PONTIFICAL LETTERS. – A generic term used to indicate any kind of letter issued by the Roman Pontiff as the public person of the Church; the technical denomination, employed in the apostolic constitution *Sapienti Consilio* (29 June 1908, *AAS*, I [1909], p. 17), with reference to bulls and briefs, is *Apostolic Letters*. In ecclesiastical history, pontifical letters have borne various appellations.
I. LETTERS HORTATORY OR MONITORY. – Those that had an admonitory and exhortatory form, without a true legislative content. The earliest preserved is that of St. Clement; of the subsequent popes, Soter (166–74), Eleutherius (174–89), Victor (189–99), Zephyrinus (199–217), Pontian (230–35), Lucius I (253–54), Stephen I (254–57), Sixtus II (257–58), and Dionysius (259–68), only fragments survive. St. Hippolytus refers to a decree of Callistus (*Philosophumena*, 9); St. Cyprian preserves two letters of St. Cornelius (251–53), and St. Athanasius, in the *Apologia contra arianos*, preserves two letters of Julius I (337–52).
II. LETTERS PRECEPTORIAL. – Those in which the Pope manifested his legislative authority and which were later called *Decretals* (v. DECRETALS).
On account of this special value, they were subsequently termed *Auctoritates*, because the Pope, by virtue of his primacy, possesses authority over the whole Church. Thus Zosimus, in a letter to the bishops of Gaul and Spain, says: «*quan auctoritatem ubique nos mississe manifestum est*» (PL 20, 670). And in codex Vat. Pal. 574 of the Vatican Library, containing the ancient Gallican collection, the Constitutions bear the title: *Auctoritas Innocentii Papae, auctoritas Zosimi Papae*. St. Leo the Great equates Constitutions (i.e., letters) with authorities (*Ep.* 19, cap. 1: PL 54, 733). Sometimes these letters are called *decreta* by St. Leo (*Ep.* 11, cap. 4: ibid., 663), but this appellation is used especially in the Register of St. Gregory along with the denominations: Statutes, Canon Statutes, Ecclesiastical Statutes, Rules, Ecclesiastical Constitutions.
III. LETTERS OF PEACE. – Those that the Roman Pontiff sent to bishops as a testimony of identical communion in the faith. If a bishop was suspected of heresy or was so accused before Rome, he had to send the Pontiff a letter attesting the orthodoxy of his doctrine. If the Pope deemed this profession of faith sufficient, he would send him a *letter of peace*. St. Leo the Great mentions only the title of such letters, not their form (*Ep.* 111, cap. 1, ibid. 185).
IV. SYNODIC OR SYNODAL LETTERS. – Those that contain a profession of faith attesting communion in doctrine between the Eastern and Western Churches. The first to speak of letters of this kind is St. Gregory: «*Hinc est enim, ut, quoties in quatuor praecipuis sedibus antistites ordinantur, synodales sibi epistolas vicissim mittant, in quibus se sanctam Chalcedonensem synodum cum aliis generalibus synodis custodire fateantur*» (*Reg. Ep.*, IX, 147: ed. L. M. Hartmann, II, Berlin 1899, p. 144, ll. 24–26). Elsewhere he compares the authority of the first four councils to that of the four Gospels: «*sicut sancti Evangelii quatuor libros, sic quatuor concilia suscipere et venerari me fateor*» (*Reg. Ep.*, I, 24, ed. cit., I, Berlin 1887, p. 36, ll. 19). He also recalls the synodal letters of Cyrian of Constantinople (ibid., 6, 62; 7, 24; 30; 31) and of Isaac of Jerusalem (ibid., 9, 28). Only a few of these pontifical letters have come down to us; among others, those of Anastasius II (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 746 [377]) and Pelagius I (ibid., 938 [618]) deserve mention. According to P. Ewald, this usage already existed in the time of Pelagius I. According to Philippus, these letters could also contain definitions in matters of faith. The letters of the popes were later incorporated into medieval collections.
In the Middle Ages, pontifical letters bore other denominations; worthy of special mention is the bull of the Crusade (v. CRUSADE, BULL OF).
Such forms of letters are still used today. Since 1920, the term «decretal letters» (*Litterae decretales*) has been applied to bulls concerning the canonization of saints. At present, the term *Epistolae* designates letters that the Supreme Pontiff sends on the occasion of special anniversaries, as in the centenary celebration of St. Anthony of Padua (*AAS*, 23 [1931], p. 71).
V. ENCYCLICALS. – These are letters that the Pope, in the exercise of his ordinary and universal magisterium, addresses to the entire Christian world for the promotion and safeguarding of spiritual life.
1. **Origin.** – Etymologically derived from the Greek ἐν καὶ λόγος (a circle), i.e., a circular letter. They were used by princes to make known their will to the people or by magistrates to promulgate laws. In the early centuries of the Church, such letters were sent by the Supreme Pontiffs and primates to the faithful to strengthen them in the faith; for this specific purpose they were called *Clerical*; later, if addressed to all the faithful, they were termed *catholic* «not because they dealt with matters pertaining to the Catholic Church, but from the word καὶ λόγος (universal), since they were directed to all the faithful of Christ» (Eusebius, *Hist. eccl.*, V, ch. 17). These latter took various forms: they were called *deminutivae* if they denounced to all Christians the names of heretics and the excommunicated; *declarativae* if, besides naming the heretics and their errors, they contained a profession of faith; *indicativae* if, used during persecutions, they listed the names of martyrs so that they might be honored by the faithful (Eusebius, *ibid.*, IV, ch. 15, records that of the church of Smyrna on the martyrdom of St. Polycarp); *paschal*, in which the Bishop of Rome announced the date of Easter; *enthronistic*, the letters that newly elected bishops sent to the people. Eusebius (*ibid.*, IV, ch. 23) recalls some catholic letters of Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth. The collection of these episcopal letters was called *Encyclia* or *Enkyclia*, as we are informed by Pelagius II in a letter to the bishops of Istria. Only very late did the word «encyclical» acquire a specific meaning, designating only the most important communications that the Roman Pontiff addresses to the entire Christian world. In the Greek Church, to this day, «encyclicals» are the letters that the Patriarch addresses to the entire patriarchate when they concern matters affecting his own church and rite. In the Latin Church, letters that local Ordinaries address to their faithful are called *pastoral letters*.
Anglicans, following Roman usage, apply the name of encyclicals to the circular letters of the Primate of England; the first words *Saepius officio* designate the letter of the bishops of Canterbury and York sent to their episcopal colleagues in response to the Apostolic Letter *Apostolicae curae* of Leo XIII (13 Sept. 1896) on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations. Today, the term «encyclical» is not applied to letters that the Sacred Congregations address to all bishops on matters concerning Church discipline or worship. Thus the letter of 21 July 1899 from the Congregation of Rites on the promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, addressed to all the bishops of the world, bears the title «circular letter». The first pope to reserve this denomination for a specific form of pontifical letter was Benedict XIV in the *Ubi primum* of 3 Dec. 1740 (*Epistola encyclica et commemoria ad omnes episcopos*). Subsequently, the word *Commemoria* was no longer used. Perhaps the Pontiff, in giving this new denomination that was to endure in the future, had in mind the pamphlet by Bencini that had appeared a few years earlier. In the 18th century and the early years of the 19th, encyclicals were very rare, whereas they multiplied in the subsequent period down to our own day.
2. Form
Encyclicals differ from other letters only in technical aspects and in that they generally contain doctrinal teachings. They should therefore be regarded as simple apostolic letters addressed either to the bishops of the whole world or only to those of a given nation. For example, the *Vix pervenit* (1 November 1743) of Benedict XIV, on usury and other dishonest gains, was addressed to the Italian bishops; the *Iam pridem nobis* (1886) was addressed to the bishops of Prussia on the conditions of the Church in Germany; and the *Permoti nos* (1895) was addressed to the bishops of Belgium on the social question and the union of Catholics. At other times, they are addressed directly to all the faithful. The usual inscription is as follows: “To our venerable brothers, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the entire Catholic world who are in the grace (peace) and communion of the Apostolic See,” followed by the Pope’s name with the words: “Venerable brothers, greeting and apostolic blessing.” They are usually written in Latin; this task falls to the Secretariat of Latin Letters and Briefs to Princes (*const. apost.* *Sapienti consilio*, 29 June 1908, III, 5: *AAS*, 1 [1909], p. 17; can. 264 CIC). Rarely are they written in the vernacular: *Chiamati dalla divina provvidenza* (1831) of Gregory XVI; *Vi è ben noto* (1887), *Dall’alto* (1890), *Au milieu* (1892) of Leo XIII; *Mit brennender Sorge* (1937) and *No es muy concordia* (1937) of Pius XI. Today it is customary to add a title indicating the subject matter. This usually concerns the universal Church, and in some cases particular Churches; in the latter instance, the letter is addressed to the Church concerned, though the decisions and principles may, under the same conditions, be applied to all the faithful.
3. Value
Encyclicals, in general, do not contain *ex cathedra* definitions that include the character of infallibility, but they often contain directives that are binding on all the faithful, especially when the Pope condemns errors or summarizes the teaching of the Church on a given subject. This obligatory force derives from the ordinary and universal magisterium, based on the primacy that the Roman Pontiff has over the whole Church; therefore, although the propositions are not infallible or definitive, they nevertheless possess a special authority because of their source. However, the form and external conditions of definitions, as well as the Pope’s intention to define, are lacking with regard to infallibility.
4. Classification
Today it is common practice to group various encyclicals that deal with the same subject under a single title. The main classifications are: dogmatic encyclicals, which do not contain definitions or juridical norms but condemn errors that are beginning to spread in the Church; and hortatory encyclicals, which are addressed to the whole world so that, with renewed fervor, special favors from heaven may be implored.