Apostolic exhortations (Papal letters) (Topical Term)

Work cat.: The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations of John Paul II, 1998: p. 10 (in 1939, Pope Pius XII issued the first document called an "exhortation"; the same year he addressed an "apostolic exhortation" to priests and clerics serving in the military; with Paul VI the apostolic exhortation becomes a regular document of the papal Magisterium; he attributed less weight to apostolic exhortations than to encyclical letters; beginning in 1975, with the publication of Evangelii Nuntiandi, a new type of papal document came into being: the post-synodal apostolic exhortation)

Readings in church authority, 2003: p. 109 (among the papal documents diversely sealed, the most authoritative are apostolic constitutions, apostolic letters, and apostolic exhortations; such documents are usually addressed to the universal church)