Definition of papal
: of or relating to a pope or to the Roman Catholic Church; also : resembling a pope or that of a pope
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of papal from the Web
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The last previous papal visit to Philadelphia was when Pope John Paul II came in 1979, and Mr. Murphy was born five weeks premature then.
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Yet being excluded from the papal visit still stunned his colleagues, many of whom expressed pity for him and were visibly uncomfortable talking about the slight.
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Pope Francis already made the case with a gift of his papal encyclical on the environment when Trump visited the Vatican earlier this week.
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Earlier in the week, Pope Francis made that case with a gift of his papal encyclical on the environment when Trump visited the Vatican.
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While at the Vatican, Trump received from Pope Francis a copy of his 2015 papal treatise that links fossil fuels to global warming.
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And coverage of the president's papal audience was dominated by atmospherics between two men with widely divergent views on many issues.
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Also among Francis’ gifts was one that seemed to symbolize his hope for Trump’s political conversion: a copy of three papal encyclicals including Laudato Si, which advocates a moral case for addressing climate change.
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Diaz-Ortiz spoke to Wired from Rome about the unique issues of helping the Pope join the world of social media, the surprising technological progressiveness of the Vatican, and the complicated significance of papal retweets and follows.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'papal'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of papal
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin papalis, from Late Latin papa
First Known Use: 14th century
Other Christian Religious Terms
PAPAL Defined for English Language Learners
papal
playDefinition of papal for English Language Learners
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: of or relating to the pope or the government of the Roman Catholic Church
Learn More about papal
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See words that rhyme with papal Spanish Central: Translation of papal Nglish: Translation of papal for Spanish speakers
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