# how to address a bishop, cardinal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195 "2001-04-24T22:17:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195/1 "2001-04-24T22:17:14Z")

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I’ve been trying to remember a joke I heard a while back. Four women are discussing their sons. One is a priest, and when he walks into a room everyone greets him with,“Hello, Father, how are you, Father?”  
Not to be outdone, the second woman says her son is a bishop, and everyone greets him with…  
This is where I blank out. What are the proper ways to address a bishop and cardinal? I think one of them is Your Excellency, but I don’t remember which.

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195/2 "2001-04-24T22:23:41Z")

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In the Roman Catholic world, a bishop is addressed as “His Excellency” and a cardinal as “His Eminence”. Making the last step, the pope is “His Holiness.”

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195/3 "2001-04-24T22:24:26Z")

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I’m pretty sure a cardinal is Eminence, and a bishop might be Grace.

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**Author:** ![J\_s\_Friend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@J\_s\_Friend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_s_Friend)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195/4 "2001-04-24T22:58:02Z")

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So…how does the joke end?

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**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-address-a-bishop-cardinal/63195/5 "2001-04-25T00:26:56Z")

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When I was in Catholic school, bishops were addressed as ‘Your Grace’.

::resisting impulse to make terrible joke about kissing their ring::