Postremo mense

Like all other papal bulls, it takes its name from its incipit, Postremo mense superioris anni (Latin for 'In the last month of the previous year').

Before this papal bull, Catholic theologians - including Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Guillaume Durand and Francisco Suárez - had also discussed these questions.

The conclusions are taken from the decisions of popes and councils and follow the common teaching of theologians... some new cases are resolved; but the responses given harmonize with the solutions given to previously studied problems.

)Ruch notes that Benedict's teaching was subsequently endorsed by Doctor of the Church Saint Alphonsus Liguori, other theologians and the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

[13] On 15 December 1751 Benedict issued Probe te meminisse, which discussed related questions and laid down punishments for Jewish converts who abandoned Catholicism after being baptized.

In 1858, Pope Pius IX cited Postremo mense when defending the church authorities who removed Edgardo Mortara from the custody of his Jewish parents on the grounds that the child had been baptized by a Christian servant and by law could only be raised in a Catholic household.