Sent to many persons or places; intended for many, or for a whole order of men; general; circular; as, an encyclical letter of a council, of a bishop, or the pope.
An encyclical letter, esp. one from a pope.
A pastoral letter on an important matter addressed by the pope to the whole Church and even to the whole world. Among the most famous encyclicals have been Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum and Pope John XXIII's Pacem in Terris.
A letter written by the pope and ‘circulated’ throughout the whole Church and (more recently) beyond.
a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world
intended for wide distribution; "an encyclical letter"
a circular letter on ecclesiastic affairs written in Latin and addressed by the Pope to all the clergy and faithful of the Roman Catholic Church
a letter sent by the pope to all the Bishops of the Church
a letter sent by the Pope to the bishops, usually instructing them on some aspect of Catholic doctrine
a letter written by the Pope and sent to every Catholic bishop, generally offering them advice or giving them instructions on a particular aspect of their faith
a letter written by the pope concerning a specic subject and addressed to the universal church
an Apostolic Letter written by the Pope usually to all the people of the world and usually of some weighty matter
a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church
a writing from the pope to members of the church on a topic of concern
A letter of instruction from the Pope which circulates throughout the church.
An encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Christian church. At that time, the word could be used of a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from Latin encyclia (from the Greek "en kyklo, ") meaning "general" or "encircling", which is also the origin of the word "encyclopedia".