ENCYCLICAL

a sort of circular letter or manifesto i ued by a pope and directed to the Roman Catholic clergy generally or to those of a certain country or area, giving instructions as to conduct to be observed at certain conjunctures, condemning erroneous doctrines, . The encyclical, which is a somewhat le formal document than a bull, was especially favoured by Pope Pius IX and Leo XIII. Pope Pius IX i ued one in 1864, wherein he condemned eighty alleged errors in modern ideas of religion and civilization, and Pius X i ued am other in 1907, wherein he condemned modernism. A number of encyclicals was i ued by Pope Leo XIII on Bible Study, Socialism, Capital and Labour.