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The Magisterium
Encyclicals, council documents, the Catechism, and Canon Law — each linked to its official source.
Council Document
The Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, affirming what is true and holy in other religions while proclaiming Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and repudiating all hatred and persecution.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Letter
The apostolic letter written at the close of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, given as the Holy Door of Saint Peter's was sealed. It looks back on the graces of the Jubilee, contemplates the face of Christ crucified and risen, and then sets a programme for the new millennium that is not a new strategy but holiness: 'Duc in altum', put out into the deep. It calls for a genuine training in prayer, Sunday Eucharist, the sacrament of Reconciliation, the primacy of grace, listening to the word and proclaiming it, and for a spirituality of communion lived in concrete charity toward the poor.
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The Decree on Priestly Training. Because seminaries differ so widely from place to place, the Council asks each country or rite to draw up its own programme of priestly formation, approved by the Apostolic See and revised as circumstances change. It then treats the fostering of vocations as a duty of the whole Christian community, beginning with families and parishes; the purpose of minor seminaries; the spiritual formation of seminarians around the Eucharist, the Scriptures and the liturgy, and their preparation for celibacy and obedience; and the revision of ecclesiastical studies, with a philosophical and theological formation that draws on Scripture as the soul of theology and takes Saint Thomas as a guide. It closes with strictly pastoral training and with the insistence that formation continue after ordination.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Letter
A brief apostolic letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church on reserving priestly ordination to men alone. It rehearses the constant tradition: that Christ chose the Twelve from among men, that the Apostles did otherwise, that the Church has always so understood herself, and that this is a matter not of the dignity of women — which the same pontificate had defended at length — but of the Church's lack of authority over the form Christ himself gave to the ministerial priesthood. It closes with a formal declaration that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the faithful.
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches, promulgated on the same day as Lumen Gentium and Unitatis Redintegratio. The Council declares that the Catholic Church is made up of particular Churches or rites which are of equal dignity, none of them superior to the others by reason of rite, and that the Eastern Churches are to keep their own liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary heritage whole and entire, restoring what has been lost through circumstances of time or person. It confirms the rights and privileges of the Eastern patriarchs, restores to Eastern priests the faculty of administering confirmation with the sacred chrism, treats the observance of the Eastern liturgical laws and the use of the vernacular, and lays down careful norms for relations with the Eastern Christians not in full communion with Rome, including the limited sharing in sacraments that the Council permits under specified conditions.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
Pope John XXIII's encyclical on establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and liberty. The first encyclical addressed to 'all people of good will,' it sets out the rights and duties of persons and the ordering of relations between states.
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The encyclical of Pope Saint Pius X analyzing and condemning the errors of Modernism, which he called 'the synthesis of all heresies.'
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, approved in the fourth session of the First Vatican Council. Its four chapters define that Christ instituted the apostolic primacy in Saint Peter; that this primacy endures by Christ's own institution in the Roman Pontiffs, Peter's successors; that the Roman Pontiff's power is a primacy of true, ordinary and immediate episcopal jurisdiction over the whole Church and over each of the faithful, which does not diminish but supports the ordinary jurisdiction of the bishops in their own sees; and that when he speaks ex cathedra — that is, when as pastor and teacher of all Christians he defines by his supreme apostolic authority a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church — he possesses that infallibility with which Christ willed his Church to be endowed. The Council was suspended before it could complete its treatment of the Church; that work was taken up by Lumen Gentium.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Letter
The apostolic letter marking the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as patron of the universal Church, which also opened a Year of Saint Joseph. Written in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and dedicated to the hidden people who quietly carry others through a crisis, it contemplates Joseph under seven headings: a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a creatively courageous father, a working father, and a father in the shadows. It closes with a prayer to Saint Joseph and a note on the plenary indulgences granted for the Year.
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The Decree on the Up-to-Date Renewal of Religious Life. The Council sets out the twofold principle that has guided renewal ever since: a continuous return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original inspiration behind each institute, together with an adjustment of the institute to the changed conditions of the times — a renewal that is finally the work of the heart, since even the best adaptations avail nothing without a renewal of spirit. It then treats the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience one by one, the common life and its prayer and the Eucharist at its centre, the religious habit as a sign of consecration, the different forms of religious life from the contemplative to the apostolic, and the formation of members, insisting that no institute be renewed without the participation of its own members.
Read on vatican.va →Declaration
A declaration on certain questions concerning sexual ethics, approved by Paul VI and issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at a moment of widespread confusion about the moral norms governing sexuality. It restates that the moral principles in this field flow from the finality of the sexual act within marriage and are not merely conventional; it reaffirms the immorality of sexual relations outside marriage, addresses homosexual acts while distinguishing them from the persons concerned, and treats masturbation, the formation of conscience, the necessity of grace and the virtue of chastity as a work of the Holy Spirit.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
Pope Paul VI's encyclical on the development of peoples, teaching that authentic development must be integral — promoting the good of the whole person and of all people — and that 'development is the new name for peace.'
Read on vatican.va →Motu Proprio
The apostolic letter given motu proprio by which Benedict XVI announced a Year of Faith, to run from 11 October 2012 — the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth of the publication of the Catechism — to the Solemnity of Christ the King in 2013. Taking its title from the Acts of the Apostles' 'door of faith', it calls for a rediscovery of the journey of faith, a renewed reading of the Council's documents and of the Catechism, a profession of the Creed, and a faith that works through charity, so that the new evangelisation may be rooted in conversion.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Constitution
The apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia and its service to the Church and to the world, promulgated on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph and in force from Pentecost 2022. It replaces Pastor Bonus and reorganises the Curia around evangelisation: the Dicastery for Evangelisation, presided over by the pope himself, is placed first, followed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for the Service of Charity. It renames congregations and councils uniformly as dicasteries, states that any member of the faithful may head a dicastery since governance flows from the canonical mission rather than from ordination, and stresses synodality, subsidiarity and service to the local Churches.
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, promulgated on the Council's last working day. Three chapters treat the place of the priesthood in the Church's mission, the priest sharing through ordination in the one priesthood of Christ the Teacher, Priest and King; the priestly ministry itself — the ministry of the word, the sacraments and above all the Eucharist as the source and summit of all evangelisation, and the pastoral guidance of God's people — together with the priest's relations with his bishop, with his brother priests, and with the laity, and his duty to foster vocations; and finally the life of priests, their call to holiness in and through their ministry, celibacy embraced as a gift, voluntary poverty and obedience, the spiritual helps of prayer, study and retreat, and the just provision to be made for their support.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
The encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the study of Sacred Scripture, defending its divine inspiration and inerrancy and encouraging sound biblical scholarship.
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Issued forty years after Rerum Novarum, this encyclical of Pope Pius XI develops Catholic social doctrine, articulating the principle of subsidiarity and calling for the reconstruction of the social order according to justice and charity.
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The encyclical of Pope Pius XI instituting the Feast of Christ the King, proclaiming the kingship of Jesus Christ over individuals, families, and nations.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Exhortation
The post-synodal apostolic exhortation to the People of God and to all persons of good will, following the 2019 Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazon Region. Rather than repeat the Synod's final document, which he formally presents alongside it, Francis offers four dreams for the Amazon: a social dream of a region where the rights of the poorest and of the indigenous peoples are defended; a cultural dream of preserving the region's distinctive human richness; an ecological dream of protecting the natural beauty entrusted to it; and an ecclesial dream of Christian communities with an Amazonian face, with inculturated liturgy and catechesis and a strengthened role for lay ministry and for women.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Exhortation
The post-synodal apostolic exhortation on reconciliation and penance in the mission of the Church today, following the 1983 Synod of Bishops. Its three parts treat conversion and reconciliation as the Church's own work, the mystery of sin — including the distinction between mortal and venial sin and the careful correction of the notion of merely 'social' or structural sin — and the means by which the Church acts: catechesis, penance, and above all the sacrament of Penance. It insists on the enduring value of individual and integral confession as the ordinary way of reconciling the baptised with God and the Church.
Read on vatican.va →Instruction
An instruction on certain matters to be observed or avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist, prepared at the request of John Paul II in Ecclesia de Eucharistia and given on the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Its eight chapters set out the regulation of the sacred liturgy, the participation proper to the lay faithful, the celebration of Mass and its parts, the distribution and reception of Holy Communion, other aspects of eucharistic worship including reservation and adoration, extraordinary functions of the lay faithful, and remedies for abuses — listing the graviora delicta and other grave matters and the right of the faithful to a liturgy celebrated according to the books.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
The inaugural encyclical of Pope John Paul II, proclaiming that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of man, is the center of the cosmos and of history, and that the human person is 'the way of the Church.'
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The encyclical of Pope Saint John Paul II on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the pilgrim Church, contemplating her faith and maternal mediation.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
The encyclical of Pope Saint John Paul II on the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate, calling for a renewed commitment to the proclamation of Christ.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
The foundational document of modern Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIII addresses the condition of the working classes, affirming the dignity of labor, the right to private property, the right of workers to a just wage and to form associations, and rejecting both unrestrained capitalism and socialism.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Letter
The apostolic letter on the Most Holy Rosary, which opened the Year of the Rosary at the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of John Paul II's pontificate. It presents the Rosary as a Christ-centred and contemplative prayer, a compendium of the Gospel prayed in Mary's company and at her school. Its best known contribution is the proposal of five new mysteries of light — the Baptism in the Jordan, the wedding at Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration, and the institution of the Eucharist — and it also gives practical guidance on how to pray the beads well and commends the Rosary for peace and for the family.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
The encyclical of Pope Saint Paul VI on priestly celibacy, expounding its meaning and value as a gift of self in imitation of Christ for the sake of the Kingdom.
Read on vatican.va →Apostolic Exhortation
The post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church's life and mission, following the 2005 Synod of Bishops that closed the Year of the Eucharist. It is built on three headings drawn from the Synod: the Eucharist as a mystery to be believed, treating the Trinitarian and ecclesial faith of the Church; a mystery to be celebrated, on the ars celebrandi, active participation, sacred music, silence and the liturgical books; and a mystery to be lived, on eucharistic consistency in moral and social life. It also treats eucharistic adoration, Sunday, and the discipline of communion.
Read on vatican.va →Encyclical
An encyclical on consecrated virginity, given on the Annunciation during the Marian Year of 1954. Pius XII gathers the witness of Scripture and the Fathers on virginity embraced for the kingdom of heaven: it is a counsel, not a precept, freely offered to those who can receive it; its first motive is an undivided heart, free to be occupied with the things of the Lord; and it is fruitful, since those who renounce natural motherhood and fatherhood beget a spiritual family. Against opinions then current the Pope reaffirms the Church's constant teaching, defined at the Council of Trent, that the state of virginity consecrated to God is more excellent than the married state, without in any way disparaging Christian marriage, which he calls a great sacrament. The encyclical closes with the means by which chastity is preserved — vigilance and mortification, humility, prayer, the Eucharist, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Read on vatican.va →Council Document
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy — the first major document of the Second Vatican Council. Calls for the full, conscious, and active participation of the faithful in the liturgy and authorizes the liturgical reform that produced the Roman Missal of 1969.
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