Papal coronation him, approaching one by one and kissing his hand. Then the archbishops and bishops approached and kissed his feet. Following this, at least from the beginning of the 16th century, the newly elected pope was carried in state through St. Peter's Basilica on the "sedia gestatoria", under a white canopy, with the papal flabella (ceremonial fans) to either side. Instead of the papal tiara, he wore a jewelled mitre (the episcopal "mitra pretiosa"). Three times, the procession was stopped, and a bundle of flax lashed to a gilded staff was burnt before the newly elected pontiff, while a master of
Religion in Switzerland Religion in Switzerland Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland, its presence going back to the Roman era. Since the 16th century, Switzerland has been traditionally divided into Roman Catholic and Reformed confessions. However, adherence to Christian churches has declined considerably since the late 20th century, from close to 94% in 1980 to about 67% as of 2016. Furthermore notable is the significant difference in church adherence between Swiss citizens (72%) and foreign nationals (51%) in 2016. Switzerland as a federal state has no state religion, though most of the cantons (except for Geneva and Neuchâtel) recognize official churches ("Landeskirchen"),