What is an encyclical, exactly?
Pope Leo XIV signed his first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te," on October 4, 2025, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. His first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," will be released on May 25, 2026, focusing on artificial intelligence and the protection of human dignity. An encyclical is a pastoral letter addressed by the pope to the entire Church, dealing with matters of faith, morals, devotion, or universal discipline. Encyclicals are intended to guide the faithful on issues that require universal observance within the Church.
4 months ago
Encyclicals are papal pastoral letters that address the whole Church—or, increasingly, all people of goodwill—on matters of faith, morals, social teaching, or Church discipline. They are part of the pope’s ordinary magisterium, carry significant doctrinal weight, and require a “religious submission of intellect and will” from the faithful, though they are not infallible pronouncements 1 2.
Encyclicals are formal letters written by the pope, traditionally addressed to bishops but also intended for the broader Catholic faithful and, in modern practice, for the global audience 2. They reflect on Church doctrine and propose ways to apply it to contemporary challenges, such as artificial intelligence, human dignity, or social justice 1 2.
Encyclicals are not considered divinely inspired revelations, but they belong to the ordinary magisterium and are authoritative teachings of the “Vicar of Christ” 1. Pope Pius XII affirmed that the faithful must give assent to encyclical teachings, even though they do not exercise the pope’s supreme teaching power 1. Canon law obliges Catholics to submit intellectually and willfully to these letters and to avoid contrary actions 2. While not infallible, they are respected as essential guides for belief and practice 1 2.
Encyclicals are papal teachings guiding the Church on contemporary moral issues
Your statement is mostly correct, but it needs a couple of important precisions in Catholic teaching—especially about (1) what encyclicals are for and (2) how to understand their authority.
An encyclical letter is a document from the pope that teaches the Church on matters of faith, morals, and practical judgment. In modern Catholic life, many encyclicals do address contemporary social and moral questions—for example, development, inequality, war and peace, labor, or ecological issues.
John Paul II describes Populorum Progressio as a continuation of the Church’s social teaching tradition that provides principles for reflection, criteria of judgment, and directives for action—and he emphasizes that this teaching is oriented toward moral conduct.
Likewise, Deus Caritas Est explains that Catholic social doctrine functions as “fundamental guidelines” that help interpret new realities, especially by engaging the “signs of the times” in light of the Gospel.
So it’s fair to say encyclicals often guide the Church in moral and social matters, particularly as new circumstances arise.
However, it’s not accurate to reduce encyclicals to “guiding the Church on contemporary moral issues” only. Some encyclicals focus more directly on doctrine, truth, ecclesial unity, evangelization, or the Church’s mission—while still having moral implications.
A key nuance concerns authority.
Pius XII warns that one must not assume that everything stated in encyclicals automatically demands the assent due to the “supreme power of the Teaching Authority.” He writes that popes do not always exercise the highest level of authority in writing encyclicals; rather, such matters are usually taught with the ordinary teaching authority, and what the pope teaches in encyclicals is often already part of Catholic doctrine for other reasons.
But he adds a crucial exception: if the pope, in an official document, “purposely pass[es] judgment” on a matter that had been under dispute, then it cannot be considered an open question among theologians according to the pope’s intent and will.
So Catholic teaching supports the idea that encyclicals are genuinely normative and teaching-worthy, while also requiring careful awareness that their level of decisiveness depends on what the pope is doing in that particular document.
Many encyclicals reach beyond Catholics. For instance, in Laudato Si’, Pope Francis presents his letter as dialogue with “every person living on this planet” and explicitly engages with “all people of good will.”
That is consistent with the Church’s broader social-moral outreach described elsewhere in the tradition of social encyclicals.
In Catholic terms, the best refined version of your sentence would be: “Encyclicals are papal teachings that develop the Church’s moral and doctrinal guidance for the present, and—depending on the content—may also close debates that had been open to discussion.”