Pascendi Dominici gregis (English: Feeding the Lord's Flock) is a papal encyclical letter, subtitled "On the Doctrines of the Modernists", promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907.

[1] Pius X viewed the church as under siege, intellectually from rationalism and materialism, politically from liberalism and anti-clericalism.

The pope condemned modernism, a loose movement of Catholic biblical scholars, philosophers and theologians who believed that the church could not ignore new scientific historical research concerning the Bible.

[2] Modernist nun Maude Petre FCM would later recall, "We must remember, in fairness to those who were not always fair, that the impact of historical criticism on the traditional teaching of the Church was terrifying; that it seemed a case of saving the very essence of the Christian faith from destruction".

Much of the encyclical was drafted by Joseph Lemius OMI, Procurator General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,[5] and Cardinal José de Calasanz Vives y Tutó OFMCap.