The Papal Coat of Arms of Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict's coat of arms represents both continuity with and radical departure from traditional papal heraldry. Continuity is ensured by the presence of the keys of St Peter, which represent the authority of the Apostle and his successors. The gold key (right) represents the pope's heavenly power while the silver key (left) represents his power on earth. The cord hanging from the two keys shows the bond between these two forms of power. Whereas the keys represent continuity, the replacement of the papal triple tiara with a bishop's mitre shows a break with the past that, one that indicates Benedict's desire for the papacy to be seen less as a secular power (as it once was, when the pope was the ruler of the papal states) and more as a shepherd of the flock of Christ. The three gold horizontal bands on the mitre represent order, jurisdiction and magisterium. The single vertical band points to their unity in the person of the pope. Between 1977 and 1981 Joseph Ratzinger served as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Bavaria, Germany. His crest from this period (below) provides the inspiration for his papal crest. The head is that of a Moor. In his autobiography Milestones, the future pope wrote that it represented "an expression of the universality of the Church which knows no distinctions of race or class since all are one in Christ.". The pack bear alludes to a Bavarian legend involving St Corbinian, the first bishop and patron saint of Freising. He is said to have been travelling to Rome when he was attacked by a bear, which killed his horse. As a punishment, St Corbinian made the bear carry his belongings the rest of the way to Rome. The shell has a duel significance. On the one hand, it is the symbol of a pilgrim - an appropriate image for the leader of what the Second Vatican Council called "the Pilgrim Church". On the other, it is an intensely personal symbol for the pope for, again in his autobiography, he wrote that the shell, "reminds me of my great master Augustine, of my theological work, and of the vastness of the mystery which surpasses all our learning." Finally, hanging from the bottom of the crest, is another new addition to a papal coat of arms - the pallium, the woollen band that symbolises the pastoral nature of the pope's office.

Further Reading: Wikipedia on line dictionary Papal Tiara

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