English · Idiom Historical

cardinals in petto

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Cardinals chosen by the Pope, but not yet publicly announced. Their names are in pectore (of the Pope).

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

các hồng y được Giáo hoàng chọn nhưng chưa công bố

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “cardinals in petto” mean?

Cardinals chosen by the Pope, but not yet publicly announced. Their names are in pectore (of the Pope).

Is “cardinals in petto” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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