Is an encyclical infallible? Is a "letter" infallible?
o encyclical or letter is infallible in an extraordinary sense unless the Pope specifically seeks to define an article of faith as Pope Pius IX did with the Immaculate Conception in the
"Apostolic Constitution
" Ineffabilis Deus (1854). In
Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption like this:
…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith. (44,45)
Unless, you get this type of language from a papal document, then no teaching is being extraordinarily defined. On the other hand, that does not give us the license to "opt out" of the teachings of papal encyclicals either. This is especially true if what is being taught has always been taught by the Church. These particular teachings enjoy a presumption of infallibility unless later revoked. A good example of this is Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (1968) where he reaffirmed the Catholic Church's perennial rejection of artificial contraception as a grievous sin against God.
John Pacheco
June 7, 2002
