Allocution

Allocution (Lat. allocutio, i e. an "address") is applied, in the language of the Vatican, to denote specially the address delivered by the pope at the College of Cardinals in a public consistory. The publication of the resolutions taken in the secret consistories is generally accompanied by an allocution, and frequently the condition of the Roman Church in the various countries furnishes the subject for it. It may be considered as corresponding in some measure to the official explanations which constitutional ministers give when questions are asked in Parliament, or to the political messages of the French emperor. The court of Rome makes abundant use of this method of address when it desires to guard a principle which it is compelled to give up in a particular case, or to reserve a claim for the future which has no chance of recognition in the present. — Wetzer and Welte, 2:345.