History of Catholic Ecumenism

from Pope Leo XIII to Pope John XXIII

Notes

(1) Due to size constraints, this study will only cover official Vatican statements in this time frame dealing with Orthodox or Protestant Christians in general or with ecumenism specifically.

(2) Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, Art. 38.

(3) The encyclical Apostolicae Curae (1896) by Pope Leo XIII officially declared Anglican Orders invalid.

(4) Pope John XXIII, Aeterna Dei Sapientia, Art. 42.

(5) cf. Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis.

(6) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, p. 381-382.

(7) cf. The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 306.

(8) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 306-307.

(9) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 311.

(10) Unitatis Redintegratio, Art. 1.

(11) George Tavard, "Two Centuries of Ecumenism", p. 117.

(12) Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, Art. 8 (emphasis added).

(13) Cited in Robert McAfee Brown, "The Ecumenical Revolution", p. 54.

(14) Brown, p. 54.

(15) cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, Art. 8.

(16) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 306.

(17) Pope Pius XI, Ecclesiam Dei, Art. 22 (emphasis added).

(18) Unitatis Redintegratio, Art. 4.

(19) Unitatis Redintegratio, Art. 13.

(20) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 306

(21) Pope Pius XI, Rerum Orientalium, Art. 18.

(22) Pope Pius XI, Ecclesiam Dei, Art. 5 (emphasis added).

(23) cf. Pope Pius XI, Ecclesiam Dei, Art. 9,10, etc.

(24) The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 306.

(25) Gregory Baum, That They May Be One, p. 38.

(26) Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, Art. 21.

(27) Pope Leo XIII, Annum Sacrum, Art. 3; cf. Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, Art. 18. (emphasis added)

(28) A practical example of this is the case of Fr. Feeney of Boston in the 1940’s. Responding to Fr. Feeney’s belief that only baptized Catholics can go to heaven, the Holy Office responded in 1949 with the "Boston Letter" which clearly stated the possibility of salvation to those who are not formally Catholics. cf. Baum, Appendix 1.

(29) cf. The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis, p. 309ff.

(30) Pope Pius XII, Christmas message of 1941, cited from Brown, p. 52.