Difference between Papal Encyicals, Apostolic Constitutions, motu proprios and Papal Bulls

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Msecc27

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Hi

What’s the difference between Papal Encyicals, Apostolic Constitutions, motu proprios and Papal Bulls?

I’m sure I’m missing other kinds of Papal documents, but when is each one used what difference circumstances are they used under?

Thanks
 
Msecc27 said:
Hi

What’s the difference between Papal Encyicals, Apostolic Constitutions, motu proprios and Papal Bulls?

I’m sure I’m missing other kinds of Papal documents, but when is each one used what difference circumstances are they used under?

Thanks
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Modern Catholic Dictionary:

ENCYCLICAL. A papal document treating of matters related to the general welfare of the Church, sent by the Pope to the bishops. Used especially in modern times to express the mind of the Pope to the people. Although of themselves not infallible documents, encyclicals may (and generally do) contain pronouncements on faith and morals that are de facto infallible because they express the ordinary teaching of the Church. In any case, the faithful are to give the papal encyclicals their interior assent and external respect as statements of the Vicar of Christ. (Etym. Latin encyclicus; Greek enkyklios, circular, general.)

An encyclical epistle is like an encyclical letter but addressed to part of the Church, that is, to the bishops and faithful of a particular area. Its contents may be doctrinal, moral, or disciplinary matters of universal significance, but may also commemorate some historical event or treat of conditions in a certain country or locality.

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS. Collection of ecclesiastical laws from the fourth century. Their most important part is the set of eighty-five canons, attributed to the Apostles, dealing with ordinations, official responsibilities, and the moral behavior of bishops and priests. They eventually became the basis for canon law in the West.

MOTU PROPRIO. Words used in rescripts drawn up and issued by a pope on his own initiative, and not conditioned by any petitionary requests. The documents are always signed personally by a pope.

BULL, PAPAL. The most solemn and weighty form of papal letter. The name is derived from the Latin bulla, the disklike leaden seal attached to such a document. It is used by the Pope in appointing a bishop. Formerly all papal letters of major importance, including canonization decrees, were called bulls, but the current Acta Apostolicae Sedis gives some of these papal letters various names.
 
But Pope Pius XII issued Apostolic Constitution in 1953 on fasting requirements in the Church: Christus Dominus?
 
thistle said:
Why do you mention this specifically?
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I am not sure why he/she mentioned it but I have a question :). From your definition of Apostolic Constitution, it would seem that the Apostolic Constitution is something fixed in the past and not something new i.e. as you said, a basis. So what does it mean to issue such a thing in 1953 if it had already been the basis of Canon law? Would it not have to be called a canon law rather than an Apostolic Constitution?
 
thistle said:
Why do you mention this specifically?
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I was mentioning this one in particular as it was the only Apostolic Constitution I could think of, off the top of my head. If one was released in 1953, that must mean they are still being used or were until recently, but what I was wonder was when and why are they used today, if they are used today?
 
Msecc27 said:
I was mentioning this one in particular as it was the only Apostolic Constitution I could think of, off the top of my head. If one was released in 1953, that must mean they are still being used or were until recently, but what I was wonder was when and why are they used today, if they are used today?
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Apostolic Constitutions are still published today. A more recent example would be Pope Benedict’s document laying the framework for the Anglican ordinariate, which provides for Anglican/Episcopalian parishes to convert to the Catholic Church en masse and still retain some parts of their Anglican tradition.

I have found it helpful to just browse the Vatican website and look at what types of documents fall under each category. Pope John Paul II would be a good pope to start with as he served for so long and was fairly prolific. Thus he gives a good number of each type of document to give you a better sense of what the definitions Thistle posted look like in practice. Just look at the menu on the left-hand side of the page and it lists all the types of documents. They don’t really do papal bulls anymore.
 
For the record, a Bull is just a physical form of a document.

A Bull is large, fancy, has decorations all over the edges, and looks very “illuminated.” Well, modernish ones do.

versus

A Brief is smaller, less fancy, has less decoration.
 
Msecc27 said:
I was mentioning this one in particular as it was the only Apostolic Constitution I could think of, off the top of my head. If one was released in 1953, that must mean they are still being used or were until recently, but what I was wonder was when and why are they used today, if they are used today?
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If you want to read the various types of documents from the present day back 800 years see this excellent site:

papalencyclicals.net/
 
If memory serves, Bulls were made by the Holy See specifically to address secular governments, no? Hence the reason they are no longer issued.
 
YoungTradCath said:
No. Bulls are still used.
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Interesting. My mistake. I was misinformed (or misunderstood) by Dr. William Marshner of Christendom College at a talk he gave where he stated that they are no longer used in the Church.
 
Ghislieri said:
Interesting. My mistake. I was misinformed (or misunderstood) by Dr. William Marshner of Christendom College at a talk he gave where he stated that they are no longer used in the Church.
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This is a very beautiful old Bull: universitystory.gla.ac.uk/graphics/papal-bull-large.jpg

This is a modern one: papalartifacts.com/images/uploads/larges/1283201342_more%20popes%20vi%20013.jpg

This is a very recent one: archtoronto.org/archives/images/PapalBull-ArchbishopCollinssm.jpg regarding the Archbishop of Toronto. For the record, yes, they still have lead seals. This photo has been cropped.

In one of Fr. Cekada’s–for the record, he’s a sede–videos you can see the original of Missale Romanum being held up by Paul VI for all to see. It is a very regal document.
 
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