The consultation within the Church on organizational matters and matters of faith is called a council. After the Council of Trent, it would take more than three hundred years before a new council took place in the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius IX felt it necessary to convene another council so that the church could be brought up to date and mistakes could be corrected. The First Vatican Council was held from 1869 to 1870.
Believe in a changing world
Since the previous council, held in Trent between 1545 and 1563, the world had changed dramatically. While in the sixteenth century it was kings and emperors who naturally held absolute power and determined for their people how they should live and work, at the end of the nineteenth century this had made way for a more liberal worldview. People had been given the right to self-determination, to their own conscience. In many countries, absolute rulers had made way for elected governments and parliaments, whether or not through revolutions.
Pope Pius IX / Source: United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
The First Vatican Council
In order to bring ecclesiastical legislation up to date and to correct errors from the past, Pope Pius IX found it necessary to organize another council. Cardinals and bishops moved to Rome, where the First Vatican Council would start in 1869. This council, with its Latin name, is also called Vatican I.
Infallibility of the Pope
One of the issues discussed during this council was the infallibility of the Pope. This does not mean that the Pope as a human being is without mistakes, or that all his statements are always completely correct, but that the statements he makes ex cathedra , from the bishop’s chair, in matters of faith and morals are completely correct and accepted as a fixed point of faith. should be. So it does not apply, as is often wrongly claimed, to everything the Pope says or does. The starting point of the pope’s infallibility is that he is assisted by the Holy Spirit when making such an ex cathedra statement. The infallibility of the pope applies not only to the period after the First Vatican Council, but also to the ex cathedra statements from before that.
Other topics
The Council of course also had other topics than just the infallibility of the Pope. Discussions included:
- The way in which the Church had to take a stand against the rationalist and liberal view of the world
- The relationship between faith and reason
- Rejecting rationalism, materialism and pantheism.
- The way in which faith could be reformulated and better formulated
- The way in which faith could be given a new impulse
- The way in which a Christian education should be organised
- The way in which Christian marriages could be protected
Opponents
Not everyone was equally happy with the First Vatican Council. In the same period, there was a movement in the various Italian states and areas to create one Italy. A Catholic power that is too strong, also having a large ecclesiastical state, could stand in the way of this ideal, according to Italian liberals. Reason enough to take a strong stand against it and to mock it where possible.
Revival
For the faithful, Vatican I indeed provided, as hoped, a new impetus, a revival of faith, greater solidarity. The faithful gained more appreciation and devotion for the person of the Pope. This was undoubtedly not only due to the council itself, but also to the strong personality of the then pope, the popular Pius IX.
Unification Italy
The pursuit of the unification of Italy certainly had consequences for the Papal State. These areas were occupied by Italy and the Pope confined himself as a prisoner within the Vatican quarters. It was not until 1929 that the establishment of a new ecclesiastical state, Vatican City, would be finally settled in the Lateran Treaty.
End of the First Vatican Council
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War broke out. This made meetings of cardinals and bishops in Rome difficult and threatened to disrupt mutual relations. The council was therefore aborted prematurely. However, this time it would not take three hundred years before a new council would be held, because the Second Vatican Council would be held from 1962 to 1965.
read more
- Council of Trent
- The country of the Pope, from Papal State to Vatican City
- The Popes of the Catholic Church
- The Second Vatican Council
- The Conclave: The election of a new Pope