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For at least 800 years, each Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 has had his own personal coat of arms
Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
 that serves as a symbol of his papacy. The first Pope whose arms are known with certainty is Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 28, 1243, to December 7, 1254....
 (1243-1254). Earlier popes were only attributed arms
Attributed arms

Attributed arms are coats of arms given to legendary figures, or to notable persons from times before the rise of heraldry. Beginning in the 12th century, imaginary arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table, and soon arms were given to biblical figures, to Roman and Greek heroes, and to kings and popes who had not historically bor...
 in the 17th century.

All recent popes' coats of arms contained the image of the papal tiara
Papal Tiara

The Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, or in Latin language as the 'Triregnum', and in Italian language as the 'Triregno', is the three-tiered Gemstone papal Crown , supposedly of Byzantine Empire and Persian Empire origin, that is a prominent symbol of the Pope....
. Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI is the List of popes and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, monarch of the Vatican City....
 has altered heraldic custom and used instead the mitre
MITRE

The Mitre Corporation, officially trademarked as MITRE, is a public-interest not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia....
 and pallium
Pallium

The Pallium or Pall is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitan bishops and primate s as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See....
 (see article: Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI
Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI

The coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI was designed by then Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo soon after the Papal conclave, 2005....
). The papal coat of arms traditionally features a gold and silver key, representing the power to bind and to loose on earth (silver) and in heaven (gold).






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For at least 800 years, each Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 has had his own personal coat of arms
Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
 that serves as a symbol of his papacy. The first Pope whose arms are known with certainty is Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 28, 1243, to December 7, 1254....
 (1243-1254). Earlier popes were only attributed arms
Attributed arms

Attributed arms are coats of arms given to legendary figures, or to notable persons from times before the rise of heraldry. Beginning in the 12th century, imaginary arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table, and soon arms were given to biblical figures, to Roman and Greek heroes, and to kings and popes who had not historically bor...
 in the 17th century.

All recent popes' coats of arms contained the image of the papal tiara
Papal Tiara

The Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, or in Latin language as the 'Triregnum', and in Italian language as the 'Triregno', is the three-tiered Gemstone papal Crown , supposedly of Byzantine Empire and Persian Empire origin, that is a prominent symbol of the Pope....
. Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI is the List of popes and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, monarch of the Vatican City....
 has altered heraldic custom and used instead the mitre
MITRE

The Mitre Corporation, officially trademarked as MITRE, is a public-interest not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia....
 and pallium
Pallium

The Pallium or Pall is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitan bishops and primate s as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See....
 (see article: Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI
Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI

The coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI was designed by then Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo soon after the Papal conclave, 2005....
). The papal coat of arms traditionally features a gold and silver key, representing the power to bind and to loose on earth (silver) and in heaven (gold). These are a reference to St Matthew's Gospel
Gospel

In Christianity, a gospel is generally one of the first four books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus....
, chapter 16, verses 18-19:
"You are Peter
Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Thus in ecclesiastical heraldry
Ecclesiastical heraldry

Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of heraldry developed by Christianity clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiology heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses....
, the keys symbolise the spiritual authority of the Papacy as the Vicar of Christ
Vicar of Christ

Vicar of Christ has been used since Pope Gelasius I , alongside a few rarer 'vicarial' titles, as one of the titles of the Bishop of Rome ?the Pope? as head of the Universal Church ....
 on Earth.

Coats of arms of Popes


Related coats of arms


Coat of Arms of the Holy See
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
.
Coat of Arms of Vatican City
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
.

Emblem of Vatican City (from the Flag
Flag of the Vatican City

File:Flag of the Vatican City.svgFile:VaticanFlagHalfMastOxford20050403 CopyrightKaihsuTai.JPGFile:Vatican-City-Moon-Flag.jpgThe flag of Vatican City was adopted on June 7 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating a new independent state governed by the Holy See....
).
Sede vacante
Sede vacante

Sede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church....
 emblem of Holy See, used when there is no reigning pope. Keys disposed as customary for Papal arms, not Vatican City, at least since 1929