Holiness (style)
The title His Holiness (and the associated form of address Your Holiness) is an official title or style referring to leaders in a number of religious traditions. It is used to refer to the Pope in Roman Catholicism; this use can be traced back several hundred years.[1] It is also an official title for Oriental Orthodox patriarchs. It is used to refer to religious leaders in Islam, Buddhism, and Bon. Buddhist leaders referred to this way include the Dalai Lama, the Menri Trizin, and Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras, among others.
Papal styles of
Holiness (style)
His Holiness
Your Holiness
Holy Father
The English-language honorific "His Holiness" and the female version "Her Holiness" have commonly and very recently been used for religious leaders from other traditions, including Buddhism [2][3] leaders such as the Dalai Lama,[4] the Gyalwa Karmapa,[5] the Je Khenpo in Bhutan[6] and Shinso Ito of the Shinnyo-en branch of Shingon Buddhism.[7] In the Bön tradition it is used for the Menri Trizin.[8][9]
In Islam, it is used in Ahmadiyya for the 5th Caliph Mirza Masroor Ahmad.[17] It is used in the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Ismaili Shia for the office of Da'i al-Mutlaq, Syedna. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin is recognized by most Dawoodi Bohras as the 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq.[18][19]