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Catholic Documents 101
A Theological Librarian’s Guide to 
Identifying, Locating, and Using the 
Documents of the Catholic Church
By James Humble, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary; Kathy Harty, Sacred Heart  
Seminary and School of Theology; Elyse Hayes, Seminary of the Immaculate Conception; 
Andrew Kosmowski, University of Dayton

ABSTR ACT The teachings of the Catholic Church are found in numer-
ous documents, produced by different persons or groups across 
centuries, whose arrangement and importance relative to each other 
are often hard to understand. This Listen and Learn session familiar-
izes librarians from non-Catholic backgrounds with the various types 
and features of Catholic Church document, concluding with strategies 
for answering a sample reference question by relying on that material. 
By sorting through the classification of these documents and directing 
attendees to the most authoritative or most easily obtainable source-
materials for those documents, this session makes it easier for librarians 
working in non-Catholic settings to help patrons with research ques-
tions concerning Catholic doctrine.

INTRODUCTION

Over the course of two thousand years, theologians have accreted 
mountains of writings on every aspect of the Christian faith. While 
even devoted students of Christian doctrine likely will not have time to 
scale all of the peaks in a single academic lifetime, they cannot afford 
to skip completely over one of the highest summits: the documents 
of the “teaching arm” of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, which 
safeguards the deposit of faith and interprets controversies in light of 
it. Those approaching doctrinal matters, such as the atonement and 
the virgin birth, from a Protestant perspective may find it beneficial to 



212  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

examine the Catholic position from the mouths of those who formu-
lated them. But how do librarians unfamiliar with the differences 
between papal encyclicals and papal exhortations, or between concil-
iar constitutions and conciliar declarations, help students journey 
across the Catholic theological landscape? How can they distinguish 
between casual and infallible statements by the pope? This session 
served not only to introduce librarians to the various types of Church 
documents and how they are put together, but to provide them with 
recommendations for the best versions both in print and on the web.

SACRED SCRIPTURE AND THE FIVE Ds

Sacred Scripture is the source from which all Church teachings flow. 
According to the Vatican II document Dei verbum (the Dogmatic Consti-
tution on Divine Revelation), “Sacred Scripture is the word of God 
inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the 
divine Spirit” (9). 

If Sacred Scripture is the “what” of Catholic teaching, the Apostolic 
or Sacred Tradition is the “how.” According to Dei verbum 9: “[S]acred 
tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the 
Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors [the 
Catholic bishops] in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit 
of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faith-
fully, explain it, and make it more widely known.” Sacred Tradition 
thus guides Catholics in interpreting Scripture.

With these descriptions in mind, the “five Ds” of Church docu-
ments are:

 1.  The Deposit of Faith, consisting of both Sacred Scripture and 
Sacred Tradition. Also collectively called Public Revelation, 
these teachings require the full assent of the faithful.

 2.  Doctrine, which is the substance of what is taught by the 
Church.

 3.  Dogma, those tenets of the faith formally defined (by either a 
pope or an ecumenical council) as a result of a controversy in 
the Church. The faithful are obliged to give assent to both dogma 
and doctrine, as they are directly derived from Sacred Scripture 
and/or Tradition.



Listen and Learn Sessions  213

 4.  Discipline, or Church practices outside the realm of dogma and 
doctrine. These can change over time and may differ among the 
Churches (as, for example, the Latin Church forbids married 
men from becoming priests, while Eastern Churches allow 
them). 

 5.  Devotions, or “the religious sense of the Christian people” (CCC 
1674). Devotions complement but do not replace the liturgi-
cal celebrations (CCC 1675). Examples include: “veneration 
of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the 
stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc.” 
(CCC 1674). 

Set apart from the five Ds is private revelation, which includes 
apparitions (of the Blessed Mother, for example) and locutions (the 
phenomenon of people who transcribe what are apparently direct 
transmissions from Christ or a saint) that fall outside the boundaries 
of public revelation. The assent of the faithful is not required for these, 
even if the Church recognizes an apparition, say, as valid. 

CONCILIAR, PAPAL, NATIONAL, AND LOCAL

Official documents of the Catholic Church have evolved over time, but 
commonly come from four basic sources: the popes, the ecumenical 
councils, the Roman Curia, and the bishops. These documents and 
their sources are briefly explained below. 

 1.  Apostolic constitutions and decrees issued by popes, such as 
the Second Vatican Council documents. Along with Code of Canon 
Law (1983), these are binding on the entire Church. These docu-
ments are said to have conciliar or universal authority.

 2.  Papal teaching documents, which expound or explain existing 
law. The most common of these follow.

 •  Apostolic constitutions are considered the most solemn kind 
of document issued by a pope in his own name. Constitutions 
can define dogmas but also alter canon law or erect new eccle-
siastical structures. An example is John Paul II’s apostolic 
constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, defining the role and responsi-
bility of Catholic institutions of higher education.

 •  Encyclical letters are next in importance to consitutions, 



214  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

exhorting the faithful on a doctrinal issue. Its title is taken 
from its first few words in Latin. An encyclical is typically 
addressed to the bishops but intended for instruction of Cath-
olics at large. Most of the best-known social teachings of the 
Church have been expressed in encyclicals. Examples include 
Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, which inaugurated Catholic social 
teaching, and John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus, which expanded 
on its application for the post-Cold War world.

 •  Once a common papal document, decretal letters are now 
restricted to dogmatic definitions and (more commonly) proc-
lamation of canonizations and beatifications.

 •  Apostolic letters are issued by popes to address administra-
tive questions, such as approving religious institutes, but have 
also been used to exhort the faithful on doctrinal issues. Apos-
tolic letters do not typically establish laws, but exercise the 
pope’s office as ruler and head of the Church. Paul VI issued 
Octogemisa adveniens in 1971 as an apostolic letter because it 
was addressed to one person, Cardinal Maurice Roy.

 •  A declaration is a papal document that can take one of three 
forms: 1) a simple statement of the law interpreted accord-
ing to existing Church law; 2) an authoritative declaration 
that requires no additional promulgation; or 3) an extensive 
declaration, which modifies the law and requires additional 
promulgation. Declarations are less common now as papal 
documents, but were resorted to several times by the Vatican 
II Council. An example is Dignitatis humanae, the Declaration on 
Religious Liberty.

 •  A motu proprio is a decree issued by the pope on his own initia-
tive. It can enact administrative decisions or alter Church law 
(but not doctrine). An example is Benedict XVI’s Summorum 
Pontificum, which relaxed restrictions on celebration of the 
traditional Mass.

 •  An apostolic exhortation is a formal instruction issued by a 
pope to a community, urging some specific activity.  Lower in 
import than an encyclical or apostolic letter, an exhortation 
does not define doctrine. An example is John Paul II’s Familia-
ris Consortio, affirming the meaning and role of marriage and 
the family.



Listen and Learn Sessions  215

 •  An allocution is an oral pronouncement by a pope, with pasto-
ral, not doctrinal, import. Increasingly common in the modern 
age, allocutions are a way for popes to exhort the faithful both 
within and outside the context of homilies. An example is 
John Paul II’s 2003 homily in Rijeka, The Family Requires Special 
Consideration.

 3.  Curial documents are produced by the Roman Curia, the set 
of various bodies (like Congregations) which are concerned in 
some manner with the governance of the Church. For example, 
instructions are issued by Congregations with the approval of 
the pope. 

 •  Traditionally, Church councils have issued documents only in 
the form of decrees or constitutions. The Fathers of Vatican 
II, however, intended a pastoral rather than a strictly doctrinal 
council, and as a result issued a number of different kinds of 
documents, all promulgated under the pope’s name and there-
fore taking the same name and form as papal documents. The 
highest form of document was the constitution, of which there 
were four (for example, Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitu-
tion on the Modern World). Ten other documents were issued 
as decrees, addressing specific issues within Church life (for 
example, Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism). 
Finally, three documents were issued as declarations, fairly 
brief documents (for example, Dignitatis Humanae, the Declara-
tion on Religious Liberty).

 •  Instructions are statements issued by a Congregation, always 
with the approval of the pope. They are usually intended to 
explain or clarify documents issued by a council or decrees by 
a pope. An example is Donum Vitae, issued by the Congregation 
for the Doctrine of the Faith, clarifying Church teaching on the 
respect due in law for human life in its earliest stages.

 •  A recognitio supplies the acceptance by the relevant office of 
the Holy See of a document submitted to it for review by a local 
conference of bishops. Such acceptance is required for such 
conference documents to modify universal law. A recognitio 
thus gives conference documents legislative effect.

 •  Replies to dubia are official responses to questions (dubia) 
of bishops addressed to the Holy See seeking clarification on 



216  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

statements of doctrine or discipline. Dubia are addressed to 
congregations having jurisdictions. An example is the Letter 
Concerning the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 
(CDF) Regarding Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, confirming that the 
latter document’s affirmation that the Church does not have 
the authority to ordain women to the priesthood belongs to the 
deposit of the faith.

 4.  The official documents issued by a national conference of 
bishops, usually called “pastoral letters,” are explanations of 
how Church teaching applies to or is to be put into effect within 
a given country. National bishops’ conferences were formally 
established by the Vatican II (Christus Dominus 38). Bishops’ 
conferences issue pastoral letters, explaining how Church 
teaching is to be put into effect in the relevant country. To have 
authority, however, such letters must be consistent with the 
teaching of the universal Church; they must also receive official 
confirmation from the Holy See by means of a recognitio from the 
relevant curial office. 

 5.  Pastoral letters issued by a local bishop for his diocese. State-
ments issued by an individual bishop only have authority within 
that bishop’s diocese, and only provided that such statements do 
not conflict with the Church’s universal law and teaching.

The level of magisterial authority pertaining to each type of docu-
ment—particularly those of the pope—is no longer always self-evident. 
A Church document may (and almost always does) contain statements 
of different levels of authority commanding different levels of assent, 
or even observations which do not require assent as such, but still 
should command the respect of the faithful. The Second Vatican Coun-
cil, speaking through Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution on 
the Church) 25, identified as many as four different kinds of authority. 

Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz Braña, Vicar General of Holy Cross, recently 
clarified this hierarchy of authority in an article in L’Osservatore 
Romano, the “semi-official” periodical of the Holy See: “Documents 
of the Magisterium may contain elements that are not exactly doctri-
nal—as is the case in the documents of the Second Vatican Council—
elements whose nature is more or less circumstantial (descriptions 
of the state of a society, suggestions, exhortations, etc.). Such matters 



Listen and Learn Sessions  217

are received with respect and gratitude, but do not require an intel-
lectual assent in the strictest sense (cf. Instruction Donum Veritatis, nn. 
24-31)” (Fernando Ocáriz Braña, “On Adhesion to the Second Vatican 
Council,” L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 2, 2011).

PRINT AND WEB SOURCES

Certain Church documents are central to anyone researching or 
studying Catholic doctrine. The most familiar and accessible of the 
print resources are:

 1.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Libreria Editrice Vati-
cana, 2000), which presents a summary of Catholic doctrine for 
non-specialist audiences. This is a totally redrawn version of two 
predecessors: the Roman Catechism of 1566, and the Baltimore 
Catechism of 1884. This contemporary version organizes its 
material around several established frameworks: the Apostle’s 
Creed, the seven sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and the 
Lord’s Prayer.

 2.  The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, 
7th ed., edited by Jacques Dupuis (Alba House, 2001), which 
collates relevant passages from Church documents according to 
subject matter. This sets it apart from:

 3.  Heinrich Denziger’s Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and 
Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals (Ignatius, 2012). First 
published 1854, now in its 43rd edition, this is a chronological 
arrangement, with the original language and the English trans-
lation lined up in double columns, using a paragraph number-
ing system that is frequently cited but which is rivaled by the 
Neuner-Dupuis numbering system. Because these two are so 
frequently used, the Dupuis volume provides the Denziger 
number next to its own paragraph numbers.

 4.  Tanner’s Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (Sheed & Ward, 
1990), also arranges its title material chronologically rather than 
thematically, making this a source for more advanced research-
ers who want the complete texts in their original Latin.  

 5.  The Liturgy Documents, 2 vols. (Liturgy Training Publications, 
2004), and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 



218  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

(Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2004) are two examples of collec-
tions of documents pertaining to specific areas of practice and 
discipline. 

 6.  The Papal Pronouncements: A Guide, 1740-1978, by Claudia Carlen 
(Pierian Press, 1990) is an annotated index of all the speeches, 
articles, interviews, and other public pronouncements made by 
modern popes. 

Among the web resources, the most useful for finding complete 
texts are:

 1.  The Holy See (http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html): the 
Vatican’s website contains the full text of all the Papal, conciliar, 
and Curial documents of the modern era (from Pope Leo XIII on), 
as well as many documents of older vintage (although some of 
these are not available in English translations).

 2.  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (http://www.
usccb.org): this website contains the documents produced by the 
American bishops in response to historical and cultural devel-
opments of the last century. It also includes the complete texts of 
both the latest version of the NAB translation and the Catechism.

SAMPLE REFERENCE QUESTION

The presentation concluded with a practical application of these mate-
rials to a reference question not unlikely to be asked in a non-Catholic 
environment: “Why do Catholics pray to saints? What does the Church 
teach about saints and their veneration?”

Among other strategies, it was suggested that librarians start with 
the Catechism, because of both its brevity and directness in express-
ing Catholic doctrine, and its constant recourse to primary docu-
ments, from Scripture through the Church Fathers to the councils, 
making its footnotes a handy locator for particular Church teachings. 
Librarians were also urged to discourage their patrons from using 
Google at first, since certain results for contentious questions might 
ignore the foundational documents altogether. 

http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html
http://www.usccb.org
http://www.usccb.org

