okay this is a bit of a meta question because i am hyperfixating on a new media with a catholic element (wake up dead man—furthermore referred to as WUDM): how does a priest get the title monsignor?
cause like. ray’s a monsignor but from what i understand he also has another title cause he wears purple, and janusz is an archbishop and also wears purple but ray just has an extra title.
but in WUDM there’s a character named monsignor wicks, but he doesn’t wear purple, just a black cassock. can someone just be a priest and still have the title monsignor, or is this just a movie where they didn’t quite get the catholic titles right? and if the titles are right, how does one get the title monsignor as a regular priest?
What exactly is a Monsignor in the Catholic Church, and how are they made?
First off, I won't get the chance to watch WUDM any time soon although I would love to 😭 so I can't comment on the characters featured in it. But I can tell you that James Martin SJ approves of the portrayal of the Catholic characters and rules and traditions depicted in the movie in this Instagram post and doesn't mention an incorrect use of the Monsignor title at all, so I guess the WUDM team got it right!
Generally speaking, a Monsignor is a special kind of priest, but below the rank of bishop. It's a title, not a job description - Monsignors can do all manner of work within the church. It's also not a degree of ordination - those are deacon, priest and bishop only, and being made a Monsignor is not a sacramental act.
Monsignors get their extra title in recognition of special services to the church. Those special services can be spiritual, pastoral, cultural, academic or administrative in nature, and can be carried out either in their home dioceses or in missionary work or in the Vatican or in the Holy See's diplomatic service. So they're a pretty heterogeneous group. Many Monsignors, especially those in career-oriented posts in the Vatican or their local diocesan administration, go on to become bishops, and they then stop using the Monsignor title because bishop is the higher rank. Others remain Monsignors forever. I don't think the title gets awarded to members of religious orders - they tend to have their own ranks and hierarchies.
As to how and when and why exactly some priests become Monsignors and some others never do, in spite of equally impressive service records - that's often a little random and a matter of church politics rather than of strict logic. It's not usually an automatic or expected career step. Diocesan Monsignors are appointed by or in the name of the pope but at the suggestion of their local bishop, and bishops all have their own criteria for that. Some bishops, for example, routinely request that the entire chapter of their cathedral (the diocesan "Curia") be made Monsignors, but others don't. Pope Francis famously disliked it when priests hankered after impressive titles, so during his tenure as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he never recommended a single priest for Monsignor. When pope, Francis also tried to limit the appointment to priests over 65, aiming to make it more of a "lifetime achievement award" than a career step. Even he himself subsequently didn't always entirely follow his own rules, however, and Pope Leo XIV has now lifted the limitations officially and recently made his primary private secretary, Father Edgar Rimaycuna Inga (pictured above on the left), a Monsignor at the tender age of 36. (This article explains the context very well.) Papal private secretaries and some other Vatican officials are among the few priests in the church who can basically expect to be Monsignored when they reach that point, since the title is traditionally awarded to mark their status as a member of the papal household or as a certain level of seniority in the Curia.
This Vatican career mechanism is presumably how Ray O'Malley got the title in the Conclave universe, too. The book tells us he's Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, i. e. the second-in-command of that Curia department, and also doubles as Secretary of the College of Cardinals during a sede vacante period. This means he has already had a long and distinguished church career and while not a bishop just yet, this will probably be the next logical step for him. Meanwhile, the Monsignor title and vestments instantly tell the people around him that he's already more important than an ordinary priest.
In contrast, the Conclave book also tells us that Vincent Benítez was a Monsignor before he became a bishop, but in recognition of his pastoral and humanitarian work in the Congo, i. e. as a purely honorary diocesan Monsignor rather than a career one. His day to day work would not have changed one jot, fancy title or no fancy title. Globally, these purely honorary Monsignors are the more numerous.
As for the dress code, I can understand your confusion. Monsignors get to dress the same as bishops and archbishops, in black cassocks with purple ("amaranth") buttons, fascia and zucchetto, and episcopal choir dress, too. Only subtle differences distinguish them visually from bishops, such as the absence of an episcopal ring and a pectoral cross. (The Conclave costume department applied some poetic licence to Ray there under the latter aspect.) So yes, Ray dresses the same as Janusz Wozniak, who is an archbishop, and also the same as Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies Willi Mandorff, who is also an archbishop, in spite of being a lower ecclesiastical rank than either of them.
As for the Monsignor in WUDM who is visually indistinguishable from an ordinary priest, this may reflect his personality if he's a modest man - he'd be entitled to wearing purple, but he's not required to! - or it may be a meta costuming choice, i. e. the filmmakers not wanting to make him look like a bishop to the audience when he is no bishop.
I hope this answers your question?
Got any other questions or suggestions for future metas? My ask box is always open!
This meta is Part 10 of Jolie's Occasional Lectures on Catholic Church Organisation, Canon Law and Other Things You Never Thought You Would End Up Wanting To Read Meta About Until You Contracted The Conclave (or now also WADM) Bug. 😝
You can find the earlier lectures by searching for #jolie lectures on my Tumblr.
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