Pascendi dominici gregis

Coat of Arms of Pope Saint Pius X

Pascendi dominici gregis ("Feeding the Lord's Flock") was a Papal encyclical letter promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907.

The pope condemned Modernism, and a whole range of other principles described as "evolutionary", which allowed change to Roman Catholic dogma. Pius X instituted commissions to cleanse the clergy of theologians promoting Modernism and some of its (liturgical) consequences.

Traditionalist Catholics point to this document as evidence that pre-Vatican II popes were highly concerned about enemies of Christendom infiltrating the human element of the Catholic Church.

The encyclical's ghost writer was Joseph Lemius, procurator general of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.[1]

It enjoined a compulsory Anti-Modernist oath introduced on 1 September 1910, whereby all Catholic bishops, priests and teachers were forced to come to clear terms with what they believed; this oath remained in force until it was abolished by Pope Paul VI in 1967. When the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the authority of Pope John Paul II, mandated the use of a new Oath of Fidelity in 1989, some theologians labeled it as a new kind of anti-modernist oath.

References

  1. ↑ Darrell Jodock, Catholicism Contending With Modernity page 20, and page 110, note 66 (Cambridge University Press, 2000). ISBN 0-521-77071-8

External links