The sedia gestatoria is the portable throne on which Popes are sometimes carried. It consists of a richly-adorned, silk-covered armchair, fastened on a suppedaneum, on each side of which are two gilded rings; through these rings pass the long rods with which twelve footmen (palafrenieri), in red uniforms, carry the throne on their shoulders. The Sedia gestatoria is an elaborate variation on the sedan chair. Two large fans (flabella) made of white ostrich feathers—a relic of the ancient liturgical use of the flabellum, mentioned in the Constitutiones Apostolicae, VIII, 12—are carried at the sides of the sedia gestatoria. Pius VII, O.S.B., born Giorgio Barnaba Luigi Chiaramonti (August 14, 1740 – August 20, 1823), was Pope from March 14, 1800 to August 20, 1823. ... The thrones for The Queen of Canada, and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Canadian Senate, Ottawa is usually occupied by the Governor General and her spouse at the annual State Opening of Parliament. ... The Pope (from Greek: pappas, father; from Latin: papa, Papa, father) is the head of the Catholic Church. ... A Sedan chair, revived at the Turkish Village of the Worlds Columbian Exposition, 1893 A Sedan chair is an enclosed windowed chair with an upholstered interior suitable for a single occupant, which was carried by two porters, one in front, one behind, using wooden rails that passed through metal...

The sedia gestatoria was mainly used to carry popes to and from papal ceremonies in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and St. Peter's Basilica. The sedia was used as part of papal ceremonial for nearly one millennium. Its origins are sometimes thought to date back to Byzantium where Byzantine emperors were carried along in a similar manner, but many sources indicate, the use of the sedia is of a much earlier date, probably being derived from rituals accompanying the leadership of the ancient Roman Empire. The late Baroque façade of the Basilica of St. ... The Basilica of Saint Peter from Castel SantAngelo. ... Byzantium was an ancient Greek city-state, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas. ... For other senses of this name, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...

This throne is used more especially in the ceremonies at the coronation of a new pope, and generally at all solemn entries of the pope to St. Peter's or to public consistories. In the first case three bundles of tow are burnt before the newly-elected pontiff, who sits on the Sedia Gestatoria, whilst a master of ceremonies says: "Sancte Pater sic transit gloria mundi," (Holy Father, so passes the glory of the world). The custom of carrying the newly-elected pope, and formerly in some countries the newly-elected bishop, to his church can be, in some instances, traced back very far and may be compared with the Roman use of the sella curulis, on which newly-elected consuls were carried through the city. Pope Pius XII, in coronation robes and wearing the 1877 Papal Tiara, is carried through St. ... In the Roman Republic, and later the empire, the Curule chair (in Latin the sellis curulis) was the chair upon which senior magistrates or promagistrates owning imperium were entitled to sit including dictators, masters of the horse, consuls, praetors, and curule aediles. ...

Already Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia (d. 521) records in his "Apologia pro Synodo" (P.L., LXIII, 206; "Corpus Script. eccl.", VI, Vienna, 1882, 328) "Gestatoriam sellam apostolicae confessionis" alluding to the cathedra S. Petri, still preserved in the choir of St. Peter's at Rome. This is a portable wooden armchair, inlaid with ivory, with two iron rings on each side. Besides the present constant use of the Sedia Gestatoria at the coronation of the pope (which seems to date from the beginning of the sixteenth century), etc., it served in the past on different other occasions, for instance when the pope received the yearly tribute of the Kingdom of Naples and of the other fiefs, and also, at least since the fifteenth century, when he carried the Blessed Sacrament publicly, in which case the Sedia Gestatoria took a different form, a table being adjusted before the throne. Pius X made use of this on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress at Rome in 1905. Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, in Latin as the Triregnum, or in Italian as the Triregno, is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown of Byzantine and Persian origin that is the symbol of the papacy. ...

Pope John Paul I at first declined to use the sedia gestatoria, along with the papal tiara and several other symbols of papal authority, but was eventually convinced by the Vatican staff that its use was necessary in order to allow crowds to see him. Pope John Paul II declined to use the sedia gestatoria completely as did Benedict XVI. The sedia gestatoria has been functionally replaced in modern times by the "popemobile." Pope John Paul I (in Latin ), born Albino Luciani (October 17, 1912 – September 28, 1978), reigned as pope and as sovereign of Vatican City from August 26, 1978 to September 28, 1978. ... The Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, in Latin as the Triregnum, or in Italian as the Triregno, is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown of Byzantine and Persian origin that is the symbol of the papacy. ... Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef Wojtyła (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church for almost 27 years, from October 16, 1978 until his death, making his the second-longest pontificate. ... Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: ), born Joseph Alois Ratzinger (born April 16, 1927) is the 265th and reigning Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State. ... Another popemobile, produced by Fiat Pope John Paul II on a popemobile The popemobile is an informal name for the specially designed vehicle used by the pope during public appearances. ...