MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST

designation within Christianity signifying a mystical union of all Christians into a spiritual body with Christ as their head. The concept is rooted in the New Testament and possibly reflects Judaic thought patterns; St. Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Romans both use the image of a body, with a head (Christ) and many members (Christians) to describe the relationship between Christ and Christians. Later Church Fathers such as St. Augustine reaffirmed and amplified Paul's assertion that the Christian church is a spiritual extension of Christ's body. Pope Pius XII popularized the phrase in the 1943 encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, in which he discussed the church as the body of Christ. Vatican Council II, in Lumen Gentium, reflected the broader, universal nature of the mystical body by stating that all persons are members of the church, at least potentially, because Christ came to offer salvation to everyone.