Cum hora undecima

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Cum hora undecima, meaning "Since it is the eleventh hour," is a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory IX in February 1235 and later revised many times through the 13th to 15th centuries. It gave missionaries basic instructions and reflected Francisan apocalyptic ideas, urging holy preachers to go to all peoples to spread the gospel, oppose heresy, and convert non-believers. Gregory IX granted missionaries special privileges, such as the right to hear confessions anywhere and to absolve those who were excommunicated. Pope Innocent IV reissued the bull in March 1245 with more detail, adding 18 nations to the list of peoples to reach, including Greeks, Bulgarians, Cumans, Georgians, Goths, Khazars, Circassians, Armenians, Nestorians, Alans, Indians, Rus', Ethiopians and Nubians. The Mongols were not included until 1253. The bull was expanded and used by later popes and remained influential through the medieval period.