Prelate

It equally applies to cardinals, who enjoy a kind of "co-governance" of the church as the most senior ecclesiastical advisers and moral representatives of the Supreme Pontiff, and certain "superior prelates of the offices of the Roman Curia" who are not bishops, e.g., the auditors (judges) of the Roman Rota and protonotaries apostolic.

In the strict canonical sense, "prelate" denominates a priest or bishop who is ordinary of a personal prelature (see below), which is a functional equivalent of a diocese that has a "particular pastoral or missionary work for various regions or for different social groups" (cf.

10 of the decree Presbyterorum ordinis and Pope Paul VI later enacted it into law in the motu proprio Ecclesiae sanctae.

The first, and presently only, personal prelature is Opus Dei, which Pope John Paul II erected as such in 1982 by the Apostolic constitution Ut sit.

On 15 February 2018, a motu proprio issued by Pope Francis ordered prelates and bishops to live simply and renounce any desire for power after they retired from senior offices of the Roman Curia.

Several such officials and bishops had been criticized in the preceding years for luxurious living, such as having large apartments and police escorts after they retired.