A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs. Etymologically it is derived from the Old Latin term "co-viria," literally an "association of men." This archaic pronunciation - note that current scholarship believes that in Classical Latin "v" is always pronounced as "w" - eventually evolved into the more recognizable word.

In the Roman Republic, there were three types of divisions into which the people were organized: the curiae, which were based on clans or gentes; the centuriae, which were military; and tribus, local "tribes" that were voting blocs. The curiae are thought to have been created by dividing the original three tribes into ten divisions. Each curia was then further divided into ten decuriae. Each curia was led by a curio, over whom presided the curio maximus.

The curia per antonomasia was the Curia Hostilia in Rome, which was the building where the Senate usually met. The Senate, initially just a meeting of the city elders from all tribes (its name comes from "senex", which means "old man"), saw its powers grow together with the conquest that brought a town of humble origins to rule a large Republic (and then decrease steadily with the advent of the Empire).

Georg Gänswein (born 30 July 1956 in Riedern am Wald, Waldshut, Baden-Württemberg) is a German Priest of the Roman Catholic Church, and the personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. He was named a Monsignor in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Known to Italians as "Padre Georg" or, due to his handsome looks, "Bel Giorgio" ("Beautiful George"), Gänswein was born in a small town in Germany and ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1984. Upon his ordination, Gänswein dedicated himself to rigorous academic activities. He received his J.C.D. degree from Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in 1993, and arrived in Rome in 1995 as an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In 1996, Gänswein was invited by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to join the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. After being appointed to Cardinal Ratzinger's staff, Gänswein became professor of canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

In 2000, Gänswein was elevated by Pope John Paul II to Chaplain of His Holiness. He replaced Josef Clemens as Ratzinger's personal secretary in 2003, upon Clemens's appointment as secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Ratzinger was elected to the papacy in 2005 and Gänswein was appointed to the office of Principal Private Secretary to His Holiness. A year later Pope Benedict XVI honoured his secretary with the distinction Prelate of His Holiness.

George Pell AC (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the eighth and current Archbishop of Sydney, serving since 2001. He previously served as auxiliary bishop (1987–96) and archbishop (1996–2001) of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He was created a cardinal in 2003.

Pell was born in Ballarat, Victoria, to George Arthur and Margaret Lillian (née Burke) Pell. His father, a non-practising Anglican whose ancestors were from Leicestershire in England, was a heavyweight boxing champion; his mother was a devout Catholic of Irish descent.^{[page needed]} During World War II, his father served in the Australian Defence Force.^{[page needed]} His sister, Margaret, became a violinist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. As a child, he underwent 24 operations to remove an abscess in his throat.^{[page needed]}

Pell received his early education at Loreto Convent and at St. Patrick's College, both in his native Ballarat. One of his classmates at St Patrick's was Paul Bongiorno.^{[page needed]} At St Patrick's, Pell played as a ruckman on the first XVIII from 1956 to 1959. He even signed to play with the Richmond Football Club. However, his ambitions later turned to the priesthood. Speaking of his decision to become a priest, Pell once said, "To put it crudely, I feared and suspected and eventually became convinced that God wanted me to do His work, and I was never able to successfully escape that conviction."^{[page needed]}