Word.ws English Dictionary

Vicar of Christ

Vicar of Christ noun: the Pope.

Noun (1)

Vicar of Christ (plural Vicars of Christ)

  1. The Pope.
    • "We should never have had the law of 1571, against bulls, and Agnus Deis, and blessed grains, if the Pope's bull of 1569 had not made them matter of treason."
      "What, sir?" almost roared Parsons, "do you dare to speak evil of the edicts of the Vicar of Christ?"1855, Charles Kingsley, chapter 4, in Westward Ho!
    • [I]n the spacious ceremonial library of the 16th century Apostolic Palace, the czar of world atheism, Mikhail Gorbachev, will visit the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II.1989 December 4, Richard N. Ostling et al., “Religion: Cross Meets Kremlin—Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II”, in Time
  2. (rare) The Holy Ghost.
    • Grant, then, . . . that the Holy Ghost had no such respect to any one (church) as to lead it into truth, although sent with this view by Christ, and for this asked of the Father that He might be the teacher of truth; grant, also, that He, the Steward of God, the Vicar of Christ, neglected His...1885, Tertullian, chapter XXVIII, in Peter Holmes, transl., Prescription against Heretics

Noun (2) capitalized: vicar of Christ

vicar of Christ (plural vicars of Christ)

  1. Any bishop.
    • Bishops, as vicars and ambassadors of Christ, govern the particular churches entrusted to them by their counsel, exhortations, example, and even by their authority and sacred power...1964, Pope Paul VI, Lumen Gentium, III. xxvii
  2. Alternative letter-case form of Vicar of Christ, a title variously granted to the Holy Ghost and to the bishop of Rome.

Forms of Vicar of Christ

pluralVicars of Christ
alternative formVicar of Jesus Christ
pluralvicars of Christ

Origin of Vicar of Christ

Calque of Ecclesiastical Latin vicārius Christī.

From the Latin vicarius Christi.

Questions about Vicar of Christ

What does Vicar of Christ mean?
Vicar of Christ means the Pope.
What part of speech is Vicar of Christ?
Vicar of Christ is a noun.
What is the plural of Vicar of Christ?
The plural of Vicar of Christ is Vicars of Christ.

Words near Vicar of Christ in the dictionary

  1. vicar choral
  2. vicar forane
  3. vicar general
  4. vicar generals
  5. vicar of Bray
  6. Vicar of Christ
  7. Vicar of Jesus Christ
  8. vicar-choral
  9. vicar-general
  10. vicara
  11. vicarage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Vicar of Christ (page history and authors); vicar of Christ (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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