Who is Monsignor ? What is his role in the church ? What type of Clothes he wear?

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Hi,
I have a wired question -
Who is a Monsignor ?
Is he same like a Bishop or Archbishop ?
Does he have some power in the church ?
Actually I have seen some Priests wearing clothes like the bishop (White/Black Cassock with pink or purple piping , Choir Cassock , Purple Fascia)
Skull Caps ?
Can a Priest or a Monsignor wear a Pectoral Cross ?

Is there something called Summer Choir Cassock dress ?
I have meet few bishops who wore Choir Cassock like White Cassock with Purple Piping , Purple Sash Fascia , Rochet , White Mozzetta with Purple Piping , Purple Skull cap , Purple Biretta and Pectoral cross ?

Please also tell ?
What is the difference between Monsignor , Bishop and an Archbishop ? and who is the most powerful ?
Thanks
Peace to all
(If you want to edit the question plz go for it) (Thanks).
 
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All bishops are priests but not the reverse. A bishop is the third step in Holy Orders so it the highest. Archbishop is a bishop who presides over one or more dioceses and may call the bishops to a provincial council.

Modern Catholic Dictionary, monsignor
A title of distinction granted by the Pope to numerous prelates. All ecclesiastical dignitaries including archbishops and bishops have a right to this title.
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H.H. Pope Francis changed the practice, making only diocesan priests over the age of 65 eligible to receive the title.

See http://www.gcatholic.org/
 
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As Vico said, “Monsignor” is just an honorary title for priests. It denotes priests who have served in the papal curia or the Vatican bureaucracy. Prior to Pope Francis, parish priests, especially those who had some connections in Rome, might get the title as an honor. The Pope would grant them the lowest rank of chaplain.

About the time Francis took over as Pope, there was a concern that too many priests were getting named monsignors, so he stopped naming new ones except for the priests who were actually on the Vatican staff. Then after a couple years he started naming new ones, but they have to be over age 65 and typically have had long careers as priests.

In USA, your typical monsignor doesn’t dress any differently than the rest of the priests. They’re allowed to have certain colors of trim on their cassocks and sometimes other stuff depending on what rank of monsignor they are, but the average American priest doesn’t wear a cassock or even if he does, it’s a very plain one. The trimmed cassocks would only be worn for ceremonial purposes, like if the priest was going to meet the Pope or be part of some Papal Mass or something like that.

When I was a child, our pastor was a Monsignor. He was totally ordinary.
 
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Monsignor is just a title of honor, like an honorary doctorate. On occasion, for certain church services, a monsignor may have a slightly different function.

In the sacrament, Holy Orders is deacon, priest, bishop. A priest can go right from priest to bishop without being a monsignor.

If a monsignor is working in a parish, and a non monsignor is pastor, well that’s his boss. Same thing if he’s teaching on a school.

In terms of authority, an archbishop mostly has as much authority as the pope assigns. The pope doesn’t have to put him in charge of anything, though he can’t be removed from a see without just cause, which rarely happens.

He always has some authority as a Bishop. He sits on the conference of bishops, has moral influence.

An archbishop usually is the metropolitan of a province (nearby Dioceses). He is like first among equals, gets to nominate bishop candidates, some limited oversight.

But some archbishops work in, or for the Vatican as nuncios.
 
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My brother and his wife’s parish priest is a Monsignor, he’s very nice and good priest. You wouldn’t know he was a monsignor by looking at him, there isn’t a physical distinction you can see.
 
Pope St Paul reduced Monsignor from 14 (!) grades to 3. I think Pope Francis is restricting it further.

I think in the near future it will disappear, with current guys holding their titles for life.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
In USA, your typical monsignor doesn’t dress any differently than the rest of the priests. They’re allowed to have certain colors of trim on their cassocks and sometimes other stuff depending on what rank of monsignor they are, but the average American priest doesn’t wear a cassock or even if he does, it’s a very plain one. The trimmed cassocks would only be worn for ceremonial purposes, like if the priest was going to meet the Pope or be part of some Papal Mass or something like that.
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In the early 90s, my pastor was named a Monsignor. When I asked him what that meant, he smiled his wry smile and said, “About a thousand dollars of my money for new cassocks”.
 
Tis bearself, thanks for that information.While doing some family research on relatives in Himmelstadt, Germany, I discovered our distant cousin Edgar was a monsignor.This wasn’t 100 years ago, but very recently. He however passed away in 2016 or so. I always figured they were one step below a bishop and a step above a regular priest.
 
My friend who is a Monsignor often wears a Texas sweatshirt.
 
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Something from the history geek:

Way back when, “monsignor” was originally the cleric who emptied the papal chamber pot. It was a position of trust and honor, but not much else. As time went on, that honorific was extended towards those clerics who were personal assistants to high-ranking bishops. (Sidenote: the Royal “privy council” were those ministers and advisors who were so well trusted that they were allowed in the royal outhouse while the king [at an extremely vulnerable moment – think “Game of Thrones”] was using it. Read Judges 3:15-26)

Since Americans didn’t have anything like a royalty, they petitioned and won the ability to nominate priests who had served with distinction the honorific of “Monsignor.”
 
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