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An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin encyclios (originally from the Latin encyclius, a Latinization of Ancient Greek ἐνκύκλιος (), meaning "circular", "in a circle", or "all-round", also part of the origin of the word encyclopedia). The term is now primarily associated with papal encyclicals.
The term has been used by Catholic Church, Anglicanism and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
For the modern Catholic Church, a papal encyclical is a specific category of papal document, a kind of Pastoral care letter concerning Catholic doctrine, sent by the pope and usually addressed especially to patriarchs, primates, archbishops and bishops who are in Koinonia with the Holy See. The form of the address can vary widely and may concern bishops in a particular area, or designate a wider audience. Papal encyclicals usually take the form of a papal brief because of their more personal nature as opposed to the formal papal bull.
Like most papal documents the title of the encyclical is usually taken from its opening sentence (its incipit). They are usually written in Latin language unless particularly addressed to the Bishops or the church of one region. Papal encyclicals not in Latin include the 1931 Italian Non abbiamo bisogno against Italian fascist suppression of groups like Catholic Action, and the 1937 German Mit brennender Sorge against the Nazi idolization of race and nation.
Catholic social teaching has advanced 19 encyclicals. On social issues, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical Rerum novarum (1891), which was followed by Quadragesimo anno (1931) of Pius XI and Centesimus annus (1991) of John Paul II. Pope Pius XII issued ten encyclicals, mostly after 1945, three of them protesting against the Soviet Union invasion of Hungary which suppressed the Hungarian Revolution in 1956: Datis nuperrime, Laetamur admodum and Luctuosissimi eventus. Pope Paul VI published an encyclical Humanae vitae on the topic of birth control.
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