Commissum divinitus


Commissum divinitus was an encyclical letter issued by Pope Gregory XVI on 14 May 1835, addressed to the Swiss clergy.

Purpose

Gregory issued the encyclical in response to the, calling them "false, rash, erroneous, prejudicial to the Holy See, destructive to the government of the Church and its divine constitution, and subjecting ecclesiastical ministry Church to secular domination". In particular, the encyclical criticizes the Swiss government for legalizing marriage between Catholics and non-Catholics, rejecting the suggestion that the secular government held the authority to regulate marriage.
Gregory refers to two historical texts in the letter where distinctions between ecclesiastical and civic authority had been maintained and the primacy of the former enforced:
The encyclical maintained Gregory's opposition to political liberalism. Gregory rejects the authority of secular governments to regulate the Catholic church, and opposes the idea of national churches. This position, as laid out in Commissum divinitus, led seven Catholic cantons of Switzerland to form the Sonderbund.