Pastoral letter

The pastoral letter is in the Roman Catholic Church and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, a circular of a bishop to the faithful of his diocese. They deal mainly with questions of faith and also attend to the social developments.

History

Apart from the Epistles and the letters to the churches in the New Testament is only reported in the 16th century by a bishop, the faithful of his diocese informed of Easter on the written way she taught about faith issues and social problems related position. This " first pastoral letter " is attributed to Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) to the Archbishop of Milan. Especially at the end of the Middle Ages were the episcopal pastoral letters mainly to announce to spread legal decisions or church-political programs.

In Germany since the 18th century regularly for Lent, the so-called " fast - pastoral letters " written, which also serve as a guide for preparing for Easter.

Pastoral letters of the modern era

The modern pastoral letters are read usually on a particular Sunday in all Masses in all churches of the diocese or, in writing, to worshipers note. The joint letter of the bishops of the Episcopal Conference are called pastoral letter or word shepherd.

Pontifical Pastoral Letters

The Pope also wrote pastoral letters that are not to be confused with encyclicals. In these pastoral letters, there is a " apostolic pastoral letter " to the faithful in a particular region of a particular country or to the bishops of a country. These pastoral letters are published in the communities in written or spoken form.