Abstract

The papers from the pontificate of Pius XI (1922-1939) in the Vatican Secret Archives contain two unpublished encyclicals. The one published here, "De Ecclesia Christi", is dated 31 October, 1931 and is only in typescript form. The encyclical constitutes a kind of dogmatic definition of Catholic doctrine concerning the nature and authority of the Church and its «visible head on earth the Roman pontiff». The encyclical appears to have been designed to reinforce the teaching authority of the Church at a time when it was threatened by various enemies - liberalism and anti-clericalism, Communism and later National Socialism - and when the Church's teaching on such matters as divorce, abortion and euthanasia was being undermined by legislation in several states and a change of attitude inside the Anglican Church. The reasons why it was not eventually published are more difficult to fathom.