By now , I should know better than to poke my nose into this forum without being totally knowledgeable of the subject, however , as you have had no replies yet , I'll try to keep the ball rolling.
Not rated on the MD11 but I flew the DC10 for a few months twenty years ago.
We had Control Wheel Steering which was pilot selectable ON or OFF . Everyone tried it once, but , as I recall no-one ever tried it twice.
With CWS ON , the autopilot handled the flight controls : the pilot input, instead of via the FCU ( or whatever it was called then ) was via the control column in terms of pitch and roll. If you wanted ten degrees pitch-up you set it via the control column and then left it. The autopilot would maintain the set pitch attitude til you changed it . Similarly with the bank angle.
I am not sure what the reason was for this fit. I have flown Airbus for the last thirteen years . We were taught basic jet flying is about power and pitch attitude , yet nowhere on the FCU can you set pitch - speed or vertical speed will alter pitch but not set it directly. Similarly you cannot set bank angle directly via the FCU.
Perhaps now someone who knows what they are talking about will respond to help you and if they blow me out of the water at the same time - so be it!