encyclical

encyclical A circular letter sent by a bishop to every church within his jurisdiction, and more particularly a letter by the Pope to Roman Catholic parishes worldwide. Unlike church dogma, encyclicals are not infallible pronouncements, but Catholics are expected to follow them, while the declaration of the papal view limits the freedom of theological discussion. The most important encyclicals include Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) which formulated the social ideals of Catholicism in an industrializing world. The more conservative Pius X wrote against modernism (Pascendi Domini Gregis, 1907) and Protestantism (Borromaeus, 1910), while his successor, Pius XI, revised Catholic social teaching through the condemnation of excessive competition. He also wrote the German encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (1937), in which he (finally) distanced the Roman Catholic Church from the Nazi Party. Catholic social teaching was revised in Mater et Magistra (1961) by John XXIII, which accepted some beneficial aspects of socialism, e.g. its universal promotion of human dignity. Rather controversially especially among Roman Catholics in Western Europe and North America, Humanae Vitae (1968) by Paul VI condemned abortion and contraception. Of the encyclicals of John Paul II, Laborem Exercens (1981) appeals for mutual understanding in the workplace, and Mulieris Dignitatem (1988) affirms the equality of women with men in the Church despite the insistence on a male priesthood. Veritatis Splendor (1993) attempts a redefinition of Catholic moral teaching in a fast-changing world of opportunity and technology, and Fides et Ratio (1998) explores the relationship between faith and humen reason.

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