Gregory; Gregory XVI (Italian pope from 1831 to 1846; conservative in politics and theology; worked to propagate Catholicism in England and the United States (1765-1846))

Innocent III; Lotario di Segni (Italian pope from 1198 to 1216 who instituted the Fourth Crusade and under whom papal intervention in European politics reached its height (1161-1216))

Giovanni Battista Cibo; Innocent VIII (Italian pope from 1484 to 1492 who was known as a nepotist and was attacked by Savonarola for his worldliness (1432-1492))

Benedetto Odescalchi; Innocent XI (Italian pope from 1676 to 1689 whose papacy was marked by the struggle with Louis XIV of France over papal authority over French Catholics; known for saintliness and canonized in 1956 (1611-1689))

Antonio Pignatelli; Innocent XII (Italian pope from 1691 to 1700 who abolished nepotism within the church hierarchy and was universally loved for his charity and piety)

Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli; John XXIII (Italian pope from 1958 to 1963 who convoked the Second Vatican Council (1881-1963))

Albino Luciano; John Paul I (the first Pope to assume a double name; he reigned for only 34 days (1912-1978))

Leo I; Leo the Great; St. Leo I (Italian pope from 440 to 461 who extended the authority of the papacy to the west and persuaded Attila not to attack Rome (440-461))

Holonyms ("Holy Father" is a member of...):

papacy; pontificate (the government of the Roman Catholic Church)

Context examples

Two and thirty of the seniors and fifteen of the novices, most holy father.