What are Papal encyclicals? A papal encyclical is a pastoral letter from the pope usually addressed to the whole Catholic Church, her clergy and the laity, and for all the benefit of humanity. Encyclical letters generally address matters of faith or morals, encourage a particular commemoration or pious devotion, or deal with matters of Church discipline which are to be universally observed. Encyclicals started as letters of the Pope to be “circulated” within a specific group within the church to address issues of concern, point out dangers that might affect the Church or the world, exhort for action or constancy, and prescribe remedies. The encyclicals are considered a significant teaching of the authority of the Church through the Pope. Encyclicals therefore are intended to command the attention and respect of the faithful, and to help everyone better understand how to apply the teachings of Sacred Scripture and Catholic Tradition. For example, Pope Leo XIII, towards the end of his pontificate, wrote many short Encyclical letters (some of them less than one page long) addressed to specific bishops regarding current issues of concern in their region, such as the introduction of civil marriage in Ecuador, the weakening of the faith in Bohemia and Moravia, and the establishment of seminaries in Greece, to name a few. They resemble the loving pen of a concerned father for his children, urging them to persevere in the values that rule the Christian family. This is align with Catholic tradition following the example of St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, Romans and Ephesians. Encyclicals carry a lot of teaching weight. It is the highest form of papal document that can be released by the pope alone. Although the pope can issue an infallible statement, encyclicals are not infallible but certainly deserve the highest assent that can be given. And while the teachings contained therein may sometimes prove burdensome and difficult for some to accept and to follow, Catholics of good will everywhere are obliged to acknowledge their apostolic authority and strive to humbly assent to their teaching. How blessed the Church has been to receive the teaching of the Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that is contained in the encyclical letters of the popes down through the ages! “But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself.” Pope Leo XIII For any Catholic wishing to know their faith more deeply and to evade those who warp their beliefs, these encyclicals are invaluable and articulate resources for deepening one’s understanding and love for the Church. By reading older documents, like these, is a concrete way to gain an appreciation for the continuity of the Faith. They are meant to be read by all of the faithful and to be aware of the concerns of the popes throughout Church history, especially encyclicals against modern errors. Why read these particular encyclicals against modern errors? It’s because since the French Revolution in 1789 which saw a host of religious, political and social errors launched which spread throughout the world. Errors based on the ideologies of Liberalism and Naturalism. From the beginning of these errors, the Popes, for more than 160 years have spoken out, as with one voice, wrote and legislated against these errors. The Syllabus of Errors is one such document issued on 8 December 1864, as an appendix to the Quanta Cura encyclical, by the Holy See under Pope Pius IX. It condemns a total of 80 errors or heresies, articulating Catholic Church teaching on a number of philosophical and political questions. Sadly, most of these errors have spread and today have filtered down to the common man… with the result that the majority of people now take for granted many fundamental assumptions that are positively false! How can Encyclicals be read and understood in an easy way? Keeping an open mind is key to understanding Encyclicals, because they challenge the popular perception of the problem in many ways. The following encyclicals are especially recommended for reading : Quanta Cura (Latin for "Condemning Current Errors") was a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1864. In it, he decried what he considered significant errors afflicting the modern age. These he listed in an attachment called the Syllabus of Errors, which condemned secularism and religious indifferentism. Quanta cura condemns propositions, such as, notably:
These propositions were aimed at anticlerical governments in various European countries, which were secularizing education (sometimes by taking over Catholic schools rather than starting their own competing public schools) and suppressing religious orders, and confiscating their property. Humanum Genus (On Freemasonry) by Leo XIII: Catholics no longer talk about Freemasonry, even though it is the topic upon which more encyclicals were written than about any other. Leo XIII wrote many of these, this one is the best. Leo states: ‘It may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing that is openly contrary to religion and morality; but, as the whole principle and object of the sect lies in what is vicious and criminal, to join with these men or in any way to help them cannot be lawful’. Rerum Novarum by Leo XIII : If you only read one text we recommend this one, which deals with the twin evils of Capitalism and Socialism in reducing man to an economic unit. ‘The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the suitable arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State is it ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic. Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity. Now, in preventing such strife as this, and in uprooting it, the efficacy of Christian institutions is marvellous and manifold. First of all, there is no intermediary more powerful than religion (whereof the Church is the interpreter and guardian) in drawing the rich and the working class together, by reminding each of its duties to the other, and especially of the obligations of justice’ Pascendi Dominici Gregis by Pope Pius X : This document was subtitled ‘On the Doctrine of the Modernists’. It detailed the many ways with which Modernists were hoping to infiltrate the church with false teachings and to water down the Catholic faith. If only people had listened. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, and, what is much more sad, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, animated by a false zeal for the Church, lacking the solid safeguards of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, put themselves forward as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the Person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious audacity, they degrade to the condition of a simple and ordinary man. ‘Although they express their astonishment that We should number them amongst the enemies of the Church, no one will be reasonably surprised that We should do so, if, leaving out of account the internal disposition of the soul, of which God alone is the Judge, he considers their tenets, their manner of speech, and their action. Nor indeed would he be wrong in regarding them as the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church. For, as We have said, they put into operation their designs for her undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate’. Quas Primas by Pope Pius XI: As Europe showed no lessons from the madness of World War I, Benedict tried to bring them back to their senses by reminding them that Christ was the true King. ‘When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord’s regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen’s duty of obedience. It is for this reason that St. Paul, while bidding wives revere Christ in their husbands, and slaves respect Christ in their masters, warns them to give obedience to them not as men, but as the vicegerents of Christ; for it is not meet that men redeemed by Christ should serve their fellow-men. “You are bought with a price; be not made the bond-slaves of men.”[32] If princes and magistrates duly elected are filled with the persuasion that they rule, not by their own right, but by the mandate and in the place of the Divine King, they will exercise their authority piously and wisely, and they will make laws and administer them, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects. The result will be a stable peace and tranquility, for there will be no longer any cause of discontent. Men will see in their king or in their rulers men like themselves, perhaps unworthy or open to criticism, but they will not on that account refuse obedience if they see reflected in them the authority of Christ God and Man. Peace and harmony, too, will result; for with the spread and the universal extent of the kingdom of Christ men will become more and more conscious of the link that binds them together, and thus many conflicts will be either prevented entirely or at least their bitterness will be diminished’. PAPAL ENCYCLICALS OF GREAT POPES Through their encyclicals, the popes were acting as defenders of the faith and of civil order. For this reason the Roman Pontiffs are to be regarded as having greatly served the public good, for they have ever endeavoured to break the turbulent and restless spirit of innovators (in their destructive plans for the Church and society), and have often warned men of the danger they are to civil society. But the faithful, having knowledge of these Papal encyclicals, in support of the the Pontiffs, have to employ every industry and effort which God have graced us, to avert the dangers and evils to human society.
Strive with all possible care to make men understand and show forth in their lives what the Catholic Church teaches on government and the duty of obedience. Let us fly from forbidden sects, to abhor all conspiracy, to have nothing to do with sedition and render obedience to God and His Commandments. It is to Him that we must pray, beseeching Him to incline all minds to uprightness and truth, to calm angry passions, to restore the long awaited tranquility of peace to the world. Let us pray with greater hope, to our intercessors and protectors of our welfare Our Lady the Great Mother of God, St. Joseph, the Great Patron of the Church, and the great Saints Peter and Paul, the guardians and protectors of the Church. |
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January 2024
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