SATIS COGNITUM. - Encyclical of Leo XIII (30 June 1896) on the unity of the Church (Acta Leonis XIII, XVI, Rome 1897, pp. 157-210; partially in Denz-U, 1954-62).
It opens by alluding to the twofold error of those who deny the visibility of the Church by taking refuge in its supernatural character, or who regard it as merely visible, as an ordinary institution, refusing it the qualification of regulator of the divine communications. The Church, the Pontiff affirms, is a society simultaneously external and internal, visible and invisible, human and divine (theandrism) like its model and head, Jesus Christ. This divine institution, to which any Nestorianism (visibility alone) and ecclesiological Monophysitism (invisibility alone) is repugnant, is, in imitation of Christ, of whom it is the prolongation, «one», and therefore enjoys the unity of faith (magisterium), of worship (ministry) and of regime (jurisdictional government). So that the internal government of the Church might be endowed with perfect unity, Christ established the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, which does not destroy or diminish the episcopal power, but unifies, defends and strengthens it.
The encyclical illustrates, among other things, important points of ecclesiology, the intimate theandric structure of the Church, its unity, the magisterium and its necessity and importance, the Roman primacy and its relationship with the episcopate.
Bibliography2 works
Antonio Piolanti