Mystici Corporis Christi

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (January 2012)

Mystici Corporis Christi (June 29, 1943) is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII during World War II, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.^[1] It is one of the more important encyclicals of Pope Pius XII, because of its topic, the Church, and because its Church concept was fully included in Lumen Gentium but also strongly debated during and after Vatican II. The Church is called body, because it is a living entity; it is called the body of Christ, because Christ is its Head and Founder; it is called mystical body, because it is neither a purely physical nor a purely spiritual unity, but supernatural.^[2]

Theological background

The encyclical builds on a theological development in the Twenties and Thirties of the 20th century in Italy, France, Germany and England, which all re-discovered the ancient Pauline concept of the Mystical Body of Christ.^[3] Pius XII utilized these new discoveries and authoritatively added his directions to them, as the Dutch Jesuit Sebastian Tromp documented.^[4]

According to the encyclical, the Church has two aspects, a visible and an invisible one. Full membership have those who live under the visible representative of Christ. The relation of the faithful with Christ is mystical, not physical. The faithful, through their faith hope and love, are united with Christ in the Church. Christ loves and lives in the faithful. Christ and the Church as the whole Church, which is alive through the Holy Spirit. Each of the faithful is guided by the Holy Spirit and therefore an equal and important element of the body of Christ. The unification with Christ takes place in the Holy Eucharist. Within the Church, there exist not an active and passive element, leadership and lay people. All members of the Church are called to work on the perfection of the body of Christ.

New role of lay people

The encyclical teaches, that while lay people animate human society, the Successors of the Apostles (the Catholic Bishops) are to be responsible in matters of religion and morals. Until this encyclical of Pius XII, Church was considered as societas perfecta, a perfect society, consisting primarily of Pope, bishops, clergy and the religious. Mystici Corporis includes lay people as equal and important elements of the body of Christ. The faithful are united with Christ in the Church. Christ loves and lives in them. Christ is alive through the Holy Spirit. The unification of Christ takes place in the Holy Eucharist.

• Within the Church, there exist not an active and passive element, leadership and lay people. All members of the Church are called to work on the perfection of the body of Christ. ... Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.^[5]

Apostles and bishops

The encyclical states 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"^[6] 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.^[7] God governs directly and guides personally the Church which He founded. He reigns within the minds and hearts of men, and bends and subjects their wills to His good pleasure, even when rebellious.^[8]

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,^[9]

• They will take to their hearts those members who are the object of our Savior’s special love: the weak, We mean, the wounded, and the sick who are in need of material or spiritual assistance; children whose innocence is so easily exposed to danger in these days, and whose young hearts can be molded as wax; and finally the poor, in helping whom we recognize as it were, through His supreme mercy, the very person of Jesus Himself as a perfect model of love for the Church.^[10]

Mariology of Pope Pius XII

The encyclical concludes with a summary of the mariology of the Pope. The 1854 dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pius IX defined the Virgin conceived without sin, as the mother of God and our mother. Pope Pius XII built on this in Mystici Corporis, anticipates the dogma: Maria, whose sinless soul was filled with the divine spirit of Jesus Christ above all other created souls, "in the name of the whole human race" gave her consent "for a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature",^[11] thus elevating human nature beyond the realm of the purely material. She who, according to the flesh, was the mother of our Head, became mother of all His members. Through her powerful prayers, she obtained that the spirit of our Divine Redeemer, should be bestowed on the newly founded Church at Pentecost.^[12]

She is Most Holy Mother of all the members of Christ, and reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory.^[12] On November 1, 1950, referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles Peter and Paul, the Immaculate and his dogmatic authority, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma: "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."^[13] The dogma of the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary, is the crowning of the theology of Pope Pius XII. The dogma was preceded by the 1946 encyclical Deiparae Virginis Mariae, which requested all Catholic bishops to express their opinion on a possible dogmatization. In this dogmatic statement, the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life", leaves open the question of whether the Virgin Mary died before her Assumption, or, whether she was assumed before death; both possibilities are allowed. Mary's Assumption was a divine gift to Mary as Mother of God. As Mary completed her race as a shining example to the human race, the perspective of the gift of assumption is offered to the whole human race.

• May she, then, the most holy Mother of all the members of Christ, to whose Immaculate Heart We have trustfully consecrated all mankind, and who now reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory - may she never cease to beg from Him that streams of grace may flow from its exalted Head into all the members of the Mystical Body. May she give to the Church today, as in times gone by, the mantle of her protection and obtain from God, that now at last, the Church and all mankind may enjoy more peaceful days.^[14]

Errors and condemnations

Exclusion on the basis of race or nationality

• And first of all let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Saviour shed His Blood precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and might constrain them to unite in one body, however widely they may differ in nationality and race. True love of the Church, therefore, requires not only that we should be mutually solicitous one for another^[15] as members and sharing in their suffering^[16] but likewise that we should recognize in other men, although they are not yet joined to us in the body of the Church, our brothers in Christ according to the flesh, called, together with us, to the same eternal salvation.^[17]

There are some who extol enmity, hatred and spite as if they enhanced the dignity and the worth of man. Let us, however, while we look with sorrow on the disastrous consequences of this teaching, follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who are of a different nation or race,^[18] but even our enemies.^[19]

• While Our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, We extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and the depth of the charity of Christ,^[20] which neither diversity of race or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or unjust, destroy^[21]

Murdering the handicapped

• Conscious of the obligations of Our high office We deem it necessary to reiterate this grave statement today, when to Our profound grief We see at times the deformed, the insane, and those suffering from hereditary disease deprived of their lives, as though they were a useless burden to Society; and this procedure is hailed by some as a manifestation of human progress, and as something that is entirely in accordance with the common good. Yet who that is possessed of sound judgment does not recognize that this not only violates the natural and the divine law^[22] written in the heart of every man, but that it outrages the noblest instincts of humanity?
• The blood of these unfortunate victims who are all the dearer to our Redeemer because they are deserving of greater pity, “cries to God from the earth".^[23]

Forced conversions

Pope Pius XII condemns forced conversions in strong terms. These had been opposed by previous Popes such as Leo XIII,^[24] and are in violation of existing Canon Law, the law of the Church.^[25] Church membership and conversions must be voluntary. Regarding onversions “We recognize that this must be done of their own free will; for no one believes unless he wills to believe."^[26] 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^[27] receive the Sacraments; for the "faith without which it is impossible to please God" [200] is an entirely free "submission of intellect and will."^[28]

• Therefore, whenever it happens, despite the constant teaching of this Apostolic See,^[29] that anyone is compelled to embrace the Catholic faith against his will, Our sense of duty demands that We condemn the act.^[30]

Significance of Mystici Corporis Christi

Theological views at the time

Mystici Corporis did not get much attention during the war years but became influential after World War II. It had rejected two extreme views of the Church.^[31]

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".^[32]
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.^[33]

Secular institutes

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,^[34] 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.

Controversy at Vatican II

For many years, it was thought that Vatican II had made one significant exception to Mystici Corporis.^[35] The encyclical of Pope Pius 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."^[36]

The Council defined that the Church subsists in (subsistit in) the Body of Christ.^[37] This seemed to some theologians to relativize the identity of the one Catholic Church with the Body of Christ. Pope Paul VI, Pope Pius XII and all popes before him have taught complete identity.^[38] After some confusion over what subsistit in meant, the Vatican in 2007 clarified its position as being identical with Pope Pius XII.^[39] Leading Council theologians like Joseph Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac expanded on this.^[40]

Ecumenical implications

Protestantism

Protestant theology since Martin Luther always rejected the Catholic view of the Church as one Church with both visible and invisible aspects, and with a Pope as the Successor of St. Peter. It employs instead the interpretation of the Bible as the sole source of orthodox theology (Sola Scriptura), yet its biblical interpretation of the mystical Body is different from the Catholic Church's doctrine as stated in Mystici Corporis Christi: The Church receives all the graces from Christ its singular head prior to active participation. The doctrines of the mystical unity of the Catholic Church through engagement with the sacraments is thus rejected by most Protestants. However, Mystici Corporis uses a biblical base for its teaching, and thus contributed to ecumenical dialogue with Protestantism, while still reaffirming that the Catholic Church is the one true Church. As well, in recent years, some Protestant theologians have returned to the doctrine of the "mystical body of Christ" afresh, often following the thought of Henri de Lubac in sympathetic fashion (Milbank, Suspended Middle, 2005; Boursma, Sacramental Ontology, 2009), and others have embraced the doctrine in a way which examines its development over time, and the call to ecclesial unity that it issues (Pecknold, Christianity and Politics, 2010).

Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern Orthodox churches share a tradition-based sacramental theology with the Catholic Church. Mystici Corporis, establishing equality of all apostles under the Successor of Peter, instead of a supposed “papalist” Societas Perfecta, was viewed quite positively; even so, not all aspects were shared by all.^[41] Pope Pius recognized, and often criticised, an over-centralized papacy and related Church laws and regulations, as an obstacle to relations with the Eastern Orthodox churches. After issuing Mystici Corporis, the Pope ordered a reform of the CIC Orientalis, the Canon Law for the Eastern Catholic Churches united with Rome. In its new constitutions, Eastern Patriarchs were made much more autonomous^[42] with regard to Eastern marriage law,^[43] civil law,^[44] laws governing religious associations,^[45] property law^[46] and other laws. These reforms were intended to provide for more independence to the Eastern Catholic Churches, establishing them as equal within the mystical body of Christ^[7] and supplying a model for Eastern Orthodox churches if they decide to reunite with the Catholic Church.

Highlights of the encyclical

• Our purpose is to show the beauty of the Church in its full light, the nobility of the faithful, who in the body of Christ are united with their head.^[47]
• We are not ignorant of the fact that His profound truth - of our union with the Divine Redeemer and in particular of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls - is shrouded in darkness by a veil that impedes our power to understand and explain it, both because of the hidden nature of the doctrine itself, and of the limitations of our human intellect.^[48]
• Christ did not wish to exclude sinners from His Church; hence if some of her members are suffering from spiritual maladies, that is no reason why we should lessen our love for the Church, but rather a reason why we should increase our devotion to Her members.^[49]
• And if at times, there appears in the Church something that indicates the weakness of our human nature, it should not be attributed to her juridical constitution, but rather to that regrettable inclination to evil found in each individual, which its Divine Founder permits even at times in the highest members of His Mystical Body, for the purpose of testing the virtue of the Shepherds no less than of the flocks, and that all may increase the merit of their Christian faith.^[49]

Notes

References

• Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1943, p 193
• Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi on the Vatican website

v t e Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) Biography Early life · Nunciature · US visit · Election · Late years · Illness and death · Testament · Cause for Canonization World War II The Holocaust (statements on) (conversion of Jews during) · Roman razzia · Occupied dioceses · Ustaše involvement · Jewish orphans · Pontifical Relief Commission · 1942 Christmas address · Alleged kidnapping plot · Yad Vashem · Bombing of Rome Foreign relations Nazi Germany (Reichskonkordat) · Post-World War II · "Ratlines" · Persecutions · China · Eastern Europe · Poland · Russia Theology Social teachings · Mariology · Judaism · Liturgy · Eastern Canon Law · Canonizations · Beatifications · Fátima and Balasar Writings Apostolic constitutions and bulls · Encyclicals (List) · Apostolic writings · Magisterium Appointments Tisserant · Maglione · Montini · Tardini · Orsenigo · Muench · 1946 consistory · 1953 consistory Advisers Bea · Galeazzi-Lisi · Kaas · Lehnert · Leiber · Nogara · Spellman · Spiazzi Bibliography The Deputy · ADSS · Hitler's Pope · ICJHC · Under His Very Windows · Myth of Hitler's Pope Pope Portal Catholicism Portal