On encyclicals

Since the release of the second encyclical of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Spe salvi, on 30 November 2007, I have been considering a series of posts commenting on the encyclical.

I have been, to be sure, rather surprised not to find much mention of or commentary on the encyclical around the blogosphere, especially considering the great buzz that accompanied its release. Certainly I am not the most qualified to comment on the Pontiff’s writings, but I will what I am able.

First, though, a few comments about encyclicals in general.

The English word “encyclical” comes from the Latin word encyclicus, meaning “circular.” Simply put, an encyclical is a circular letter.

In the glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an encyclical is defined as “a pastoral letter written by the Pope and sent to the whole Church and even to the whole world, to express Church teaching on some important matter. Encyclicals are expressions of the ordinary papal magisterium.”

The title of an individual encyclical, like the tile for most ecclesial documents, is taken from the opening sentence of document in Latin, a practice borrowed from that of the Roman Empire.

Sometimes the title will clearly reveal the topic of the document, as is the case with Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus caritas est (which translates, “God is love”) on the topic of Christian love. Other times the title will have little to do with the document’s topic, as is the case with the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (which translates, “this sacred Council”) on the sacred Liturgy.

An encyclical is cited like the Catechism and other ecclesial documents: by paragraph number and not by page number. This ensures that people everywhere can find the citation with great ease; regardless of the publication of the work they have available. The page numbers of different publications can vary greatly depending on page size, font size, commentary within footnotes, etc. Regardless of the publication, the paragraph number remains the same.

And now for my initial commentary on Spe salvi.