The home of the Common Magisterial Document Data Repository curated by the Catholic Open Source organization.
The Catholic Open Source Common Magisterial Document Data Repository (CMDDR) provides a canonicalized list of identifiers for Magisterial documents or Papal documents, speeches, homilies, etc. of the Catholic Church, along with semantic distinctions between the types of documents / speeches.
The term magisterium is based on the Latin word for “teacher” (magister). In contemporary Catholic usage, it has several meanings.
- the teaching authority which Christ has given to the Church. Here the term refers to the authority itself, not those who exercise it. This usage appears in statements like, “The Church exercises its magisterium when it authoritatively proclaims Christ’s teachings.”
- those who exercise this teaching authority. Here the term refers to the Pope and the bishops teaching in union with him. Collectively, they are referred to as the “Magisterium,” as in “the Magisterium has infallibly taught that God is a Trinity.”
- a particular body of teachings that have been authoritatively proclaimed. This usage appears in statements like, “Humanae Vitae belongs to the magisterium of St. Paul VI.”
For the purposes of this data repository, we will be taking into account the third meaning, in reference to the body of teachings.
| Type of Document / Speech | Issuer | Magisterial Type | Infallibility | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dogmatic Constitution | Ecumenical Council | Extraordinary | Infallible | universal | |
| Decree | Ecumenical Council | Extraordinary | - | universal | |
| Declaration | Ecumenical Council | Extraordinary | - | universal | |
| Apostolic Constitution | (see below) | (see below) | (see below) | (see below) | (see below) |
| ↳ Dogmatic Bull | Pope | Extraordinary | Infallible | universal | |
| ↳ Pastoral Constitution | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Encyclical | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Motu Proprio | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | issued directly by the Pope on his own initiative |
| Papal Bull | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | traditionally sealed with a circular seal of lead or wax |
| Apostolic Letter | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Apostolic Exhortation | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Brief | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Letter | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Discourse | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Homily | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Prayer | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Audience | Pope | Ordinary | - | universal | |
| Episcopal letter | Bishop | Ordinary | - | local | |
| Episcopal homily | Bishop | Ordinary | - | local |
N.B. The above table is an initial draft, which may need further revision.