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The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. The title has not been in use since the Second Vatican Council in 1968 that eliminated all previous nobiliary titles. Unless specified otherwise, all Assistants at the Pontifical Throne immediately entered the Papal nobility as Counts of the Holy Roman Empire. Assistants at the Pontifical Throne ranked immediately below the College of Cardinals and were also Counts of the Apostolic Palace.
History
All patriarchs and some bishops selected by the Pope, were made Assistants at the Pontifical Throne.
On 22 May 1862, during the canonization ceremony of the twenty-six Catholic martyrs of Japan, Pope Pius IX elevated all the bishops present to the rank of Assistant at the Pontifical Throne. On 8 January 1866, Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei was named Dean of the Assistants at the Pontifical Throne after Pope Pius IX named him Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. On 17 June 1867, during the 1800th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Pius IX elevated all the bishops present to the rank of Assistant at the Pontifical Throne.
The title has not been in use since the Second Vatican Council, following Pope Paul VI's reform of the pontifical household in 1968 that eliminated all previous nobiliary titles.