Mystici Corporis Christi

Mystici Corporis Christi is Pius XII’s encyclical on the nature of the Church. Drawing on St. Paul’s writings on the Church as the Body of Christ, Pope Pius describes the Church as a visible, living organism, animated by the Holy Spirit and with Christ as her invisible head. This important encyclical laid the groundwork for the doctrine of the Church articulated at the Second Vatican Council.