The gestatorial chair (sedia gestatoria in Italian, lit.

Also shown are the gestatorial chair - a portable throne - last used by Pope John XXIII (1958-1963), the huge ostrich-feather fans that once flanked the papal throne during solemn ceremonies, and other memorabilia.

In his rise to the gestatorial chair he had made a reputation as a Catholic with an almost Lutheran passion for the grimmer reaches of moral theology; there was something of Kierkegaard in him, and something of the Grand Inquisitor as well.