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Why I Don’t Read Papal Encyclicals, by Darrick Taylor – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Why I Don’t Read Papal Encyclicals, by Darrick Taylor

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By Darrick Taylor, Crisis Magazine, June 1, 2026

Darrick Taylor earned his PhD in History from the University of Kansas. He lives in Central Florida and teaches at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL. He also produces a podcast,  Controversies in Church History, dealing with controversial episodes in the history of the Catholic Church.

If there is one thing that the endless stream of impenetrable Papal tomes has made self-evident, it’s that they weren’t written to actually be read.

TaylorThe first papal encyclical I remember reading—or attempting to read—was Ecclesia de Eucharistia (2003), the last encyclical by Pope John Paul II. Published three days before I was baptized into the Catholic Church, it discusses one of the most important topics in the Catholic Faith, that of the Holy Eucharist. I won’t bore you with slogans, but if you are a devout Catholic, few things are of greater importance than the Eucharist. Naturally, being a new member of the Church, I eagerly sought and read the encyclical.

The only thing that I can recall from that document was the vague impression that it could have been written much, much better than it was. (I know, I know: another convert complaining about a document I could not possibly read in its original language.) I knew that Karol Wojtyla was a philosopher, but I had never read anything he had written. And what I discovered only much later is that the late pontiff wrote in what might be called the style of “continental philosophy,” which turned out to be the reason for my confusion. …

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