Black nobility

Famous members of Black Nobility families include Arnaldo De Rosette, Bishop of Asti, who promulgated a Synod which provided some decrees to regulate and classify the clergy of Lombardy and Piedmont and its composition, with a particular emphasis on the Knights Hospitallers; Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII; Ernesto Pacelli, an important financier; and Prospero Colonna, mayor of Rome.

[3] Pope Paul VI abolished many Vatican City positions with the motu proprio document Pontificalis Domus (English: The Papal Household) in 1968.

According to the motu proprio: "Many of the offices entrusted to members of the Papal Household were deprived of their function, continuing to exist as purely honorary positions, without much correspondence to concrete needs of the times.

According to diplomat and author Roger Peyrefitte, it was members of the Black Nobility who first told him of the Pope's alleged association with an actor, which eventually led to Peyreffite's public statements and subsequent scandal.

[5] In May 1977, some members of the Black Nobility, led by Princess Elvina Pallavicini, started courting traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.