THE AMERICA PRESS/

UJJi'UUUC CHURCH. tOPB,
1963-

(PAULUS VI) . ECCLESIAM
SUAH.

" LIBRArv



Copyright 1964 by the America Press, 920 Broadway, New York 10, N.Y.



ECCLESIUM

SUAM

THEPATHSOF

THE CHURCH

(PAGE 2)

Text of Ecclesiam Suam

(CENTER PAGES)

Topical Summary

(PAGE 60)

Review Questions

(INSIDE BACK COVER)

Selected Bibliography



To Our Venerable Brothers

The Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops

And Other Local Ordinaries

In Peace and Communion With the Apostolic See,

To the Clergy and Faithful of the Whole World

And to All Men of Good WiU

POPE PAUL IV

Venerable Brothers

And Beloved Children,

Health and Apostolic Benediction

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Prologue

PURPOSE OF ENCYCLICAL

1. Since Jesus Christ founded His Church to be the loving

mother of all men and the dispenser of salvation, it is obvious

why she has always been specially loved and cherished by those

with the glory of God and the eternal salvation of men at heart,

among whom, as is fitting, the Vicars of Christ on earth, vast

numbers of bishops and priests and a wonderful host of saintly

Christians have been conspicuous.

2. It will, then, not seem strange to anyone that, in ad-

dressing to the world this first encyclical after Our elevation, in

God’s inscrutable design, to the pontifical throne. We should

turn Our thoughts with love and reverence toward Holy Church.

3. Consequently, We propose to Ourself in this encyclical

the task of showing more clearly to all men the Church’s im-

portance for the salvation of mankind, and her heartfelt desire

that Church and mankind should meet each other and should

come to know and love each other.

4. At the opening of the second session of the Second

Vatican Ecumenical Council, on the feast of St. Michael the

Archangel last year, through the goodness of God We had the

opportunity of speaking to all of you as you were gathered in

the basilica of St. Peter. On that occasion We made clear Our

intention to address you also in writing, as is customary at the

3



outset of each pontificate, with brotherly and fatherly words,

in order to communicate to you some of the dominant thoughts

in Our heart that seem useful as practical guidelines at the

begiiming of Our service as Pope.

5. It is truly difiicult for Us to specify such thoughts,

because We ought to derive them from the attentive meditation

of the teaching of God, We Ourself always keeping in mind

those words of Christ: My doctrine is not so much mine as that

of him who sent me} Further, We ought to apply Our thoughts

to the present situation of the Church at a time when both

energy and toil characterize its internal spiritual experience as

well as its external apostolic efforts. Finally, We ought not to

ignore the contemporary state of humanity, in the midst of

which Our mission is to be accomplished.

6. But it is not Our intention to express either ideas that

are new or ideas that are fully developed. The Ecumenical

Council exists for that purpose. Its work should not be disturbed

by this simple conversational letter of Ours; rather, it is to be

commended and encouraged.

7. This encyclical intends neither to claim a solemn and

strictly doctrinal function, nor to propose particular moral or

social teachings, but merely to communicate a fraternal and

informal message.

8. In fact, through this document We wish simply to

fulfill Our duty of revealing Our mind to you in order to impart

closer cohesion and deeper joy to that unity in faith and charity

which, thank God, binds us together. We hope thereby to inject

new vigor into Our sacred work, to await more profitably the

effective deliberations of the Ecumenical Council, and to impart

greater clarity to some doctrinal and practical norms that can

give helpful guidance to the spiritual and apostolic activity, not

only of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and of all who respond to it

1. John 7:16.

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THREE BASIC CONCERNS

with obedience and collaboration, but even of those who regard

it merely with kindly attention.

9. We will tell you without further delay, Venerable

Brethren, that there are three thoughts that continually disturb

Our heart when We reflect on the exalted responsibility that,

contrary to what We desire and out of all proportion to what

We deserve. Providence has willed to entrust to Us.

We bear the responsibility of ruling the Church of

Christ because We hold the office of Bishop of Rome and

consequently the office of successor to the blessed Apostle Peter,

the bearer of the master keys to the Kingdom of God, the vicar

of the same Christ who made of him the supreme shepherd of

His world-wide flock.

10. The first thought is that this is the hour in which the

Church should deepen its consciousness of itself, in which it

ought to meditate on that mystery which is peculiar to it, in

which it ought to examine, for its own enlightenment and for

its own development, a particular doctrine that it already knows

and that it has formulated and made known during this past

century.

That doctrine concerns the origin of the Church, its

nature, its mission, its ultimate destiny—a doctrine never suffi-
ciently investigated and understood inasmuch as it contains the

publication of a mystery, kept hidden from the beginning of

time in the all-creating mind of God ... in order that it may

be made known . . . through the Church.^ This teaching is a

mysterious storehouse, or, in other words, a treasury of the

mysterious plans of God, which are to be revealed through the

Church; it is today more than anything else conducive to medi-

tation for everyone who wishes to be a docile follower of Christ

2. Eph. 3:9-10.

5



and, to an even greater degree, for every man whom, like

Ourself and you, Venerable Brethren, the Holy Spirit has ap-

pointed as bishops to govern the very Church of God?

11. From this enlightened and effective realization arises

the spontaneous desire to compare the ideal image of the Church,

just as Christ sees it, wills it and loves it as His holy and im-

maculate spouse,^ with the actual image that the Church projects

today, faithful, through the grace of God, to the features that

its Divine Founder imparted to it and that, through the course

of the centuries, the Holy Spirit has energized and developed

in a way that is more comprehensive and more in accord with

the initial concept of the Church and with the nature of the

human race, which it is continually evangelizing and elevating.

But the actual image of the Church is never as perfect,

as lovely, as holy or as brilliant as that formative divine idea

would wish it to be.

12. Hence there arises the unselfish and almost impatient

need for renewal, for correction of the defects that this con-

science denounces and rejeets, as if, standing before a mirror,

we were to examine interiorly the image of Christ that He has

left us. To find the contemporary duty, so clearly incumbent

on the Church, of correcting the defects of its members and of

leading them to greater perfection; to find the way to achieve

wisely so sweeping a renovation—^this is the second thought
that burdens Our heart and that We would like to reveal to you,

in order not only to find greater courage to undertake the neces-

sary reforms but also to secure from your collaboration both

advice and support in so delicate and difficult an undertaking.

13. Our third thought, certainly shared by you, follows

from the first two, and concerns the relationships that the Church

of today should establish with the world that surrounds it

and in which it lives and labors.

3. Cf. Acts 20-:28.

4. Cf. Eph. 5:27.

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14. One part of this world, as everyone knows, has under-

gone the profound influence of Christianity and has assimilated

it so completely that often it fails to realize that it owes the

credit for its greatest gifts to Christianity itself, but in recent

times has come to the point of separating and detaching itself

from the Christian foundations of its culture. Another and

larger part of the world extends to the boundless horizons of

those that are termed emerging nations. But, taken as a whole,

it is a world that offers the Church, not one, but a hundred

forms of possible contacts, of which some are unimpeded and

beckoning, some are sensitive and complex, and, unfortunately,

in these days, many are hostile and impervious to friendly

dialogue.

15. Thus we meet what has been termed the problem of

the dialogue between the Church and the modem world. This

is a problem that it will be for the Council to determine in its

vastness and complexity, and to solve, as far as possible, to the

best of its ability. But its existence and its urgency are such as

to create a burden on Our soul, a stimulus, a vocation, one

might term it, that we would wish, both Ourself and you.

Brothers, who are surely not less experienced than We in this

apostolic anguish, to clarify in some way in order to prepare

ourselves somehow for the discussions and deliberations that

we shall try, together in the Council, to outline in our treatment

of a matter so weighty and complex.

16. Surely you will notice that this summary outline of

Our encyclical does not envisage the treatment of urgent and

serious topics that involve not only the Church but humanity

itself, such as peace among nations and among social classes,

the destitution and famine that still plague entire countries, the

rise of new nations toward independence and civic progress, the

currents of modem thought and Christian culture, the sad con-

ditions of so many people and of so many segments of the Church



where the rights of free citizens and human beings are denied,

the moral problems associated with birth rates and so on.

17. Regarding the great and universal question of world

peace, We say at once that We shah feel it specially incumbent

upon Us not merely to devote a watchful and imderstanding

interest, but also to entertain a more assiduous and efficacious

concern. This wiU be, of course, within the limits of Our ministry

and thus utterly divorced from purely temporal interests and

strictly political forms, but it will be eager to make its contri-

bution in educating mankind to sentiments and ways of acting

contrary to violent and deadly conffict, and in fostering rational

and civilized agreements for peaceful relations between nations.

We shall also be solicitous to help by proclaiming

higher human principles, which should serve to temper the

passions and selfishness from which armed conflicts spring, and

promote the harmonious relations and fruitful collaboration of

all peoples, and We shall be ready to intervene, where an oppor-

tunity presents itself, m order to assist the contending parties to
find honorable and fraternal solutions for their disputes.

We do not, indeed, forget that this loving service is

a duty that the development of doctrine, on the one hand, and

of international institutions, on the other, has rendered all the

more urgent in Our awareness of Our Christian mission in

the world today. This mission is none other than making men

brothers by virtue of the kingdom of justice and peace inaug-

urated by Christ’s coming into the world.

18. But even if We now limit Ourself to some method-

ological considerations concerning the life of the Church, We

do not therefore forget those great problems. To some of them

the Coimcil will devote its attention, while We personally will

make them the objects of Our study and of Our action in the

course of the exercise of Our apostolic ministry, as it shall please

the Lord to give Us the inspiration and the strength for the task.

8



I Self-Awareness

CALL FOR AWARENESS

19. We think that it is a duty today for the Church to

deepen the awareness that she must have of herself, of the

treasure of truth of which she is heir and custodian, and of her

mission in the world. Even before proposing for study any

particular question, and even before considering what attitude

to assume before the world around her, the Church in this

moment must reflect on herself to And strength in the knowledge

of her place in the divine plan; to find again greater light, new

energy and fuller joy in the fulfilment of her own mission; and

to determine the best means for making more immediate, more

efficacious and more beneficial her contacts with mankind, to

which she belongs, even though distinguished from it by unique

and unmistakable characteristics.

20. Indeed it seems to Us that such an act of reflection

can look to the very manner chosen by God to reveal Himself

to men and to establish with them those religious bonds of which

the Church is both the instrument and the expression. Because

if it is true that divine revelation was made in many ways and

by many means^ in an established historical context, none the

less it entered into human life by ways proper to the human

word and the grace of God, who communicates Himself in-

teriorly to men by their listening to the message of salvation

5. Heb. 1:1.

9



and by the act of faith that follows and that is at the beginning

of our justification.

21. We should wish this reflection on the origin and on the

nature of the new and vital relationship that the religion of

Christ establishes between God and man to become an act of

docility to the words the Divine Teacher spoke to His listen-

ers, and especially to His disciples, among whom even today,

and with good reason. We Ourself like to be considered.

From among so many We will choose one of the

weightiest and most often repeated recommendations made

to them by our Lord, which is still valid today for whoever

wishes to be His faithful follower, namely, vigilance.

22. It is true that this warning of our Master has to do

principally with man’s final destiny, be it proximate or remote

in time. But precisely because this vigilance should always be

present and operative in the conscience of the faithful servantj

it determines his everyday behavior, characteristic of the Chris-

tian in the world.

The Lord’s reminder about vigilance is also made with

reference to close and immediate things, that is, to the dangers

and temptations that can threaten damage or ruin to man’s

conduct.® Thus, it is easy to discover in the gospel a continuous

appeal to rectitude of thought and action.

Was this not indeed the theme of the Precursor’s

preaching, by which the public phase of the Gospel begins?

And did not Jesus Christ Himself call for the Kingdom of God

to be received interiorly?^ Is not His whole pedagogy an ex-

hortation and an initiation to the interior life? Psychological

awareness and moral conscience are both called by Christ to d

simultaneous maturity, as a condition for receiving the divine

gifts of truth and of grace, as ultimately befits man. And this

6. Cf. Matt. 26:41.

7. Cf. Luke 17:21.

10



awareness of the disciple will later become his recollection® of

what Jesus taught and of what took place around Him; it will

develop and will lead the mind to understand who He was and

what He taught and did.

SUMMONS TO ALL BELIEVERS

23. The birth of the Church and the enlightenment of

her prophetic consciousness are the two characteristic events

that coincide with Pentecost. Together they will progress: the

Church will advance in her organization and in the development

of her hierarchy and of the body of the faithful; more awareness

of her vocation, of her mysterious nature, of her doctrine,

of her mission will accompany this gradual development. This

will be according to the desire of St. Paul: And this is my prayer

for you; may your love grow richer and richer yet, in the fullness

of its knowledge and the depth of its perception.^

24. We could express this invitation in another way,

which We address to each of those who wish to receive it—that
is, to each of you. Venerable Brothers, and to your followers,

as also the gathering of the faithful considered as a whole, which

is the Church. And thus We could invite all men to make a

living, profound and conscious act of faith in Jesus Christ.

We should mark this moment of our religious life by

such a profession of faith, firm and resolute, though always

humble and timorous, similar to the one we read about in the

Gospel, uttered by the man born blind, whose eyes Jesus Christ

had opened with a goodness equal to His power: I do believe,

Lord!^^ Or that of Martha in the same Gospel: Yes, Lord, I

have learned to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,

8. Cf. Matt. 26:75; Luke 24:8; John 14:26 and 16:4.

9. Phil. 1:9.

10.

John 9:38.

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he who has come into this world;^^ or that, specially dear to Us,

of Simon, who was later to become Peter: You are the Christ,

the Son of the Living God}^

25. Why do We have the boldness to invite you to this

act of ecclesiastical awareness? To this explicit, though interior,

act of faith?

26. Many are the reasons, in Our opinion, and they all

derive from the profound and key demands of the imique

moment reached in the life of the Church.

27. The Church needs to reflect on herself. She needs to

feel the throb of her own life. She must learn to know herself

better, if she wishes to live her proper vocation and to offer to

the world her message of brotherhood and of salvation.

She needs to experience Christ in herself, according

to the words of the Apostle Paul: May Christ find a dwelling

place, through faith, in your hearts}^

MISGUIDED EFFORTS

28. It is known to all that the Church has her roots deep

in mankind, that she is part of it, that she draws her members

from it, that she receives from it precious treasures of culture,

that she suffers from its historical vicissitudes, that she favors

its progress.

Now, it is likewise known that at present mankind

is undergoing great transformations, upheavals and develop-

ments that are profoundly changing not only its exterior modes

of life but also its ways of thinking. Mankind’s range of thought,

culture and spirit have been intimately modified either by sci-

entific, technical and social progress or by the currents of philo-

sophical and political thought that overwhelm or pass through

11. Ibid., 11:27.

12. Matt. 16:16.

13. Eph. 3:17.

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it. All this, like the waves of an ocean, envelops and agitates

the Church itself. Men committed to the Church are greatly

influenced by the climate of the world; so much so that a danger

bordering almost on dizzying confusion and bewilderment can

shake the Church’s very foundations and lead men to em-

brace most bizarre ways of thinking, as though the Church

should disavow herself and take up the very latest and untried

ways of life.

Was not the phenomenon of Modernism, for example,

which stUl crops up in certain attempts at formulating what is

foreign to the authentic nature of the Catholic religion, an

episode of subversion aimed at the faithful and genuine ex-

pression of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of Christ

by psychological and cultural forces of the profane world? Now

it seems to Us that to check the oppressive and complex danger

coming from many sides, a good and obvious remedy is for

the Church to deepen her awareness of what she really is

according to the mind of Christ, as preserved in Sacred Scripture

and in Tradition, and interpreted and developed by the authentic

tradition of the Church. The Church is, as we know, enlightened

and guided by the Holy Spirit, who is still ready, if we implore

Him and listen to Him, to fulfill without fail the promise of

Christ: the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send on my ac-

count, will in his turn make everything plain, and recall to your

minds everything I have said to you}*

29. We could make a similar discourse concerning errors
that circulate even within the Church, into which fall those who

have but a partial understanding of its nature and of its mission,

and who do not pay close enough attention to the documents

of divine Revelation and of the teaching body established by

Christ Himself.

30. Moreover, this need to consider in reflection things

14. John 14:26.

13



that are known, in order to contemplate them in the interior

mirror of one’s own mind, is characteristic of the mentality of

modem man. His thought easily turns back upon itself and

finds certitude and fullness in the light of its own conscience. We

must say that this process is not free of serious danger. Philo-

sophical movements of great renown have studied and extolled

this form of man’s spiritual activity as something definitive and

supreme, as though it were the measure and source of reality,

urging thought on to conclusions that are abstruse, barren,

contradictory and radically fallacious.

But this does not mean that an education aiming at

the search for reflex truth within man’s consciousness is not

to be appreciated and accepted today as a most refined ex-

pression of modem culture. Indeed, this habit, carefully co-

ordinated with the development of thought for the purpose of

(fiscovering tmth where it coincides with objective reality, does

not prevent the exercise of the consciousness from manifesting

to the one who undertakes it the fact of his existence, of his

spiritual dignity and of his ability to know and to act.

LAUDABLE ADVANCES

31. It is well known, moreover, that in recent years the

Church has undertaken a deeper study of herself through the

work of outstanding scholars, of great and profound minds, of

competent theological schools, of pastoral and missionary en-

deavors, of remarkable experiences in the field of religion, and

above all, of noteworthy teachings of the Popes.

32. It would take too long even to allude to the abundant

theological literature dealmg with the Church and produced by

her during the last and the present century. It would also take

too long to recall the documents that the episcopacy and this

Apostolic See have issued on this vast and important subject.

From the time the Council of Trent sought to repair the con-

14



sequences of the crisis that separated from the Church many of

her members in the 16th century, the doctrine concerning the

Church was studied by eminent scholars and consequently made

great progress.

Suffice it for us here to refer to the teachings of the

First Ecumenical Vatican Council in this field to understand

how studies on the Church are a subject that claims the attention

of pastors and teachers, of the faithful and of all Christians.

Thus they are made to dwell on a theme that is a necessary step

on the path leading to Christ and His work. So much so that,

as has already been said, the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council

is but a continuation and a complement of the First, precisely

because of the task incumbent upon it to take up again for

study and definition the doctrine dealing with the Church.

And if out of a desire for brevity We say no more, inasmuch

as We are addressing those who are well acquainted with this

subject of instruction and of spirituality currently of wide in-

terest throughout the Church, there are two documents that We

cannot fail to honor with specific mention: the encyclical Satis

Cognitum, of Pope Leo XIII (1896), and the encyclical

Mystici Corporis, of Pope Pius XII (1943). These documents

offer us ample and clear teachings on the divine institution by

which Christ continues His work of salvation in the world, which

today is the subject matter of these words of Ours.

Let it be enough to cite the opening words of the second

of these encyclicals, which has become, one might say, an author-

itative text on the theology of the Church and a rich source of

spiritual meditations on this work of divine mercy that concerns

us all. Let it suffice to recall these masterly words of Our great

predecessor:

We first learned of the Mystical Body of Christ, which

15. Acta Leonis XIII, \I (1896), 156-210.
16. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXXV (1943), 193-248.

15



is the Church, from the lips of the Redeemer Himself. Ulus-

trating, as it does, the great and inestimable privilege of our

intimate union with a Head so exalted, this doctrine is certainly

calculated by its sublime dignity to draw all spiritually minded

men to deep and serious study, and to give them, in the truths

it unfolds to the mind, a strong incentive to such virtuous con-

duct as is conformable to its lessons.^’’

33. It is in answer to such an invitation, which We con-

sider still vital and meaningful and expressive of one of the

fundamental needs of the Church in Our times, that We pro-

pose it again today. With an ever growing knowledge of this

same Mystical Body, We may come to appreciate its God-given

importance, and in this way strengthen Our souls with this in-

comparable source of consolation and always increase Our abil-

ity to fulfil the duties of Our mission and to meet the needs of

mankind.

Nor does it seem to Us a difficult thing to do, when

on the one hand We notice, as We have said, a vast renascence

of studies on the Church, and, on the other. We know that it is

the principal object of attention of the Second Ecumenical Vati-

can Council.

We should hke to pay special tribute to those scholars

who, especially during these last years, with perfect docility to

the teaching authority of the Church and with outstanding gifts

of research and expression, have with great dedication under-

taken many difficult and fruitful studies on the Church. These

scholars, both in theological schools and in scientific and literary

discussions, as well as in apologetics and in the popularization

of dogma, in the spiritual assistance rendered to the faithful

and in conversations with the separated brethren, have offered

many and diverse illustrations of the teaching on the Church.

Some of these are of outstanding value and utility.

n. Ibid., 193.

16



34. And so We are confident that the work of the Council

will be assisted by the light of the Holy Spirit. It will be carried

out and brought to a happy conclusion through docility to His

divine inspirations, through earnest effort to undertake fuller

and deeper investigations into the pristine thinking of Christ

and the necessary and legitimate developments that have fol-

lowed in the course of time, through eagerness to make of divine

truth an argument for union and not a reason to divide men in

sterile discussions or regrettable divisions. It will rather lead

them to greater understanding and concord; the result will be

a source of glory for God, joy for the Church and edification

for the world.

AWAITING THE COUNCIL

35. In this encyclical We deliberately refrain from passing

any judgment of Our own on doctrinal points concerning the

Church that are at present under examination by the Council,

over which We have been called to preside. It is Our desire to

leave full liberty of study and discussion to such an important

and authoritative assembly. In virtue of Our office as teacher

and pastor, and placed at the head of the Church of God, We

reserve to Ourself the choice of the proper moment and manner

of expressing Our judgment. We will be most happy if We can

present it in full accord with that of the conciliar Fathers.

36. However, we cannot avoid alluding rapidly to the

results We hope will derive from the Council, and from the

efforts We mentioned above, which the Church must make to

come to a fuller and firmer awareness of herself. These results

are the aims We have set for Our apostolic ministry as We

undertake its tremendous and consoling responsibilities. They

are, so to speak, the program of Our pontificate. We tell you

this. Venerable Brethren, briefly but in all sincerity, so that you

will be willing to help Us put it into effect by your advice, by

17



your support, by your collaboration. We think that by opening

Our heart to you, We are opening it not only to all the faithful

of the Church of God, but especially to those whom Our voice

can reach beyond the wide limits of the flock of Christ.

THE church: mystical body

37. The first benefit to be reaped from a deepened aware-

ness of herself by the Church is a renewed discovery of her vital

bond of union with Christ. This is something that is very well

known, but it is something that is fundamental and indispensable

and never sufficiently understood, meditated upon and honored.

What should We not say about this central theme of

all our religious inheritance? Fortunately, you already have an

excellent grasp of this doctrine. We will say no more at this

time except to urge you to keep it always before your eyes as a

directive principle both in your spirituality and in your preach-

ing. Rather than to Our Words, listen to the exhortation of Our

Predecessor already mentioned, in his encyclical Mystici Cor-

poris: We must accustom ourselves to see Christ in the Church.

It is Christ who lives in the Church, who teaches, governs and

sanctifies through it. It is Christ, too, who manifests Himself

differently in different members of His society.

How We should like to dwell on the thoughts that come

to mind from Sacred Scripture, from the Fathers, the doctors and

the saints when We considra* this enlightening truth of our faith.

Did not Jesus Himself tell us that He is the vine and we the

branches?^® Do we not have before us all the riches of St, Paul’s

teaching, who never ceases to remind us: you are all one person

in Jesus Christ?^^ And to recommend to us: let us grow up, in

everything, into a due proportion with Christ, who is our head;

18. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXXV (1943), 238.
19. Cf. John 15:1 sqq.

20. Gal. 3:28.

18



on Him all the body depends?^^ And to admonish us: there is

nothing but Christ in any of us?^^

Suffice it to recall St. Augustine as the one teacher

among many who could be cited: Let us rejoice and give thanks

that we have become not only Christians but Christ. My broth-

ers, do you understand the grace of God our head? Stand in

admiration, rejoice; we have become Christ. For if he is the

head, we are the members; he and we are the complete man. . . .

Therefore, the fullness of Christ is constituted by the head and

members. What is the head and the members? Christ and the

Church.^

THE church: mystery

38. We know well that this is a mystery. It is the mystery

of the Church. And if, with the help of God, we fix our gaze

on this mystery, we will receive many spiritual benefits, the

very ones We believe the Church today stands in greatest need

of. The presence of Christ, His very life will become operative

in each one and in the whole of the Mystical Body by reason

of the working of a living and life-giving faith, according to the

words of the Apostle: May Christ find a dwelling place, through

faith, in your hearts.^*

Indeed, awareness of the mystery of the Church is a

result of a mature and living faith. From such a faith comes

that feeling for the Church that fills the Christian who has been

raised in the school of the divine word. He has been nourished

by the grace of the sacraments and of the ineffable inspirations

of the Paraclete, has been trained in the practice of the virtues

of the Gospel, has been imbued with the culture and community

21. Eph. 4:15-16.

22. Col. 3:11.

23. In loannem Tract., 21:8. (P.L. XXXV, 1568).

24. Eph. 3:17.

19



life of the Church, and is profoundly happy to find himself en-

dowed with that royal priesthood proper to the people of God.^®

39. The mystery of the Church is not a mere object of

theological knowledge; it is something to be lived, something

that the faithful soul can have a kind of connatural experience

of, even before arriving at a clear notion of it. Moreover, the

community of the faithful can be profoundly certain of its par-

ticipation in the Mystical Body of Christ when it realizes that

by divine institution the ministry of the hierarchy of the Church

is there to give it a beginning, to give it birth,^® to teach and

sanctify and direct it. It is by means of this divine instrumental-

ity that Christ communicates to His mystical members the mar-

vels of His truth and of His grace, and confers on His Mystical

Body, as it travels its pilgrim’s way through time, its visible

structure, its sublime unity, its ability to function organically,

its harmonious complexity, its spiritual beauty.

Images do not suffice to translate into meaningful

language the full reality and depth of this mystery. However,

after dwelling on the image of the Mystical Body, which was

suggested by the Apostle Paul, We should especially call to

mind one suggested by Christ Himself, that of the edifice for

which He is the architect and the builder, an edifice indeed

founded on a man who of himself is weak but who was mir-

aculously transformed by Christ into solid rock, that is, endowed

with marvelous and everlasting indefectibility: It is upon this

rock that I will build my Church.^’’

40. If we can awaken in ourselves such a strength-giving

feeling for the Church and instill it in the faithful by profound

and careful instruction, many of the difficulties that today

trouble students of ecclesiology—as for example, how the

25. Cf. 1 Peter 2:9.

26. Cf. Gal. 4:19; 1 Cor. 4:15.

27. Matt. 16:18.

20



Church can be at once both visible and spiritual, free and sub-

ject to discipline, communitarian and hierarchical, already holy

and yet still being sanctified, contemplative and active, and so

on—will be overcome in practice and solved by those who,
after being enlightened by sound teaching, experience the liv-

ing reality of the Church.

But above all, the Church’s spirituality will come forth

enriched and nourished by the faithful reading of Sacred Scrip-

ture, of the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and by

all that brings about in the Church such an awareness. We

mean systematic and accurate instruction, participation in that

incomparable school of words, signs and divine inspirations

that constitute the sacred liturgy, silent and fervent medita-

tion on divine truths, and finally, wholehearted dedication to

contemplative prayer.

The interior life still remains the great source of the

Church’s spirituality, her proper way of receiving the illumina-

tions of the Spirit of Christ, the fundamental and irreplaceable

manifestation of her religious and social activity, an impregnable

defense as well as an inexhaustible source of energy in her diffi-

cult contacts with the world.

MEANING OF BAPTISM

41. It is necessary to restore to holy baptism, that is, to

the fact of having been incorporated by means of this sacra-

ment into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church,

all of its significance. It is specially important that the baptized

person should have a highly conscious esteem of his elevation,

or rather of his rebirth to the most happy reality of being an

adopted son of God, to the dignity of being a brother of Christ,

to good fortune—^We mean to the grace and joy of the in-
dwelling of the Holy Spirit, and to a vocation to a new life. This

life has lost nothing human save only the unhappy fate of original

21



sin and, because it is human, it is capable of the finest mani-

festations and the most precious and sublime acts.

To be Christians, to have received holy baptism, must

not be looked upon as somediing indifferent or of little im-

portance, but it must be imprinted deeply and happily in the

conscience of every baptized person. He must truly look upon

it, as did the Christians of old, as an illumination, which, by

drawing down upon him the life-giving ray of divine Truth,

opens heaven to him, sheds light upon earthly life and enables

him to walk as a child of the light toward the vision of God,

the spring of eternal happiness.

42. It is easy to see what practical program this considera-

tion imposes on us and our ministry. We are happy to see that

this program is already being put into practice throughout the

whole Church and that it is being furthered with prudent and

ardent zeal. We encourage this activity. We commend it. We

bless it.

22



II Renewal

SEARCH FOR PERFECTION

43. We are taken up by the desire to see the Church of

God become what Christ wants her to be, one, holy, and entirely

dedicated to the pursuit of perfection to which she is effectively

called. Perfect as she is in the ideal conception of her Divine

Founder, the Church should tend toward becoming perfect in

the real expression of her earthly existence. This is the great

moral problem that is uppermost in the life of the Church, a

problem that reveals what she is, stimulates her, challenges her

and sustains her.

This search for perfection fills her with groanings and

prayers, with repentance and hope, with strength and confidence,

with responsibility and merits. It is a problem inherent in those

theological realities that give meaning to our human life.

Without reference to the teachings of Christ and to

the magisterium of the Church, it is impossible to pass judg-

ment on man. We cannot judge his nature, his primeval per-

fection, the ruinous consequences of original sin, man’s capaci-

ties for good, his need for help to desire and achieve what is

good, the meaning of the present life and his final end. We

cannot judge those values that man desires or controls, the

criterion of perfection and sanctity, or the means and ways

of enriching life with the highest beauty and fullness.

A strong desire to know the ways of Christ is and

23



ought to remain ever present in the Church. From discussion,

always fruitful and varied, regarding the questions having to

do with perfection, fresh nourishment has been provided in

the Church from century to century. We should therefore like

to see the unique interest that these deserved reawakened,

not so much for the sake of elaborating new theories as for

generating new energies. They should be used to acquire that

sanctity which Christ teaches. His example. His word. His

grace and His method, sustained by ecclesiastical tradition,

strengthened by divine action and exemplified in the lives of

the saints, make it possible for us to know, desire and follow

the path of sanctity.

44. In the pursuit of spiritual and moral perfection the

Church receives an exterior stimulus from the conditions in

which she lives. She cannot remain unaffected by or indifferent

to the changes that take place in the world around.

This world exerts its influence on the Church in a

thousand ways and places conditions on her daily conduct.

The Church, as everyone knows, is not separated from the world,

but lives in it. Hence, the members of the Church are subject

to its influence; they breathe its culture, accept its laws and

absorb its customs.

This imminent contact of the Church with temporal

society continually creates for her a problematic situation,

which today has become extremely diflScult. On the one hand

Christian life, as defended and promoted by the Church, must

always take great care lest it be deceived, profaned or stifled

as it strives to keep itself free from the contagion of error and

of evil. On the other hand, Christian life should not only be

adapted to the forms of thought and custom that the temporal

environment offers and imposes on her, provided they are com-

patible with the basic exigencies of her religious and moral

program, but it should also try to draw close to them, to purify

24



them, to ennoble them, to vivify and sanctify them. This task

demands of the Church a perennial examination of her moral

vigilance, which our times demand with particular urgency

and exceptional seriousness.

HELP FROM THE COUNCIL

45. From this point of view the celebration of the Council

is providential. The pastoral character it has assumed, the prac-

tical objectives of renewing canonical discipline, the desire to

make the practice of Christian life as easy as possible without

sacrificing its supernatural character—all these factors confer
on the Council an especial merit at this moment when we are

still awaiting the major part of its deliberations.

In fact, it awakens in pastors as well as in the faithful

the desire to preserve and increase in Christian life its character

of supernatural authenticity and reminds all of their duty of

effectively and deeply imprinting that character in their own

personal conduct, thus leading the weak to be good, the good

to be better, the better to be generous, and the generous to be

holy. It gives rise to new expressions of sanctity, urges love to

be genial, and evokes fresh outpourings of virtue and Christian

heroism.

46. Naturally, it will be for the Council to suggest what

reforms are to be introduced into the legislation of the Church.

The post-conciliar commissions, especially the one instituted

for the revision of Canon Law and already appointed by Us,

will formulate in concrete terms the deliberations of the Ecu-

menical Synod.

However, it will be your task. Venerable Brothers, to

indicate to Us the means by which to render the face of our

holy Church spotless and youthful.

But let Our determination to bring about such a re-

form be once again made manifest. How many times in centuries

25



past has this resolve been associated with the history of the

councils, and so let it be, once more. But this time it is not to

remove from the Church any specific heresies or general dis-

orders, which, by the grace of God, do not exist within her

today, but rather to infuse fresh spiritual vigor into the Mystical

Body of Christ, insofar as it is a visible society, purifying it

from the defects of many of its members and stimulating it to new

virtue.

47. To bring this about, with divine help, let Us place

before you some preliminary considerations suited to facilitate

the work of renewal, to instill into it needed courage, since it

cannot be done without sacrifice, and to indicate some broad

outlines along which the reform can be better effected.

NORMS FOR TRUE REFORM

48. We should remember above all certain norms to guide

us in this work of reform. The reform cannot concern either

the essential conception of the Church or its basic structure.

We would be putting the word reform to the wrong use if we

were to employ it in that sense. We cannot attribute infidelity

to this beloved and holy Church of God to which, as we believe,

belongs the highest grace and from which rises up to Our spirit

the testimony that we are the children of God.^^

This is neither pride nor presumption nor obstinacy

nor foUy but a luminous certitude and our joyous conviction

that we are indeed living members of the Body of Christ, that

we are the authentic heirs of the gospel of Christ, those who

truly continue the work of the apostles. There dwells in us the

great inheritance of truth and morality characteristic of the Cath-

olic Church, which today possesses intact the living heritage of

the original apostolic tradition. If this gives us cause to glory,

or, to use a better expression, is a reason for which we must

28. Rom. 8:16.

26



always give thanks to God,^® it also constitutes our responsibility

before God, to whom we are accountable for so great a benefit,

and before the Church, in which we must instill the unshakable

desire and resolution to guard the deposit about which St. Paul

speaks.®" We have a responsibility also before our brothers who

are still separated from us and before the entire world, so that

all share with us the gift of God.

FALSE REFORMS

49. Hence, if the term reform can be applied to this sub-

ject, it is not to be understood in the sense of change, but of

a stronger determination to preserve the characteristic features

that Christ has impressed on the Church.

We should rather always wish to lead her back to her

perfect form, corresponding to her original design yet fully con-

sistent with the necessary development that has given to the

Church, as to a seed grown into a tree, her legitimate and

concrete form in history.

Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the

edifice of the Church, which has now become large and majestic

for the glory of God as His magnificent temple, should be re-

duced to its early minimal proportions, as if they alone were

true and good. Nor should we be fascinated by the desire of

renewing the structure of the Church in some charismatic

way, as if that ecclesiastical structure were new and good

which sprang from the ideas of a few, who, zealous no doubt

and sometimes even basing their claim on some divine inspira-

tion, would thus introduce an arbitrary scheme of artificial

renewal into the very constitution of the Church.

We must serve the Church and love her as she is, with

a clear understanding of history, and humbly searching for the

29. Cf.Eph. 5:20.

30. Cf. 1 Tim. 6:20.

27



will of God, who assists and guides her even when at times He

permits human weakness to eclipse the purity of her features

and the beauty of her action. It is this purity and beauty that

we are endeavoring to discover and promote.

50. We must deepen within us these convictions if we are

to avoid the other danger that the desire for reform can produce,

not only in us pastors, who are held back by a watchful sense

of responsibility, but also in the many faithful who think that

the reform of the Church should consist primarily in adapting

its sentiments and habits to those of the world.

The fascination of worldly life today is powerful in-

deed. Conformity appears to many as an inescapable and a

wise course. Those who are not well rooted in faith and in the

observance of ecclesiastical law easily think that the time has

come for concessions to be made to secular norms of life, as if

these were better and as if the Christian can and must make

them his own.

This phenomenon of adaptation is noticeable in the

philosophical field (how much fashion counts even in the world

of thought, which ought to be autonomous and free and only

avid and docile before truth and the authority of approved

masters!), as well as in the practical field, where it is becoming

more and more troubling and difficult to point out the line of

moral rectitude and right conduct.

5 1 . Naturalism threatens to render null and void the orig-

inal conception of Christianity. Relativism, which justifies every-

thing and treats all things as of equal value, assails the absolute

character of Christian principles. The inclination to throw

overboard every restraint and inconvenience met in the conduct

of life makes the discipline of Christian asceticism seem burden-

some and futile.

Sometimes even the apostolic desire of approaching

the secular milieu or of making oneself acceptable to the modem

28



mind, especially that of youth, leads to a rejection of the forms

proper to Christian life and even of its very dignity, which

must give meaning and strength to this eagerness for encounter

and influence on others. Is it not perhaps true that often some

of the younger clergy as well as some religious, moved by the

good intention of penetrating the masses or particular groups,

tend to get mixed up with them instead of remaining distinct,

thus sacrificing the true eflBcacy of their apostolate to some

sort of useless imitation?

The great principle enunciated by Christ presents itself

again both in its actuality and in its difficulty: To be in the

world, but not of the world. It is good for us even today to

offer up that highest and most opportune prayer of Christ, who

always lives and intercedes for us.^^ I am not asking that thou

shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep

them clear of what is evil.^^

‘aggiornamento’ and gospel

52. However it is not Our intention to say that perfection

consists in remaining changeless as regards those external forms

that the Church through many centuries has assumed. Nor does

it consist in being stubbornly opposed to those new forms and

habits that are commonly regarded as acceptable and suited to

the character of our times.

The word aggiornamento, made famous by Our Pred-

ecessor of happy memory, John XXIII, should always be kept

in mind as our program of action. We have confirmed it as

the guiding criterion of the Ecumenical Council. We want

to recall it to mind as a stimulus to preserve the perennial vital-

ity of the Church, her continuous awareness and ability to study

the signs of the times, and her constantly youthful agility in

31. Heb. 7:25.

32. John 17:15.

29



scrutinizing it all carefully and retaining only what is good,^

always and everywhere.

53. But let Us repeat it once again for our common ad-

monition and profit: the Church will rediscover her renewed

youthfulness not so much by changing her exterior laws as by

interiorly assimilating the true spirit of obedience to Christ and

accordingly by observing those laws that the Church prescribes

for herself with the intention of following Christ.

Here is the secret of her renewal, here her metanoia,

here her exercise of perfection. Even though the Church’s law

might be made easier to observe by the simplification of some

of its precepts and by placing confidence in the liberty of the

modem Christian, with his greater knowledge of his duties and

his greater maturity and wisdom in choosing the means to fulfil

them, the law, nevertheless, retains its essential binding force.

The Christian life, which the Church interprets and

sets down in wise regulations, will always require faithfulness,

effort, mortification and sacrifice; it will always bear the mark

of the narrow way of which our Lord spoke it will require,

not less moral energy of us modem Christians than it did of

Christians in the past, but perhaps more. It will call for a prompt

obedience, no less binding today than in the past, that will be,

perhaps, more difficult, and certainly more meritorious, in that

it is guided more by supernatural motives than natural ones.

It is not conformity to the spirit of the world, not

immunity from the discipline of reasonable asceticism, not iu-

difference to the laxity of modem behavior, not emancipation

from the authority of pmdent and lawful superiors, not apathy

with regard to the contradictoiy forms of modem thought, that

can give vigor to the Church, or make her fit to receive the

influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or render her following

33. Cf. 1 Thess. 5:21.

34. Cf. Matt. 7:13.

30



of Christ more genuine, or give her the anxious yearning of

fraternal charity and the ability to communicate her message.

These things come from her aptitude to live according to divine

grace, her faithfulness to the gospel of the Lord, her hierarchical

and communal unity. The Christian is not soft and cowardly,

he is strong and faithful.

54. We realize how long this letter would be if We were

to indicate even the main lines of the modern program of the

Christian life, and We do not intend to enter into such an under-

taking now. You, moreover, know what the moral needs of our

time are, and you will not cease to call the faithful to an under-

standing of the dignity, purity and austerity of the Christian

life, nor will you fail to denounce, as best you can, even pub-

licly, the moral dangers and vices from which our age is suffering.

We all remember the solemn exhortations that Holy

Scripture addresses to us: I know of all thy doings, all thy toil

and endurance; how little patience thou hast with wickedness,

and ail of us will strive to be watchful and diligent pastors.

The Council is to give us, too, new and salutary instructions,

and all of us must prepare ourselves to hear them and carry

them out.

55. But We do not wish to forgo commenting briefly on

two points, which We consider to concern principal needs and

duties and which can provide matter for reflection on the general

lines of the renewal of ecclesiastical life.

SPIRIT OF POVERTY

56. We refer first of all to the spirit of poverty. We con-

sider that it was so clearly proclaimed in the holy gospel and is

so intimate a part of the plan of our destination to the Kingdom

of God; that it is so much in danger today because of the great

store the modem mind sets by possessions; that it is so neces-

35. Apoc. 2:2.

31



sary to help us to understand many of our weaknesses and

failures in the past and to show us what our way of life should

be and how best we can announce the religion of Christ to souls;

finally, that it is so difficult to practice it as we ought—that We
presume to mention it explicitly in this Our message. We do

this, not because We have the intention of issuing special canon-

ical regulations on the subject, but rather to ask of you, Vener-

able Brethren, the comfort of your agreement, your counsel and

your example.

We look to you as to the authoritative voice that in-

terprets the lofty impulses by which the Spirit of Christ manifests

itself in the Church, to teU us how pastors and people ought to

adapt their language and conduct to poverty today. As the

Apostle admonishes us, yours is to be the same mind which

Christ Jesus showed.^^ We look to you to say how we should,

together, propose for the life of the Church those directives

which must base our confidence more upon the help of God

and the goods of the spirit than upon temporal means. These

must remind us, and teach the world, that spiritual goods take

precedence over economic goods, and that we should limit and

subordinate our possession and use of them in keeping with

the right exercise of our apostolic mission.

57. The brevity of this allusion to the nobility and neces-

sity of the spirit of poverty that characterizes the gospel of Christ,

does not exempt Us from Our duty of remarking that this spirit

does not prevent us from imderstanding and making lawful use

of economic reality. This has assumed an enormous and far-

reaching importance in the development of modem civilization,

particularly in its consequences for society. We consider, indeed,

that the inner freedom derived from the spirit of evangelical

poverty makes us more sensitive to—and more capable of under-
standing—the human aspects of economic questions, by apply^

36 Phil 2-5
(Continued on page 33)

32



The following pages are offered as a topical summary

and useful index^ to the encyclical.
‘ —editor

Prologue (i-iS)

Christ’s Church, as mother of all and dispenser of salvation, has

been loved by all Christians ( 1 ) and thus is a fitting topic for this

first encyclical (2), which seeks to reveal the Church’s meaning

for mankind and her desire to encounter all men ( 3 )

.

Having promised this letter at the opening of the Council’s

second session (4), We found it difficult to write because of the

need for meditation and the present state of the Church and the

world (5). This simple conversational letter will not propose

new doctrines (6), or make solemn pronouncements on faith or

morals (7), but will seek to unite the hierarchy of the world

in love and promote sound spiritual and apostolic activity ( 8 )

.

Three concerns weigh especially upon Us in light of Our

responsibility as Vicar of Christ (9). The first stems from the

urgent present need, for the good of the Church, to examine its

nature and God-given mission (10). Second, there rises a need

to compare the present state of the Church with the ideal image

left us by Christ, a comparison that always reveals current short-

comings (11), and arouses a desire for correction of existing

defects and for courage in undertaking needed reforms (12).

The third centers on the relation between the Church today and

the world around it (13). This world includes both that part

long Christianized but now in large measure forgetful of its

heritage, as well as the growing number of “emerging” nations

(14). Hence we see something of the problems involved in a

dialogue between the Church and the modern world (15).

Though this encyclical will not treat of the urgent problems



TOPICAL SUMMARY

affecting the Church and mankind, such as peace, hunger, rising

expectations, freedom, population increase and the like (16),

We wish to emphasize Our constant concern for world peace

and Our readiness to serve in any disinterested capacity to foster

better international relations and reduce world tensions (17).

These problems will, however, occupy the Council’s attention and

will continue to be the object of Our apostolic ministry (18).

I: Self-Awareness (19-42)

The Church’s meditation on its role and nature will help it to

approach specific problems and enter into fruitful contact with

mankind ( 1 9 ) . A start may be made by looking at God’s method
of communicating with men and the relationship it establishes

(20). Here we must bear in mind especially our Lord’s call for

vigilance (21). This, it is true, referred primarily to concern

for one’s eternal destiny, but it also applies to care for things

closer at hand, and demands maturity of psychological aware-

ness and moral conscience (22).

The Church’s growth in its organizational life and in self-

awareness have coincided from the start (23), and this should

prompt all of us as the “gathering of the faithful” to a firm pro-

fession of faith in the spirit of the gospel (24) . Why do We invite

you bishops to this act of ecclesiastical awareness? (25) Because

of the present situation of the Church (26), which must know

itself better to fulfill its vocation (27).

Since the Church is made up of men, it is influenced by the

vast changes that affect modem man’s thought, culture and

spirit. Yet, as the unfortunate phenomenon of modernism showed,

in adapting to these changes the Church must remain true to its

authentic nature (28). Similar errors are proposed today by

those who lack full understanding of the Church’s nature and

mission as revealed by Christ and taught by its authorities (29).



TOPICAL SUMMARY

Contemporary thought sometimes exaggerates the importance of

introspection and makes man’s mind the measure of reality, but

this process of reflection on self can be and is a good thing (30)

.

In recent years, scholars, pastors and others have made such

studies of the Church (31). The literature reaches back to the

Council of Trent, but one must note particularly the teaching

of Vatican I, and encyclicals of Leo XIII and Pius XII on the

Church (32). More recently, academic and popular writers have

further explored the mystery of the Church, at times in writings

of outstanding value (33), and thus a good preparation has been

made for the success of the Council’s deliberations (34).

We will refrain from doctrinal judgments on matters before

the Council in order to insure its full freedom (35), but We wish

to state Our great hopes for the Council, to the gain of Our

ministry and benefit of the whole Church of God (36). From

a deepened awareness of the Church will come a renewed dis-

covery of our vital union with Christ, the union of the Mystical

Body, or of the Vine and branches (37). Further, awareness of

the Church as a mystery will foster mature faith and a “feeling for

the Church” (38). But full understanding of this mystery will

come only from living experience of the reality of this mystery,

this Mystical Body, this edifice built on a rock (39). A renewed
“feeling for the Church” will also help to resolve some apparent

difficulties in ecclesiology and deepen the Church’s inner spiritu-

ality (40). At the same time, new emphasis must be given the

meaning of baptism as incorporation into the Church (41). We

encourage all efforts now being made to further these ends (42).

II: Renewal

The Church stands challenged to meet the ideal set forth by

Christ; this calls for intense study of how best to follow the path

to sanctity (43). The historical situation in which the Church



TOPICAL SUMMARY

today finds itself is also a challenge, since Christians live in the

world and must adapt without losing their true identity (44).

The Council has already accomplished much by awakening

pastors and faithful to a new vision of Christian sanctity (45);

while its decisions and those of postconciliar commissions will

spell out all needed reforms, we must resolve now that reform

will actually remove the defects of the Church’s members (46).

Here are some considerations aimed at advancing the work of

reform today (47). Reform cannot concern the basic structure

of the Church. We insist it has not been unfaithful to its essence,

but this claim stems not from pride but from humble conscious-

ness of the authentic apostolic tradition we have in the Catholic

Church (48).

Reform should not seek change that alters the Church’s

original design, nor aim at some arbitrary charismatic innova-

tion, but serve to uncover its true beauty and purity (49). It is

most necessary to resist the call of false change in a day when

adaptation in every field is a fad (50). Naturalism and relativism

assail Christian values; the desire to adapt to modern ways can

lead even zealous priests and religious to sacrifice their super-

natural identity despite Christ’s prayer for His followers (51).

Yet perfection does not consist in remaining changeless in exter-

nals, and “aggiornamento” is still the watchword for Council and

Church (52).

Renewed youthfulness will come to the Church from true

obedience to Christ’s will, in following the “narrow way” and

not through worldly relaxation of discipline (53). This letter

cannot provide detailed instructions on renewal, but you bishops

know the needs of the time and the Council will soon give us all

some helpful guidance (54). There are, however, two key points

calling for comment (55). First is the spirit of poverty, a gospel

injunction, but one threatened by worldly values and diflicult to

practice; one on which you bishops and the Council must speak



TOPICAL SUMMARY

(56) . Love of poverty need not mean failure to utilize economic

realities; here We affirm our full support of the Church’s social

teaching (57). The second major point is the spirit of charity,

hallmark of the true Christian and a special challenge in our

day (58). Devotion to Mary, We note, is an excellent school of

gospel precepts (59).

Ill: Dialogue (60-124)

The third basic concern for today’s Church must be its contacts

with mankind, because of its own distinctive mode of life (60).

The gospel tells us of hostility from the “world,” whose weakness

it pities; but it also reminds the Christian of his new light and

rebirth (61). This distinction between Christian and world is

heightened by the gift of the Spirit and by baptism (62) , and the

Christian must be aware of his dignity in order to avoid degrada-

tion (63). St. Paul, and our Lord, taught us to preserve a sense

of being distinct (64), but this distinction is not a separation and

the Church maintains a loving interest in all men (65). The

Church’s apostolic commission to share Christ’s patrimony with

others rises out of an awareness of its blessings. We give the name

of dialogue to this impulse (66)

.

The Church must open dialogue with the contemporary world

( 67 ) . This topic will be treated by the Council and We wish the

discussion of it to be free; here We will give only some correct

attitudes toward dialogue (68). This is proper because of the

pastoral tradition opened by Leo XIII, who dealt with the prob-

lems of the day (69), as did Pius XI, Pius XII and notably John

XXIII; moreover the Council has the task of injecting the Chris-

tian message into the mainstream of modern thought and culture

(70); We, too, will unfailingly seek loving contact with the

world (71).

Dialogue is transcendent in origin, since God initiated dia-



TOPICAL SUMMARY

logue in the Incarnation; the whole history of salvation is a

dialogue (72), a fact we must recall (73) and one that encour-

ages us to open this dialogue with other men (74).

Since the dialogue of salvation began from God’s charity, our

dialogue must always be unselfish in motive (75); ours too

should be apt and disinterested (76); it should likewise rely on

the same methods of persuasion rather than force, thus respecting

personal and civic freedom (77); it should also be universal

(78) ; it will always be active and will allow for mankind’s slow

psychological and historical maturation (79).

It is possible to think of the Church’s cutting itself off from

secular society, or seeking to dominate it, but the proper rela-

tion should be one of suitable dialogue (80). This means shim-

ning useless, negative polemic and aiming at deeper understand-

ing (81); it will stem from our apostolic mandate to share the

message of salvation (82). As an apostolic method, dialogue

must exhibit clarity, meekness, mutual trust (83) and pedagogi-

cal prudence or flexibility (84). Such a dialogue will bring union

of truth and charity (85); it will show how different paths can

be made to converge, and the very dialectic will uncover elements

of truth in the opinion of others and make us wise (86)

.

The dialogue of salvation can and must take many forms (87-

88); the decision to adapt is important because the Church’s

mission is always to men in a given situation (89). Adaptation

by the Church is necessary because men cannot be saved from

outside; in dialogue one must listen, not only to his neighbor’s

voice, but to his heart (90). In all this there exists danger

of fatal compromise of truth or discipline (91); thus only com-

plete fidelity to Christ’s teaching can preserve the apostle (92).

The Council will offer helpful norms and the Church will peri-

odically provide necessary directives for a living and fruitful

dialogue (93).

Preaching is the primary apostolate and the ministry of the

word is not supplanted by modem technical communications



TOPICAL SUMMARY

media (94). Hence we must improve our use of the word and

seek the gift of speech (95 )

.

Without wishing to anticipate the Council, We should say

something about those with whom We dialogue (96) . In general,

the Church is ready to dialogue with all men of good will (97),

since it has no enemies except those who wish to be such (98).

The Church’s approach is realistic and it recognizes obstacles in

the way, but it also knows what it has to offer mankind: the word

of salvation and the key to peace and justice, with special S
5
an-

pathy for various groups in society (99 )

.

Our understanding of the dialogue can be seen from a review

of the concentric circles in which God has placed us (100). The

first, immense circle takes in all mankind, recognizing the com-

mon features Christians share with others ( 101 ) . Here the aim is

not to dominate, but to serve and sustain civilization (102). We

see the immediate problems posed by the inclusion here of

atheists (103). This is the most serious problem of our time; the

theory of atheism defies logic and history; hence the Catholic

must resist its assaults and help men to find their true vocation

(104). Thus we must condemn ideological systems that deny

God and oppress the Church, of which atheistic communism is

chief; but we rather grieve for, than condemn them (105).

Dialogue here is difficult, if not impossible; particularly when

truth is suppressed under such systems (106). All this ends dia-

logue, as the experience of the Church of Silence shows (107).

Despite all this, we still look in the heart of the modern atheist

for his motives; often one finds there noble social aims, a trun-

cated philosophical vision, or impatience with contemporary

mediocrity and self-seeking (108). Thus, in the spirit of Pacem

in Terris, we can look for changes that make positive dialogue

possible (109). Above all, we hope that such dialogue, disin-

terested, objective and sincere, may forward a free and honorable

peace (110).



TOPICAL SUMMARY

The second great circle embraces all believers in the one God;

Jews, first; Muslims; followers of the great Afro-Asian religions.

We must insist on our belief that Christianity is the true religion(111)

;
but still we respect the moral and spiritual values in these

others, and we are ready to discuss common ideals with them

( 112

)

.

The third, nearest to us, is the circle of Christianity, the area

of ecumenical dialogue; here let us stress what we have in com-

mon with others, rather than what divides us; we stand ready to

examine differences, with a view to satisf
3
dng others, but while

preparing ourselves for reconciliation, we can never compromise

the faith we hold (113). In this connection, it is especially grie-

vous to find some Christians who regard papal primacy as a chief

stumbling-block to reunion; We ask that it be seen rather as a

principle of unity and a primacy of service and love (114). Here

our dialogue is alert, and one prepared for in prayer ( 1 1 5 ) . It has

been a great joy to meet the Patriarch Athenagoras and the

observers of various separated Churches at the Council; We pray

for the “ecumenical movement” and follow with reverent interest

all sound unity efforts (116).

Finally, We turn to dialogue among Catholics, one that is

responsive and open, aimed at making Catholics truly good

men, men wise, free, serene and strong (117). Though we make

charity the constitutive principle of dialogue, we do not do away

with the need for obedience to Christ’s will (118). Here we mean

obedience to authority exercised as a ministry of truth and

charity, but free of the spirit of independence, of criticism, of

rebellion (119).

We encourage and bless all that contributes to promoting the

dialogue as a force for holiness within the Church (120). We

rejoice to see it already widespread in the Church (121). We

count on the co-operation of you bishops (122), and send our

blessing, as brother and father, to you, the entire Church and all

mankind (123-124).



(Continued from page 32)

ing to wealth and to the progress it can effect the just and often

severe standard of judgment that they require, by giving to in-

digence our most solicitous and generous attention, and finally,

by expressing the wish that economic goods should not be a

source of conflicts, of selfishness and of pride among men, but

that they be used in justice and equity for the common good

and, accordingly, distributed with greater foresight.

Whatever concerns these economic goods—goods in-
ferior to those that are spiritual and eternal, but necessary in

this present life—^find in the man who has studied the gospel
the capacity needed to form a wise scale of values and to co-

operate in projects beneficial to mankind. Science, technology

and, particularly, labor become the object of our keenest interest.

The bread they produce becomes sacred for table and for altar.

The social teachings of the Church leave no doubt on

this subject, and We are pleased to take this opportunity of

reaffirming Our close adherence to such salutary teachings.

SPIRIT OF CHARITY

58. The other point We should like to mention is that of

the spirit of charity. But is not this subject already in the fore-

front of your minds? Is not charity the focal point of the re-

ligious economy of the Old Testament and the New? Is it not

to charity that the progress of spiritual experience in the Church

leads? May it not be that charity is the ever more illuminating

and joyful discovery that theology, on the one hand, and piety,

on the other, are making in the never-ending meditation on the

scriptural and sacramental treasures of which the Church is

heir, guardian, mistress and dispenser?

We consider, with Our predecessors and with the bright

company of saints whom our age has given to the Church on

earth and in heaven, who define for us the devout instincts of

33



The gospel is light, it is newness, it is energy, it is

rebirth, it is salvation. Hence it both creates and defines a type

of new life, about which the New Testament teaches us a

continuous and remarkable lesson, expressed in the warning

of St. Paul: You must not fall in with the manners of this world;

there must be an inward change, a remaking of your minds, so

that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good

thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing}^

62. This distinction between the life of the Christian and

the life of the worldling also derives from the reality and from

the consequent recognition of the sanctification produced in us

by our sharing in the Paschal mystery and, above all, in holy

baptism, which, as was said above, is and ought to be considered

a true rebirth. Again St. Paul reminds us of this truth: We who

were taken up into Christ by baptism have been taken up, all of

us, into his death. In our baptism, we have been buried with him,

died like him, that is, just as Christ was raised up by his Father’s

power from the dead, we too may live and move in a new kind

of existence.

63. It will not be amiss if the Christian of today keeps

always in view his original and wondrous form of life, which

should not only sustain him with the happiness that results

from his dignity but also protect him from an environment that

threatens him with the contagion of human wretchedness and

with the seduction of human glory.

64. See how St. Paul himself formed the Christians of the

primitive Church: You must not consent to be yokefellows with

unbelievers. What has innocence to do with lawlessness? What is

there in common between light and darkness? How can a be-

liever throw in his lot with an infidel?*'^ Christian education will

always have to remind the student today of his privileged position

and of his resulting duty to live in the world but not in the way

38. Rom. 12:2. 39. /Wd., 6:3-4. 40. 2 Cor. 6:14-15.

36



of the world, according to the above-mentioned prayer of Jesus

for His disciples: 7 am not asking that thorn shouldst take them

out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them clear of what

is evil. They do not belong to the world, as I, too, do not belong

to the world.*^ And the Church adopts this prayer at its own.

65. But this distinction is not a separation. Neither is it

indifference or fear or contempt. When the Church distinguishes

itself from human nature, it does not oppose itself to human

nature, but rather unites itself to it. Just as the doctor who,

realizing the danger inherent in a contagious disease, not only

tries to protect himself and others from such infection, but also

dedicates himself to curing those who have been stricken, so too

the Church does not make an exclusive privilege of the mercy

that the divine Goodness has shown it, nor does it distort its own

good fortune into a reason for lack of interest in those who have

not shared it. Rather, in its own salvation it finds an argument

for interest in, and love of, all who are close at hand or can be

reached to share its blessings.

66. If, as We said before, the Church has a true realization

of what the Lord wishes it to be, then within the Church there

arises a unique sense of fullness and a need for outpouring, to-

gether with the clear awareness of a mission that transcends the

Church, of a message to be spread. It is the duty of evangeliza-

tion. It is the missionary mandate. It is the apostolic commission.

An attitude of preservation of the faith is insufficient.

Certainly we must preserve and also defend the treasure of truth

and of grace that has come to us by way of inheritance from the

Christian tradition. Keep safe what has been entrusted to thee,*^

warns St. Paul. But neither the preservation nor the defense of

the faith exhausts the duty of the Church in regard to the gifts it

possesses.

41. John 17:15-16.

42. 1 Tim. 6:20.

37



The duty consonant with the patrimony received from

Christ is that of spreading, offering, announcing it to others.

Well do we know that Going, therefore, make disciples of all

nations*^ is the last command of Christ to His apostles. By the

very term apostles these men define their inescapable mission.

To this internal drive of charity, which tends to become the

external gift of charity, we will give the name of dialogue, which

has in these days come into common usage.

67. The Church should enter into dialogue with the world

in which it exists and labors. The Church has something to say;

the Church has a message to deliver; the Church has a communi-

cation to offer.

DIALOGUE WITH THE WORLD

68. It is no secret that this important facet of the contem-

porary life of the Church will be specially and fully studied by the

Ecumenical Council, and we have no desire to undertake the

concrete examination of the themes involved in such study, in

order to leave to Fathers of the Council full freedom in discuss-

ing them. We wish only to invite you. Venerable Brethren, to pre-

face such study with certain considerations in order that We

and you may see more clearly the motives that impel the Church

toward the dialogue, the methods to be followed and the goals to

be achieved. We wish to give, not full treatment to topics, but

proper dispositions to hearts.

69. Nor can We do otherwise in Our conviction that the

dialogue ought to characterize Our apostolic office, heirs as

We are of such a pastoral approach and method as has been

handed down to Us by Our predecessors of the past century,

beginning with the great and wise Leo XIII. Almost as a

personification of the gospel character of the wise scribe, who,

like the father of a family, knows how to bring both new and

43. Matt. 28:19.

38



old things out of his treasure house,** in a stately manner

he assumed his function as teacher of the world by making the

object of his richest instruction the problems of our time con-

sidered in the light of the word of Christ. So, also, did his suc-

cessors, as you well know.

70. Did not Our predecessors, especially Pope Pius XI and

Pope Pius XII, leave us a magnificently rich patrimony of teach-

ing; which was conceived in the loving and enlightened attempt to

join divine to human wisdom, not considered in the abstract, but

rather expressed in the concrete language of modern man? And

what is this apostolic endeavor if not a dialogue? And did not

John XXIII, Our immediate predecessor of venerable memory,

impart an even sharper emphasis to his teaching in the sense of ap-

proaching as close as possible to the experience and the under-

standing of the contemporary world? And was not the Council

itself assigned—and justly so—a pastoral function that would
be completely focused on the injection of the Christian message

into the stream of the thought, speech, culture, customs and

strivings of man as he lives today and acts in this life? Even

before converting the world—^nay, in order to convert it—^we
must meet the world and talk with it.

DIALOGUE BEGUN BY GOD

71. Concerning Our lowly self, although We are reluctant

to speak of it and would prefer not to attract to it the attention

of others. We cannot pass over in silence, in this deliberate com-

munication to the episcopal hierarchy and to the Christian

people. Our resolution to persevere, so far as Our weak energies

will permit and, above all, so far as the grace of God will grant

Us the necessary means, in the same direction and in the same

effort to approach the world in which Providence has destined

us to live. In this approach We will observe all due reverence,

44. Matt. 13:52.

39



solicitude and love, in order that We may understand the world

and offer it the gifts of truth and grace, of which Christ has made

Us custodian, in order that We may communicate to the world

our wonderful destiny of redemption and of hope. Deeply en-

graved on Our heart are those words of Christ, which We would

humbly but resolutely make Our own: When God sent his Son

into the world, it was not to reject the world, but so that the

world might find salvation through him.*^

72. See, then. Venerable Brethren, the transcendent origin

of the dialogue. It is found in the very plan of God. Religion,

of its very nature, is a relationship between God and man.

Prayer expresses such a relationship in dialogue. Revelation,

i.e., the supernatural relationship that God, on His own initiative,

has established with the human race, can be considered as a

dialogue in which the Word of God speaks, both in the Incarna-

tion and in the gospel.

The fatherly and holy conversation between God and

man, interrupted by original sin, was marvelously resumed in

the course of history. The history of salvation narrates exactly

this long and changing dialogue, which begins with God and

brings to man a many-splendored conversation. It is in this

conversation of Christ with men*® that God allows us to under-

stand something of Himself, the mystery of His life, unique in

its essence, trinitarian in its Persons; He tells us, too, how He

wishes to be known: He is Love; and how He wishes to be

honored and served by us: love is our supreme commandment.

The dialogue thus takes on fuH meaning and offers grounds

for confidence. The child is invited to it; the mystic finds a full

outlet in it.

73. We must keep ever present this ineffable, yet real re-

lationship of the dialogue, which God the Father, through Christ,

in the Holy Spirit, has offered to us and established with us, if

45. John 3:17. 46. Cf. Bar. 3:38.

40



we are to understand the relationship that we, i.e., the Church,

should strive to establish and to foster with the human race.

74. The dialogue of salvation was opened spontaneously

on the initiative of God: He [God] loved us first. It will be up to

us to take the initiative in extending to men this same dialogue,

wihout waiting to be summoned to it.

DIALOGUE OF SALVATION

75. The dialogue of salvation began with charity, with the

divine goodness: God so loved the world as to give his only-begot-

ten Son;*^ nothing but fervent and unselfish love should motivate

our dialogue.

76. The dialogue of salvation was not proportioned to

the merits of those toward whom it was directed, nor to the results

that it would achieve or fail to achieve: Those who are healthy

need no physician.''^ So also, our own dialogue ought to be with-

out limits or ulterior motives.

77. The dialogue of salvation did not physically force any-

one to accept it; it was a tremendous appeal of love, which, al-

though placing a vast responsibility on those toward whom it was

directed,®” nevertheless left them free to respond to it or to reject

it. Even the number of miracles®^ and their demonstrative power®^

were adapted to the spiritual needs and dispositions of the recipi-

ents, in order that their free consent to the divine revelation might

be facilitated, without, however, their losing the merit involved

in such a consent. So, too, although our own mission is the an-

nouncement of the truth that is both indisputable and necessary

for salvation, that mission will not be introduced with external

force, but simply through the legitimate means of human educa-

tion, of interior persuasion, and of ordinary conversation, and

47. 1 John 4:10. 49. Luke 5:31. 51. Cf. ibid., 12:38 sqq.

48. John 3:16. 50. Cf. Matt. 11:21. 52. Cf. ibid., 13:13 sqq.

41



it will offer its gift of salvation with full respect for personal and

civic freedom.

78, The dialogue of salvation was made accessible to all; it

was destined for all without distinction®®; in like manner, our own

dialogue should be potentially universal, i.e. all-embracing and

capable of including all, except those who either reject it or in-

sincerely pretend to accept it.

79, The dialogue of salvation normally experienced a grad-

ual development, successive advances, humble beginnings before

complete success.®^ Ours, too, will take cognizance of the slowness

of psychological and historical maturation and of the need to wait

for the hour when God may make our dialogue effective. Not for

this reason will our dialogue put off till tomorrow what it can

accomplish today; it ought to be eager for the opportune moment;

it ought to sense the preciousness of time.®® Today, i.e., every day,

our dialogue should begin again; we, rather than those toward

whom it is directed, should take the initiative.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DIALOGUE

80, As is clear, the relationships between the Church and

the world can assume many different aspects. Theoretically speak-

ing, the Church could set its mind on reducing such relationships

to a minimum, endeavoring to isolate itself from dealings with

secular society; just as it could set itself the task of pointing out

the evils that can be found in secular society, condemning them

and declaring crusades against them, so also it could approach so

close to secular society as to strive to exert a preponderant influ-

ence on it or even to exercise a theocratic power over it, and so on.

But it seems to Us that the Church’s relationship to the

world, without precluding other legitimate forms of expression,

can be represented better in a dialogue, not, of course, a dialogue

53. Cf. Col. 3:11. 54. Cf. Matt. 13:31. 55. Cf. Eph. 5:16.

42



in a univocal sense, but rather a dialogue adapted to the nature

of the interlocutor and to factual circumstances. (The dialogue

with a child differs from that with an adult; that with a beUever

from that with an unbeliever.) This has been suggested by the

custom, by now become widespread, of conceiving the relation-

ships between the sacred and the secular in terms of the trans-

forming dynamism of modern society, in terms of the pluralism

of its manifestations; likewise in terms of the maturity of man, be

he religious or not, enabled through secular education to think,

to speak and to carry on a dialogue with dignity.

81. This type of relationship indicates a proposal of cour-

teous esteem, understanding and goodness on the part of the one

who inaugurates the dialogue; it excludes the a priori condemna-

tion, the offensive and time-worn polemic, and the emptiness of

useless conversation. This approach does not aim at effecting

the immediate conversion of the interlocutor, inasmuch as it re-

spects both his dignity and his freedom. But it does aim at helping

him, and tries to dispose him for a fuller sharing of sentiments and

convictions.

82. Hence the dialogue supposes that we possess a state of

mind that we intend to communicate to others and to foster in

all our neighbors. It is the state of mind of one who feels within

himself the burden of the apostolic mandate, who realizes that he

can no longer separate his own salvation from the endeavor to

save others, and who therefore strives constantly to put the mes-

sage of which he is custodian into the mainstream of human dis-

course.

83. The dialogue is, then, a method of accomplishing the

apostoUc mission. It is an example of the art of spiritual com-

munication. Its characteristics are the following:

A. Clearness above all; the dialogue supposes and de-

mands comprehensibility. It is an outpouring of thought; it is an

invitation to the exercise of the highest powers that man possesses.

43



This fact alone is enough to classify the dialogue among the

noblest manifestations of human activity and culture. This funda-

mental requirement is enough to enlist our apostolic care to re-

view every angle of our language so as to make it understandable,

acceptable and well-chosen.

B. A second characteristic of the dialogue is its meek-
ness, the virtue that Christ bade us to learn from Him: Learn of

me, because I am meek and humble of heart . The dialogue is

not proud, it is not bitter, it is not offensive. Its authority is intrin-

sic to the truth it explains, to the charity it communicates, to the

example it proposes; it is not a command, it is not an imposition.

It is peaceful; it avoids violent methods; it is patient; it is generous.

C. Trust, not only in the power of one’s words, but also

in an attitude of welcoming the interlocutor’s trust. Trust pro-

motes confidence and friendship. It binds hearts in mutual ad-

herence to the good that excludes all self-seeking.

84. D. Finally, pedagogical prudence, which esteems highly

the psychological and moral circumstances of the listener,®’^

whether he be a child, uneducated, unprepared, diffident or hos-

tile. Prudence strives to learn the sensitivities of the hearer and

requires that we adapt ourselves and the manner of our presenta-

tion in a reasonable way lest we be displeasing and incomprehen-

sible to him.

85. In the dialogue, conducted in this manner, the union

of truth and charity, of understanding and love is achieved.

86. In the dialogue one discovers how different are the ways

that lead to the light of faith, and how it is possible to make them

converge on the same goal. Even if these ways are divergent, they

can become complementary by forcing our reasoning process out

of worn paths and by obliging it to deepen its research, to find

fresh expressions.

The dialectic of this exercise of thought and of patience

56. Matt. 11:29. 57. Matt. 7:6.

44



will make us discover elements of truth in the opinions of others,

it will force us to express our teaching with fairness, and finally

—

what is most praiseworthy—we will present our teaching in such
a way that our hearers can ask questions, if they wish, and as-

similate our ideas step by step.

MODES OF DIALOGUE

87. And how is the dialogue to be carried on?

88. Many, indeed, are the forms that the dialogue of salva-

tion can take. It adapts itself to the needs of a concrete situation,

it chooses the appropriate means, it does not bind itself to inef-

fectual theories or cling to hard and fast forms when these have

lost their power to speak to men and move them.

89. The question is of great importance, for it concerns the

relation of the Church’s mission to the lives of men in a given

time and place, in a given culture and social setting.

90. To what extent should the Church adapt itself to the

historic and local circumstances in which its mission is exercised?

How should it guard against the danger of a relativism that would

falsify its moral and dogmatic truth? And how can it, at the same

time, fit itself to approach all men so as to save all, according to

the example of the Apostle: 7 became all things to all men that I

might save alP^?

The world cannot be saved from the outside. As the

Word of God became man, so must a man identify himself to a

certain degree with the forms of life of those to whom he wishes

to bring the message of Christ. Without invoking privileges that

would only widen the separation, without employing unintelligible

terminology, he must share the common way of life—provided
that it is human and honorable—especially of the most humble,
if he would be listened to and understood.

And before speaking, it is necessary to listen, not only

58. 1 Cor. 9:22.

45



to a man’s voice, but to his heart. A man must first be understood;
and, where he merits it, agreed with. In the very act of trying to

make ourselves pastors, fathers and teachers of men, we must

make ourselves their brothers. The spirit of dialogue is friendship;

even more, it is service. All this we must remember and strive to

put into practice according to the example and commandment

that Christ left to us.®®

91 . But the danger remains. The apostle’s art is a risky one.

The desire to come together as brothers must not lead to a water-

ing-down or subtracting from the truth. Our dialogue must not

weaken our attachment to our faith. In our apostolate, we cannot

make vague compromises about the principles of faith and action

on which our profession of Christianity is based.

An immoderate desire to make peace and sink differ-

ences at all costs is, fundamentally, a kind of skepticism about the

power and content of the word of God, which we desire to preach.

92. Only the man who is completely faithful to the teaching

of Christ can be an apostle. And only he who lives his Christian

life to the full can remain uncontaminated by the errors with

which he comes into contact.

93. We believe that the Council, when it comes to deal with

questions on the Church’s activity in the modem world, will indi-

cate a number of theoretical and practical norms for the guidance

of our dialogue with men of the present day. We believe, too, that

in matters concerning the Church’s apostolic mission, on the one

hand, and, on the other, the diverse and changing circumstances

in which that mission is exercized, it will be for the wise, attentive

government of the Church to determine, from time to time, the

limits and forms and paths to be followed in maintaining and

furthering a living and fruitful dialogue.

94. Accordingly, let us leave this aspect of the subject and

confine ourselves to stressing once again the supreme importance

59. Cf. John 13:14-17.

46



of Christian preaching—an importance that grows greater daily

—

for the Catholic apostolate and specifically for the dialogue. No

other form of communication can take its place; not even the

enormously powerful technical means of press, radio and tele-

vision. In a sense, the apostolate and preaching are the same.

Preaching is the primary apostolate. Our apostolate.

Venerable Brothers, is above aU the ministry of the word. We

know this very well, but it seems good to remind ourselves of it

now, so as to direct our pastoral activities aright. We must go

back to the study, not of human eloquence or empty rhetoric, but

of the genuine art of the sacred word.

95. We must search for the laws of its simplicity and clarity,

for its power and authority, so as to overcome our natural lack

of skill in the use of the great and mysterious spiritual instrument

of speech and to enable us worthily to compete with those who

today exert so much influence through their words by having

access to the organs of public opinion.

We must beg the Lord for the great and uplifting gift of

speech,®® to be able to confer on faith its practical and efficacious

principle,®^ and to enable our words to reach out to the ends of

the earth.®^

May we carry out the prescriptions of the Council’s

Constitution on Sacred Liturgy with zeal and ability. And may

the catechetical teaching of the faith to the Christian people, and

to as many others as possible, be marked by the aptness of its

language, the wisdom of its method, and the zeal of its exercise,

supported by the evidence of real virtues. May it strive ardently

to lead its hearers to the security of the faith, to a realization of

the intimate connection between the sacred word and life, and to

the illumination of the living God.

60. Cf. Jer. 1:6.

61. Cf.Rom. 10:17.
62. Cf.Ps. 18:5; Rom. 10:18.

47



PARTNERS IN DIALCX3UE

96. Finally, We must refer to those to whom our dialogue is

directed. But even on this point, We do not intend to forestall the

Council, which, please God, will soon make its voice heard.

97. Speaking in general on the role of partner in dialogue,

a role that the Catholic Church must take up with renewed fervor

today, we should like to observe that the Church must be ever

ready to carry on the dialogue with all men of good will, within

and without its own sphere.

98. There is no one who is a stranger to its heart, no one in

whom its ministry has no interest. It has no enemies, except those

who wish to be such. Its name. Catholic, is not an idle title. Not

in vain has it received the commission to foster in the world unity,

love and peace.

99. The Church is not unaware of the formidable dimen-

sions of such a mission; it knows the disproportion in number

between those who are its members and those who are not; it

knows the limitations of its power; it knows its own human weak-

nesses and failings. It recognizes, too, that acceptance of the

gospel does not depend, ultimately, on any apostolic efforts of

its own or upon favorable temporal conditions, for faith is a gift

of God and God alone defines in the world the times and limits of

salvation.

But the Church knows that it is the seed, the leaven, the

salt and light of the world. It sees clearly enough the astounding

newness of modern times, but with frank confidence it stands

upon the path of history and says to men: “I have that for which

you search, that which you lack.”

It does not thereby promise earthly felicity, but it does

offer something—^its light and its grace—that makes the attain-
ment of it as easy as possible; and then it speaks to men of their

transcendent destiny. In doing this, it speaks to them of truth,

justice, freedom, progress, concord, peace and civihzation.

48



These are words whose secret is known to the Church,

for Christ entrusted the secret to its keeping. And so the Church

has a message for every category of humanity; for children, for

youth, for men of science and learning, for the world of labor

and for every social class, for artists, for statesmen and for rulers.

Most of all, the Church has words for the poor, the outcasts, the

suffering and the dying. She speaks to all men.

FIRST circle: mankind

100. In speaking in this way. We may seem to be allowing

Ourselves to be carried away in the contemplation of Our mission

and to be out of touch with reality as regards the actual relations

of mankind with the Catholic Church. But that is not so. We see

the concrete situation quite clearly. To give a brief idea of it. We

think it can be described as consisting of a series of concentric

circles around the central point in which God has placed us.

101. The first of these circles is immense. Its limits stretch

beyond our sight and merge with the horizon. It is that of man-

kind as such, the world. We gauge the distance that lies between

us and the world; yet we do not consider the world a stranger. All

things human are our concern.

We share with the whole of mankind a common nature;

human life with all its gifts and problems. In this primary univer-

sal reality we are ready to play our part, to acknowledge the deep-

seated claims of its fundamental needs, to applaud the new, and

sometimes sublime, expressions of its genius.

We possess, too, vital moral truths, to be brought to

men’s notice and to be corroborated by their conscience, to the

benefit of all. Wherever men are trying to understand themselves

and the world, we can communicate with them. Wherever the

councils of nations come together to establish the rights and duties

of man, we are honored when they allow us to take our seat among

them. If there exists in men “a soul which is naturally Christian,”

49



we desire to show it our respect and to enter into conversation

with it.

102. Our attitude in this, as we remind ourselves and every-

one else, is, on the one hand, entirely disinterested. We have no

temporal or political aim whatever. On the other hand, its purpose

is to raise up and elevate to a supernatural and Christian level

every good human value in the world. We are not civilization, but

we promote it.

DIALOGUEWITH ATHEISTS

103. We realize, however, that in this limitless circle there

are many—very many, alas—^who profess no religion. We are
aware also that there are many who profess themselves, in various

ways, to be atheists. We know that some of these proclaim their

godlessness openly and uphold it as a program of human educa-

tion and political conduct, in the ingenuous but fatal belief that

they are setting men free from false and outworn notions about

life and the world and are, they claim, putting in their place a sci-

entific conception that fits the needs of modem progress.

104. This is the most serious problem of our time. We are

firmly convinced that the theory on which the denial of God is

based is utterly erroneous.

This theory is not in keeping with the basic, undeniable

requirements of thought. It deprives the reasonable order of the

world of its genuine foundation. This theory provides human life,

not with a liberating formula, but with a blind dogma that de-

grades and saddens it. It destroys, at the root, any social system

that attempts to base itself upon it. It does not bring freedom. It is

a sham, attempting to quench the light of the living God.

We shall, therefore, resist with all our strength the as-

saults of this denial. This we do in the supreme cause of truth and

in virtue of our sacred duty to profess Christ and His gospel,

moved by deep, unshakable love for men and in the invincible

50



hope that modem man will come again to discover, in the religious

ideals that Catholicism sets before him, his vocation to the civi-

lization that does not die but ever tends to the natural and super-

natural perfection of the human spirit, which is thus made cap-

able, by the grace of God, of possessing temporal goods in peace

and honor, and of living in the hope of attaining eternal goods.

105 . These are the reasons that compel Us, as they compelled

Our predecessors and, with them, all who have religious values

at heart, to condemn the ideological systems that deny God and

oppress the Church—systems that are often identified with eco-
nomic, social and political regimes, among which atheistic com-

munism is the chief. It can be said that it is not so much that we

condemn these systems and regimes as that they express their

radical opposition to us in thought and deed. Hence our expres-

sion of regret is really more a lament for wretched victims than

the sentence of a judge.

DIFFICULT BUT POSSIBLE

106. Dialogue in such conditions is very difficult, not to say

impossible, although even today we have no intention of excluding

those who profess these systems and belong to these regimes.

For the lover of truth, discussion is always possible.

The difficulties are enormously increased by obstacles

of the moral order: the absence of suflScient freedom of thought

and action, and the perversion of discussion so that the latter is

used, not to seek and express objective truth, but to serve pre-

determined utilitarian ends.

107. This is what puts an end to dialogue. The Church of

Silence, for example, speaks only by sufferings, and with her

speaks also the suffering of an oppressed and degraded society,

in which the rights of the spirit are crushed by those who control

its fate. If we begin to speak in such a state of affairs, how can

we offer dialogue, when we cannot be anything more than a voice

51



crying in the wilderness?, Silence, groaning, patience and al-

ways love, in such conditions, are the witness that the Church can

still offer, and not even death can silence it.

108. But though We must speak firmly and clearly in declar-

ing and defending religion and the human values it proclaims

and upholds. We are moved by Our pastoral office to seek in the

heart of the modern atheist the motives of his turmoil and denial.

His motives are many and complex, so that we must

examine them with care if we are to answer them effectively. Some

of them arise from the demand that divine things be presented in

a worthier and purer way than is, perhaps, the case in certain

imperfect forms of language and worship, which we ought to try

to purify so that they express as perfectly and clearly as possible

the sacred reality of which they are the sign.

We see these men full of yearning, prompted sometimes

by passion and desire for the unattainable, but often also by great-

hearted dreams of justice and progress. In such dreams noble so-

cial aims are set up in the place of the Absolute and Necessary

God, testifying thereby to the ineradicable need for the Divine

Source and End of all things, whose transcendence and imman-

ence it is the task of our teaching office to reveal with patience and

wisdom.

Again, we see them, sometimes with ingenuous enthu-

siasm, having recourse to human reason, with the intention of ar-

riving at a scientific explanation of the universe. Let us not

despise this procedure, for it is often based upon laws of logical

thought not unlike those of our classical school. It is a pro-

cedure that leads in a direction contrary to the will of those

who would use it to find an unanswerable proof of their atheism

and its intrinsic validity, for it leads them on toward the new and

final metaphysical and logical assertion of the existence of the

supreme God.

63. Mark 1:3.

52



In this cogent process of reasoning the atheistic pohtico-

scientist stops short wilfully at a certain point and so extinguishes

the sovereign light of the intelligibility of the universe. Who

among us would not help him to reason on to a realization of the

objective reality of the cosmic universe, a realization that restores

to man the sense of the divine Presence, and bring to his lips the

humble, halting words of a consoling prayer?

Sometimes, too, the atheist is spurred on by noble senti-

ments and by impatience with the mediocrity and self-seeking of

so many contemporary social settings. He knows well how to

borrow from our gospel modes and expressions of solidarity and

human compassion. Shall we not be able to lead him back one

day to the Christian source of such manifestations of moral worth?

109. Accordingly, bearing in mind the words of Our pre-

decessor of venerable memory. Pope John XXIII, in his encycli-

cal Pacem in Terris, to the effect that the doctrines of such move-

ments, once elaborated and defined, remain always the same,

whereas the movements themselves cannot help but evolve and

undergo changes, even of a profound nature,®^ we do not despair

that they may some day be able to enter into a more positive

dialogue with the Church than the present one, which we now of

necessity deplore and lament.

110. But we cannot turn our gaze away from the contem-

porary world without expressing a cherished desire, namely that

our intention of developing and perfecting our dialogue in the

varied and changing facets that it presents may assist the cause

of peace between men, by providing a method that seeks to order

human relationships in the sublime light of the language of reason

and sincerity, and by making a contribution of experience and

wisdom that can stir up all men to the consideration of the

supreme values.

The opening of a dialogue such as ours would be, dis-

64. Cf. Acta ApostoUcae Sedis, LV (1963), 300.

53



interested, objective and sincere, is in itself a decision in favor of

a free and honorable peace. It excludes pretense, rivalry, deceit

and betrayal. It cannot do other than condemn, as a crime and

destruction, wars of aggression, conquest or domination. It cannot

confine itself to relationships with the heads of nations, but must

establish them also with the body of the nation and with its foun-

dations, whether social, family or individual, so as to diffuse in

every institution and in every soul the understanding, the relish

and the duty of peace.

SECOND circle: NON-CHRISTIANS

111. Then we see another circle around us. This, too, is vast

in its extent, yet it is not so far away from us. It is made up of

those who adore the one, supreme God whom we too adore.

We mean the children, worthy of our affection and

respect, of the Hebrew people, faithful to the religion that we call

that of the Old Testament. Then, the adorers of God according

to the conception of monotheism, the religion of the Muslims

especially, deserving of our admiration for all that is true and

good in their worship of God. And also the followers of the

great Afro-Asiatic religions.

Obviously we cannot share in these various forms of

religion, nor can we remain indifferent to the fact that each of

them, in its own way, should regard itself as being the equal of

any other and should authorize its followers not to seek to dis-

cover whether God has revealed the perfect and definitive form,

free from aU error, in which He wishes to be known, loved and

served. Indeed, honesty compels us to declare openly our convic-

tion that there is but one true religion, the religion of Christianity.

It is our hope that all who seek God and adore Him may come

to acknowledge its truth.

112. But we do, nevertheless, recognize and respect the moral

and spiritual values of the various non-Christian religions, and

54



we desire to join with them in promoting and defending common

ideals of religious liberty, human brotherhood, good culture, so-

cial welfare and civil order. For Our part. We are ready to enter

into discussion on these common ideals, and will not fail to take

the initiative where Our offer of discussion in genuine, mutual

respect would be well received.

THIRD circle: SEPARATED BRETHREN

113. And so we come to the circle that is nearest to us, the

circle of Christianity. In this field the ecumenical dialogue has

already begun, and in some areas is making real headway. There

is much to be said on this complex and delicate subject, but our

discourse does not end here. For the moment we limit ourself

to a few remarks, none of them new.

The principle that we are happy to make our own is

this: Let us stress what we have in common rather than what

divides us. This provides a good and fruitful subject for our dia-

logue. We are ready to carry it out wholeheartedly. We wiU say

more: on many points of difference regarding tradition, spiritu-

ality, canon law, and worship, we are ready to study how we

can satisfy the legitimate desires of our Christian brothers, still

separated from us. It is our dearest wish to embrace them in a

perfect union of faith and charity.

But we must add that it is not in our power to com-

promise in any way the integrity of the faith or the requirements

of charity. We foresee that this will cause misgiving and opposi-

tion, but now that the Catholic Church has on its own initiative

taken steps toward restoring the unity of Christ’s fold, it will not

cease to go forward with all patience and consideration.

It will not cease to show that the prerogatives that keep

the separated brothers at a distance are not the fruits of historic

ambition or of fanciful theological speculation, but derive from

the will of Christ and that, rightly understood, they are for the

55



good of all and make for common unity, freedom and Christian

perfection. The Catholic Church wiU not cease, by prayer and

penance, to prepare worthily for the longed-for reconciliation.

114. In reflecting on this subject, it distresses Us to see how

We, the promoter of such reconciliation, are regarded by many

of the separated brethren as being its stumbling-block, because of

the primacy of honor and jurisdiction that Christ bestowed upon

the Apostle Peter, and which We have inherited from him.

Do not some of them say that if it were not for the pri-

macy of the Pope, the reunion of the separated Churches with the

Catholic Church would be easy?

We beg the separated brethren to consider the incon-

sistency of this position, not only in that without the Pope the

Catholic Church would no longer be Catholic, but also because

without the supreme, efficacious and decisive pastoral office of

Peter the unity of the Church of Christ would utterly collapse.

It would be vain to look for other principles of unity in

place of the one established by Christ Himself. As St. Jerome

justly wrote: There would arise in the Church as many sects as

there are priests.^^ We should also like to observe that this funda-

mental principle of Holy Church has not as its objective a su-

premacy of spiritual pride and human domination. It is a primacy

of service, of ministration, of love. It is not empty rhetoric that

confers upon the Vicar of Christ the title of “Servant of the serv-

ants of God.”

115. It is along these lines that our dialogue is alert, and,

even before entering into fraternal conversation, it speaks in

prayer and hope with the heavenly Father.

116. We must observe. Venerable Brethren, with joy and

confidence, that the vast and varied circle of separated Christians

is pervaded by spiritual activities that seem to promise consoling

developments in regard to their reunion in the one Church of

65. Cf. Dialogus Contra Luciferianos, 9. (P.L. XXIII, 173).

56



Christ. We beg that the Holy Spirit will breathe upon the “ecu-

menical movement,” and we recall the emotion and joy We felt

at Jerusalem in Our meeting, full of charity and new hope, with

the Patriarch Athenagoras.

We wish to greet with gratitude and respect the par-

ticipation of so many representatives of separated Churches in

the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.

We want to give Our assurance, once again, that we

have an attentive, reverent interest in the spiritual movements

connected with the problem of unity, which are stirring up vital

and noble religious sentiments in various individuals, groups and

communities. With love and reverence We greet all these Chris-

tians, in hope that we may promote together, even more effec-

tively, the cause of Christ and the unity that He desired for His

Church, in the dialogue of sincerity and love.

DIALOGUE AMONG CATHOLICS

117. And lastly We turn to speak with the children of the

House of God, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, of

which this Roman Church is “mother and head.” It is Our ardent

desire that this conversation with Our own children should be

full of faith, of charity, of good works, should be intimate and

familiar.

We would have it responsive to all truth and virtue and

to all the realities of our doctrinal and spiritual inheritance.

Sincere and sensitive in genuine spirituality, ever ready to give

ear to the manifold voice of the contemporary world, ever more

capable of making Catholics truly good men, men wise, free,

serene and strong; that is what We earnestly desire our family

conversation to be.

118. This desire to impress upon the internal relationships of

the Church the character of a dialogue between members of a

body whose constitutive principle is charity does not do away

57



with the exercise of the virtue of obedience, since the right order

necessary in all well-constructed societies and, above all, the hier-

archic constitution of the Church require that, on the one side,

authority should be exercised acording to its proper function and

that, on the other side, there should be submission.

The Church’s authority was instituted by Christ; it is,

indeed, representative of Him; it is the authorized channel of His

word; it is the expression of His pastoral charity. Obedience,

therefore, is motivated by faith, develops into a school of evangeli-

cal humility and links the obedient man to the wisdom, unity,

constructiveness and charity by which the body of the Church is

sustained. It confers upon him who imposes it and upon him who

conforms himself to it the merit of being like Christ, who was

made obedient unto death.^^

119. By obedience, therefore, in the context of dialogue. We

mean the exercise of authority in the full awareness of its being

a service and ministry of truth and charity, and We mean the

observance of canonical regulations and respect for the govern-

ment of legitimate superiors in the spirit of untroubled readiness,

asbecomes free and loving children.

The spirit of independence, of criticism, of rebellion ill

accords with the charity that gives life to the Church’s solidarity,

concord and peace, and easily transforms the dialogue into argu-

ment, dispute and disagreement. This most regrettable attitude,

so easy, alas, to produce, is condemned by the Apostle Paul in

bisMarning: Let there be no divisions among you.^'^

PROMOTING DIALOGUE

120. It is, therefore. Our ardent desire that the dialogue With-

in the Church should take on new fervor, new themes and new

participants, so that the holiness and vitality of the Mystical Body

of Christ on earth may be increased.

66. Pha. 2:8. 67. 1 Cor. 1:10.



Anything that makes known the teachings of which the

Church is both custodian and dispenser receives Our approbation.

We have already mentioned the liturgy, the interior life and

preaching. We could add also: schools, the press, the social apos-

tolate, the missions, the exercise of charity.

All these are themes to which the Council will direct

our attention. And We bless and encourage all those who, under

the guidance of competent authority, take part in the Church’s

life-giving dialogue, priests especially and religious, and our

beloved laity, dedicated to Christ in Catholic Action and in so

many other associations and activities.

121. It is a cause of joy and comfort for Us to see that such

a dialogue already exists in the Church and in the areas that sur-

round it. The Church today is more than ever alive. But if we

consider it closely, it seems that everything still remains to be

done; the work begins today and never comes to an end. This is

the law of our temporal, earthly pilgrimage. This is the ordinary

task. Venerable Brothers, of our ministry, which everything to-

day stimulates us to renew and to make more devoted and intense.

122. As for Ourself in speaking to you of these things. We

are pleased to trust in your co-operation and offer you Ours in

return. This union of aims and labor We ask for and offer not

long after Our elevation to the Chair of the Apostle Peter, bearing

the name and sharing, please God, something of the spirit of the

Apostle of the Gentiles.

123. And so, celebrating the unity of Christ among us. We

send to you with this. Our first letter, in the name of the Lord,

Our blessing as brother and father, a blessing that We gladly ex-

tend to the whole Church and to all mankind.

124. From the Vatican, on the Feast of the Transfiguration

of our Lord Jesus Christ, August 6, 1964.

59



Review Questions *The number in parentheses re-
fers to the paragraph in the encyclical which treats the matter in question.

PROLOGUE (1-18)

1. Why did Pope Paul VI choose the words Ecclesiam Suam (His
Church) as the opening words of his first encyclical? (1-3)*

2. What are the objects of “the dominant thoughts” in the Pope’s
heart at this time? (4-5)

3. What effect does the Pope intend his encyclical to have on the
work of Vatican Council II? (6-8)

4. What doctrine does the Pope propose, as of primary importance,
to the Church’s consideration today? (9-10)

5. What effect is to be expected from a deeper self-awareness on
the part of the Church? (11)

6. What task must the Church undertake as a result of comparing
her actual condition with God’s intentions for her? (12)

7. What are the two parts into which the Pope divides the world
with which the Church must establish relationships? What atti-
tude must the Church take toward this world? (13-16)

8. What role does the Pope propose to play in promoting world
peace? (17)

I SELF-AWARENESS (19-42)

9.

What must the Church do internally before addressing herself
to the world and to its particular problems? (19-20)

10. What interior attitudes should result from reflection on the new
relationship that the religion of Christ establishes between God
and man? (21-23)

11. In what other way could this invitation to interior awareness
be expressed? (24)

60



12. Why does the Church particularly need to reflect on herself at

this moment in history? (25-27)

13. What changes are taking place in mankind and what effect do

they have on the Church? (28)

14. What antidote does the Pope propose to modernism and similar

errors? (28-29)

15. Why is reflection within the mind particularly appealing to

modem man? (30)

16. What kind of scholarly work does the Pope single out for praise?

Which papal documents? Why does he praise them? (31-33)

17. What effect does the Pope hope that study of the doctrine con-

cerning the Church will have on ecumenism? (34)

18. What relationship does he see existing between himself and the

Ecumenical Council in respect to this doctrine? (35)

19. What kind of help does he hope for from the Council? (36)

20. What is the first benefit to be reaped from a deepened aware-

ness of herself by the Church? (37)

21. What is the “feeling for the Church” that results from meditat-

ing on the “mystery of the Church”? (38)

22. What good results follow from the strengthening of a feeling

for the Church? (39-40)

23. What is the tme significance of baptism? (41)

II RENEWAL (43-59)

24. In what sense is the Church perfect? In what sense must she

strive for perfection? (43)

25. What human realities cannot be properly judged apart from the

teachings of Christ and His Church? (43)

26. Why is a reawakened interest in the life of Christ desirable

today? (43)

27. What problematic situation is created for the Church by her

existence in temporal society? (44)

28. In general terms, what kind of reform does the Church need

today? (45-47)

61



29. What wrong use of the word “reform” is to be rejected? (48)

30. What is the right sense of the word “reform” as applied to the

Church? (49)

31. What other danger can the desire for reform produce? In what

fields in particular does this danger show itself? (50-51)

32. How does the Pope interpret the program for the aggiornamento

of the Church? (52)

33. Which lines of conduct do and which do not give vigor to the

(Dhurch in her work? (53 )

34. What function does the spirit of poverty have in the work of

the C!hurch today? (56-57)

35. What role must charity play in the Christian life? (58)

36. In the Pope’s view, what is the place of Mary, the Mother of

God, in the scheme of Christian perfection? (59)

III DIALOGUE (60-124)

37. In what sense is the Church radically different from the human

environment in which she exists? (60-63)

38. What duty must Christian education perform for the student

today? (64)

39. Why is the distinction between (Christianity and the world not

a separation? (65)

40. Why must the (Church go out to meet the world and enter into

dialogue with it? (66-67)

41. How does the Pope describe the pastoral function of the Holy

See and of the Ecumenical Council? (68-70)

42. What program does the Pope himself propose to follow as re-

gards dialogue with the world? (71)

43. What is the transcendent origin of the dialogue? (72)

44. How is the dialogue between God and man related to the dia-

logue between the (Church and the world? (73)

45. What qualities should characterize the Church’s approach to

the world, in imitation of God’s approach to man in the dialogue

of salvation? (74-79)

62



46. What approaches to the world could the Church take, and which

is preferable? (80)

47. What qualities should be found in the proper approach to the

world in dialogue? (81)

48. From the Pope’s point of view, what is the dialogue? (82-83)

49. What are the characteristics of the dialogue? (83-85)

50. What does the Pope mean by the “dialectic” of the dialogue?

What benefits does he expect from it? (86)

51. How is the dialogue to be carried on? (87-89)

52. Why must the Church adapt herself to historic and local circum-

stances? (90-92)

53. What are the limits on this adaptation? (90-92)

54. What is the primary apostolate? What is needed in order to

carry it on effectively? (94-95)

55. With whom must the Church be prepared to enter into dialogue?

(96-98)

56. What makes the Church’s mission to the world such a formid-

able one? (99)

57. What is the substance of the Church’s message today? (99)

58. In what circles does the Pope see mankind as lying, around

the central point which is the Holy See? (100 ff.)

59. What is the primary, universal reality in which the Church is

ready to play her part? What part is she ready to play?

( 101
-102 )

60. What is the Church’s attitude toward civilization? (102)

61. What does the Pope see as the most serious problem of our

time, and why? (103-104)

62. What attitude does he intend to take toward the denial of God?

Why? (104)

63. What is his attitude toward political and economic regimes

based on the denial of God, of which communism is the chief

example? (105)

64. Does the Pope exclude dialogue with the Communists? What

obstacles to it does he see? (106-107)

65. What pastoral approach to the modem atheist does the Pope

advocate? (108)

63



66 . What religious truth is implicit in the noble, although distorted,

social aims of atheists? (108)

67. Is science to be feared because it disproves the existence of

God? (108)

68. What good results could follow from the honest moral indigna-

tion of some atheists? ( 108 )

69. What principle of historical development gives ground for hop-

ing for an eventual more positive dialogue between atheistic

movements and the Church? (109)

70. What contribution would the dialogue, which the Pope en-

visions, make to the cause of peace? (110)

71. What judgment is passed on the morality of war? (110)

72. What bodies or groups must participate in a dialogue aimed at

peace? (110)

73. How does the Pope describe the non-Christian religions and

in what terms does he describe dialogue with them? (111-112)

74. What principle does the Pope take as his own for the conduct

of that dialogue which is properly called ecumenical? (113)

75. On what points can the Church contemplate satisfying the legit-

imate desires of Christians separated from her? On what points

is compromise impossible? (113)

76. How does the Church hope to persuade separated Christians of

the rightness of her position on those points? (113)

77. Why must the Church insist on papal primacy? (114)

78. What is the Pope’s attitude toward the ecumenical movement

among separated Christians? (116)

79. What fruits does the Pope wish from his conversation with the

members of the Catholic Church? (117)

80. How do charity and obedience interact with each other in the

dialogue within the Church? (118-119)

81. What are the media of the dialogue within the Church? (120)

82. What is the law of our temporal, earthly pilgrimage? (121)

64



Selected Bibliography

Commentators on papal pronouncements recognize the special

character of a Pope’s first encyclical, seeing it as a statement of

policy that sets the tone for a new pontificate. Readers of “The

Paths of the Church” (Ecclesiam Suam) may better grasp its

significance by comparing it with two preceding inaugural en-

cyclicals: Pius XII’s “The Unity of Human Society” (Summi

Pontificatus)
,
issued on October 20, 1939, and John XXIITs

“On Truth, Unity and Peace” (Ad Petri Cathedram), issued on

June 29, 1959. (The first appeared as an America Press pamph-

let (25f); the second was published in the November-December,

1959 issue of the Catholic Mind, pp. 541-70).

Two collections of Pope Paul’s speeches and pastorals dating

from his years as Cardinal Archbishop of Milan have appeared

in English. They serve admirably as an introduction to the per-

sonal outlook and thought processes of the Holy Father, and

reveal the extent to which some of the basic themes touched on

in his first encyclical have preoccupied him for many years. One

is The Church (Helicon. 1964. 232p.). The other. The Mind of

Paul VI (Bruce. 1964. 267p.), also contains a remarkably can-

did essay by Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J., on “The Image of Paul

VI in the Light of the First Months of His Government.”

Since the encyclical takes on added meaning in that it appears

during an intersession of the Second Vatican Council, it can

best be appreciated against a background of the two discourses,

by John XXIII and Paul VI respectively, opening the first and

second sessions of the Council. Full texts appear in the December,

1962 issue (pp. 48-54) and November, 1963 issue (pp. 50-63)

of the Catholic Mind. In view of the new encyclical’s explicit cita-

tions from Pius XII’s magisterial encyclical “The Mystical Body”

(Mystici Corporis), and John XXIITs great testament, “Peace

on Earth” (Pacem in Terris), it may help to review the texts in

America Press pamphlet editions (25(f and 50^, respectively).



The two great encyclicals of Pope John XXHl

PACEM IN TERRIS

Two years after his outstanding Mater et Magistra,

Pope John gave the world this great companion

encyclical. Here is the English text, reviewed and

collated by the editors of America, with a masterly

and penetrating analysis by John Courtney Murray,

S.J., a commentary by Thurston N. Davis, S.J., copi-

ous questions for study-club use, an extended read-

ing list and a twelve-page tabular breakdown of the

encyclicals contents. (C-76) 50^*

MATER ET MAGISTRA

Pope John s historic encyclical on “Christianity and

Social Progress” is produced in a precise translation

from the official Acta version. Attuned to the times,

this providential encyclical is an answer to many of

the great questions of a revolutionary age. Extended

analysis, discussion outline and bibliography are in-

cluded with the text. (C-65
) 50^

AMERICA PRESS, 920 Broadway, New York 10, N.Y.