Mystici Corporis Christi
Mystici Corporis Christi is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII during World War II (June 29, 1943), which affirms that the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.[1] According to the encyclical, the Church has two aspects, a visible and an invisible dimension. Full membership in the Church involves those who live under the visible representative of Christ. However, there are many Christians who live outside the visible body and whom are still in a salvific relationship with Christ The relationship of these faithful within the invisible Church is a mystical connection to Christ. Through their faith, hope and love, they are also united with Christ in the larger Church. Each of the faithful is said to be guided by the Holy Spirit and therefore an equal and important element of the body of Christ. All members of the Church are called to work on the perfection of the body of Christ and unification is said to take place in the Holy Eucharist.
Historical Context
The ancient Pauline concept of the Mystical Body of Christ [2] provided the theological precedent for the eventual encyclical titled, Mystici Corporis Christi.
The outbreak of the Second World War and Nazi Anti-Semitism resulted in a number of forced conversions to Christianity. Pope Pius XII condemned these forced conversions, which were in violation of existing Canon Law.[3] He taught that Church membership and conversions must be voluntary. Regarding conversions, the encyclical stated: “We recognize that this must be done of their own free will; for no one believes unless he wills to believe."[4] Hence they are most certainly not genuine Christians who against their belief are forced to go into a church, to approach the altar and to receive the Sacraments; for the "faith without which it is impossible to please God"[200] is an entirely free "submission of intellect and will."[5][6] The encyclical stated:
- Therefore, whenever it happens, despite the constant teaching of this Apostolic See,[7] that anyone is compelled to embrace the Catholic faith against his will, Our sense of duty demands that We condemn the act.[8]
The teachings of Mystici Corporis Christi also laid the groundwork for some of the pronouncements of the Second Vatican Council. The encyclical had stated that the Body of Christ is the Catholic Church. Pope Paul VI quoted Mystici Corporis from Pius XII verbatim in his first encyclical Ecclesiam Suam: “Consider, then, this splendid utterance of Our predecessor: "The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, a doctrine revealed originally from the lips of the Redeemer Himself." Pope Paul VI continues: We wish to take up this invitation and to repeat it in this encyclical, for We consider it timely and urgent and relevant to the needs of the Church in our day.[9][10]
However, the Second Vatican Council decreed that the Church subsists in the Body of Christ.[11] This pronouncement seemed to some theologians, to relativize the identity of the Roman Catholic Church with the Body of Christ. Pope Paul VI, Pope Pius XII and all popes before him have taught complete identity.[12]
Teachings
Mystici Corporis Christi is renowned for calling the Church the mystical body of Christ. It describes the mystical bonds that tie the faithful together, which also provide a greater sense connectedness between the hierarchy and the laity. The encyclical affirms that while the lay people animate human society, the successors of the apostles are to be responsible in matters of religion and morals. Until this encyclical, the Church was considered as societas perfecta, a perfect society, consisting primarily of Pope, bishops, clergy and the religious. Mystici Corporis included lay people as equal and important elements of the body of Christ. It stated that the faithful are united with Christ in the Church. Christ loves and lives in them. Christ is alive through the Holy Spirit.
The encyclical was an important development in Roman Catholic doctrine because it had rejected two extreme views of the Church:
- (1) A rationalistic or purely sociological understanding of the Church, according to which she is merely a human organization with structures and activities. The visible Church and its structures do exist but the Church is more, she is guided by the Holy Spirit: "Although the juridical principles, on which the Church rests and is established, derive from the divine constitution given to it by Christ and contribute to the attaining of its supernatural end, nevertheless that which lifts the Society of Christians far above the whole natural order is the Spirit of our Redeemer who penetrates and fills every part of the Church".[13]
- (2) An exclusively mystical understanding of the Church is mistaken as well, because a mystical “Christ in us” union would deify its members and mean that the acts of Christians are simultaneously the acts of Christ. The theological concept una mystica persona (one mystical person) refers not to an individual relation but to the unity of Christ with the Church and the unity of its members with Him in her.[14]
Furthermore, the encyclical stated that Christ, while still on earth, instructed by precept, counsel and warnings "in words that shall never pass away, and will be spirit and life"[15] to all men of all times. He conferred a triple power on His Apostles and their successors, to teach, to govern, to lead men to holiness, making this power, defined by special ordinances, rights and obligations, the fundamental law of the whole Church.[16]
Mystici Corporis requests the faithful to love their Church and to always see Christ in her, especially in the old and sick members. They must accustom themselves to see Christ Himself in the Church. For it is Christ who lives in His Church, and through her, teaches, governs, and sanctifies; it is Christ also who manifests Himself differently in different members of His society. If the faithful strive to live in a spirit of lively faith, they will not only pay due honor and reverence "to the more exalted members" of this Mystical Body, especially those who according to Christ’s mandate will have to render an account of our souls,[17]
Ecumenical implications
Protestantism
Protestant Theology since Martin Luther, always rejected the Catholic view of Church as the perfect society with an authoritarian papacy. It employs instead the Bible as the sole source, sola scriptura, yet its biblical interpretation of the mystical body is different from the encyclical: The Church receives all the graces from Christ its head without active participation. The mystical unity and the sacramental character of the Catholic theology is thus somewhat foreign to most Protestants. But Mystici Corporis uses a biblical base for its teaching, and moves away from the non-bliblical authoritarian view of Church as the perfect society, and thus contributed to ecumenical dialogue with Protestantism.
The Orthodox
The Orthodox Church shares a tradition based sacramental theology with the Catholic Church. Mystici Corporis, establishing equality of all apostles under the successor of Peter, instead of a “papalist” Societas Perfecta, was viewed quite positively, even so not all aspects were shared by all.[18] Pope Pius, recognized an often criticised over-centralized papacy, and related Church laws and regulations as an obstacle to relations with the Orthodox Church. After issuing Mystici Corporis, the Pope ordered a reform the CIC Orientalis, the Canon Law for the Orthodox Churches, united with Rome. In its new constitutions, Eastern Patriarchs were made almost independent from Rome[19] Eastern marriage law[20] civil law[21] laws governing religious associations[22] property law[23] and other laws. These reforms were intended provide some independence of Orthodoxy and establish it as equal within of the mystical body of Christ.[24]
Impact
The new role of the laity resulted in the foundation of numerous secular institutes with faithful members of all walks of life. Against significant difficulties and opposition from established religious orders, Pius XII issued in 1947 the Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia,[25] which, for the first time in Church history, allowed lay people to form their own secular communities, and establish them within a newly established Canon Law framework. The Pope himself used to encyclical to encourage active participation of the laity by addressing a wide variety of groups and professional associations throughout the world.
Notes
- ↑ Mystici Corporis Christi Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, Vatican City, 1943.
- ↑ La Cristologia in Italia 1930-1990, Sergio de Marchi, Piemme, 1994, P. Parente, De Verbo Incarnato, 1933, Hofmann, Der Kirchenbegriff des hl. Augustinus, München 1933, H. Käppeli, Zur Lehre des hl. Thomans von Aquin vom Corpus Christi Mysticum, Freiburg, 1931, E Mersch, Le Corps Mystique du Christ 2 Vol. Paris, 1936, A E Rawloson, Corpus Christi Mysticum, Berlin, 1931, Robinson, H Wheeler, The Cross of the Servant, London, 1926
- ↑ Cod. Iur. Can., c. 1351
- ↑ Cf. August., In Ioann. Ev. tract., XXVI, 2: Migne, P.L. XXX, 1607.
- ↑ Cf. August., In Ioann. Ev. tract., XXVI, 2: Migne, P.L. XXX, 1607
- ↑ Vat. Counc. Const. de fide Cath., Cap. 3
- ↑ Cf. Leo XIII, Immortale Dei: A.S.S., XVIII, pp. 174-175; Cod. Iur. Can., c. 1351
- ↑ Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis Christi, 104
- ↑ Ecclesiam Suam 31
- ↑ Lumen Gentium, 7
- ↑ Lumen Gentium, 1,7.
- ↑ Otto Hermann Pesch, das 2. Vatikanische Konzil, Echter, 1995, 219 ff
- ↑ Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis Christi, 63
- ↑ S Tromp, Caput influit sensum et motum, Gregorianum, 1958, pp353-366
- ↑ Cf. John VI, 63.
- ↑ Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis Christi, 38
- ↑ Cf. Hebr., XIII, 17.
- ↑ At the height of the Cold War, there were notable divergences of view between the Patriach of Moscow and the Western based patriachs
- ↑ CIC Orientalis, 1957
- ↑ CIC Orientalis ,1949
- ↑ CIC Orientalis , 1950
- ↑ CIC Orientalis, 1952
- ↑ CIC Orientalis, 1952
- ↑ Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis Christi, 38
- ↑ Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia, Vatican city, 1947
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Gerald, C. Heaven's Beginning : Popularized Edition of the Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi. Paulist Press, 1944.
- Pope Pius XII , The Mystical Body of Jesus Christ: Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XII 'Mystici Corporis Christi'. Catholic Truth Society, 1943.
- Walters, Barbara R., Vincent J. Corrigan, Peter T. Ricketts (Eds), The Feast of Corpus Christi. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0271029245
External Links
Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi on the Vatican website Retrieved September 13, 2008.
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