Papal Encyclicals

The Secret Encyclical

In 1938, Pope Pius XI requested that John LaFarge, SJ draft an encyclical “that he could deliver to the universal Church, demonstrating the incompatibility of Catholicism and racism” (Coppa, 1998). With the help of two other Jesuits – Gustav Gundlach, SJ of Germany and Gustave Desbuquois, SJ of France – LaFarge wrote Humani Gneris Unitas or “The Unity of the Human Race.” The authors were sworn to secrecy until the encyclical’s publication. The draft encyclical “argued that because of their existence of one natural law and one Creator, the human race is also one” (Chamedes, 2013). The document decried racism and combatted antisemitism but it was still “tinged with a variety of Catholic anti-Judaism that had for centuries been an accepted doctrinal view” (Chamedes, 2013). The draft reached Pope Pius XI on January 21, 1939 (Chamedes, 2013).

Unfortunately, he died less than a month later. After his death on February 10, 1939, the encyclical was discovered on Pope Pius XI’s desk (Coppa, 1998). His former secretary of state and successor, Pope Pius XII made the regrettable decision to shelve the encyclical. He “lacked the fighting spirit of his predecessor,” and “preferred diplomacy to confrontation” (Coppa, 1998). Worried that the encyclical would “antagonize the Nazi regime,” Pope Pius XII prioritized improving relations with the German government over condemning racism and antisemitism (Coppa, 1998). At the end of his life, LaFarge broke the seal of secrecy and told a small number of his fellow Jesuits about the encyclical’s existence. The story was revealed to the public in the late 1960s (Chamedes, 2013).

Mystici Corporis Christi

Mystici Corporis Christi is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published in 1943. The encyclical illuminates the doctrine of understanding the Catholic Church as the Mystical Body of Christ and classifies all members of the Church as integral members of that body. The encyclical states, “But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building of the whole Body” (Mystici Corporis Christi p. 15). This unitary understanding of the Church encouraged Catholics to fight to alleviate the sufferings of others. In the Civil Rights Movement, the Mystical Body doctrine provided justification for Christian involvement in righting the injustice faced by Black Americans. All Christians are members of the Body of Christ and thus have a responsibility to take action to redress the injustice faced by their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pius XII, Pope. “Mystici Corporis Christi (June 29, 1943) | PIUS XII.” Www.vatican.va, 1943, www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html.