The Pope (who is the head of the Catholic Church) periodically issues pronouncements on morals, and social commentary…these are called “Encyclicals”. Back in the Middle Ages, the Popes also issued pronouncements called “Bulls”-I don’t recall seeing any of these from the more recent Popes.
Anybody know the date of the last “Bull”-or was it a “bum steer”?
Cut, Ralph. I don’t suppose you have any jokes on hand about lawyers’ briefs (Does minty green really wear Jockeys that color? ;))
A “Papal Bull” is a form of official document endorsed with a “Bulla” – the “Great Seal of the Papacy,” more or less. The Popes over the centuries have issued a variety of documents which may address formal advice to Catholics or make certain things mandatory on them. It’s the latter that are usually issued as Bulls. Popes issue encyclicals (letters intended to be read in all places, much like James and I John in the Bible), motu proprios, Apostolic Constitutions, Bulls, and a variety of other formal forms of document. Hopefully tomndebb or another member learned in the ways of Catholicism can distinguish among the group – but the “Papal Bull” is the formal statement of a principle binding on Catholics, or at least on some Catholics – it might, for example, deal with how Catholics in a given country are to comply with both the laws of the church and the local secular law on, say, marriage licenses (e.g., IIRC in France Catholics must go through both a church wedding and a civil ceremony to be both legally married and married in the eyes of the church).
A bit of Googling got me this info, which confirms and extends what Polycarp said:
The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the more formal aspects of bulls.
This Slate article says today encyclicals fulfill roughly the same doctrinal role as bulls did prior to the 18th century, while bulls are now mostly used for canonization of a saint or confering titles to bishops.
This is confirmed by this site which refers to encyclicals and bulls over the last centuries, and for example links to Vehementer exultamus hodie: the Bull of Canonization of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, dated May 17, 1925.
There are probably lots of more recent bulls, but given the restricted purpose of them you’re not likely to find many on the Internet. Encyclicals are a-plenty, look at the site mentioned before or the Vatican site, which hosts the documents for recent popes.