Satis Cognitum: Encyclical on the Unity of the Church

by Pope Leo XIII

"That they may be one"—" Ut unum sint " has been the rallying cry of Churchmen since Vatican II, and the explanation for the promotion of an ecumenical agenda that places "unity" before everything. But what is the nature of the unity for which the Lord prayed His heavenly Father on the way to Gethsemane? Indeed, most Catholics cannot answer with precision what exactly the Church is, the conditions for belonging to it, or its necessity for salvation. If you want a clear and concise explanation of these principles, Satis Cognitum is the place to begin. Written when popes said what they meant and meant what they said, it is free from the ambiguities which are so characteristic of late 20th-century explanations of these issues. Let Pope Leo XIII be your teacher with this encyclical so that we may "hold fast God as our Father, and the Church as our Mother" (St. Augustine). "Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful —‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism’" (Eph. 4:5).

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Nonfiction, Christian

48 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 1896

About the author

Pope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, reigned as Pope from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. He was the oldest pope (reigning until the age of 93), and had the third longest pontificate, behind that of Pope Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II. He was the most recent pontiff to date to take the pontifical name of "Leo" upon being elected to the pontificate until 2025.

He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical [Book: Rerum novarum] and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. He influenced Roman Catholic Mariology and promoted both the rosary and the scapular.

Leo XIII issued a record of eleven Papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the first pope to never have held any control over the Papal States, after they were dissolved by 1870. He was briefly buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his remains were later transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Reviews

[Raul · Rating 5 out of 5]

' What doth it profit thee not to offend the Father, who avenges an offense against the Mother? What doth it profit to confess the Lord, to honour God, to preach Him, to acknowledge His Son, and to confess that He sits on the right hand of the Father, if you blaspheme His Church? . . . If you had a beneficent friend, whom you honoured daily - and even once calumniated his spouse, would you ever enter his house? Hold fast, therefore, O dearly beloved, hold fast altogether God as your Father, and the Church as your Mother" (Enarratio in Psal. Lxxxviii., sermo ii., n. 14).