The Secretariate of Briefs to Princes consisted of the secretary and two office assistants. The secretary was a prelate with responsibility for writing the pontifical Briefs addressed to emperors, kings, civil princes or other exalted persons. He also prepared the allocutions that the pope read aloud at consistories and the Encyclicals or Apostolic Letters addressed to the bishops and the faithful. He acted according to the instructions of the pope. He had to be a proficient Latinist, since these documents are written in Latin.