Holiness (style)

The title His Holiness (and the associated form of address Your Holiness) is an official title or style referring to the pope in the Catholic Church; this use can be traced back several hundred years. It has also been adopted as an official title for other leaders in a number of religious traditions. It is used to refer to Oriental Orthodox patriarchs, and used to refer to religious leaders in Islam, Buddhism, and Bon. Buddhist leaders referred to this way include the Dalai Lama, the Menri Trizin, among others; the Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras is one example of a Muslim leader styled this way.