Conciliarism
Papal primacy, supremacy and infallibility |
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Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope.
The movement emerged in response to the
Conciliar theory
Conciliar theory has its roots and foundations in both history and theology, arguing that many of the most important decisions of the Catholic Church have been made through conciliar means, beginning with the First Council of Nicaea (325). Conciliarism also drew on corporate theories of the church, which allowed the head to be restrained or judged by the members when his actions threatened the welfare of the whole ecclesial body. The canonists and theologians who advocated conciliar superiority drew on the same sources used by Marsilius and Ockham, but they used them in a more conservative way. They wanted to unify, defend and reform the institution under clerical control, not advance a Franciscan or a lay agenda. Among the theorists of this more clerical conciliarism were Jean Gerson, Pierre d'Ailly and Francesco Zabarella. Nicholas of Cusa synthesized this strain of conciliarism, balancing hierarchy with consent and representation of the faithful.[2]
In his
John Kilcullen wrote, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, that "in France conciliarism was one of the sources of Gallicanism."[4]
Opposition to conciliarism
Many members of the Church continued to believe that the pope, as the successor of
Pope Pius II was a major opponent of conciliarism. According to Michael de la Bédoyère, "Pius II [...] [insisted] that the doctrine holding General Councils of the Church to be superior to the Pope was heretical."[6] Pius II's bull Execrabilis condemned conciliarism.
Pope Pius VII condemned the conciliarist writings of Germanos Adam on June 3, 1816.[7]
Modern conciliarism
Although conciliarist strains of thought remain within the Church, Rome and the teaching of the Catholic Church maintains that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth, and has the authority to issue infallible statements.[8] This papal infallibility was invoked in Pope Pius IX's 1854 definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and Pope Pius XII's 1950 definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
A new interest in conciliarism was awakened in Catholic Church circles with the convocation of the Second Vatican Council.[2]
See also
- Haec sancta
- Anticurialism
- Ultramontanism
References
- ^ Oakley 1972
- ^ a b c Tierney 1998
- ^ Marsilius of Padua 2005
- ^ Kilcullen 2012
- ^ Burns & Izbicki 1997
- ^ Michael de la Bedoyere, The Meddlesome Friar and the Wayward Pope, p. 59-60
- ^ Fortescue, Adrian and George D. Smith, The Uniate Eastern Churches, (First Giorgas Press, 2001), 210.
- ^ Breidenbach 2016
Sources
- Breidenbach, Michael D. (2016-01-01). "Conciliarism and the American Founding". The William and Mary Quarterly. 73 (3): 467–500. S2CID 148090971.
- Burns, J.H.; Izbicki, Thomas, eds. (1997). Conciliarism and papalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521470896.
- Kilcullen, John (2012) [First published 14 July 2006]. "Medieval Political Philosophy". In LCCN 2004615159. Archived from the originalon 2013-12-02. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- Marsilius of Padua (2005). Brett, Annabel (ed.). Marsilius of Padua: The Defender of the Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139447300.
- Oakley, Francis (1972). "Conciliarism at the Fifth Lateran Council?". Church History. 41 (4): 452–463. S2CID 162257012.
- ISBN 9789004109247.
Further reading
- Oakley, Francis (2008). The Conciliarist Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic Church 1300-1870. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199541249.
- ISBN 9780521567732.
- Crowder, C. M. D. (1977). Unity, Heresy and Reform, 1378-1460: The Conciliar Response to the Great Schism. Edward Arnold. ISBN 9780713159424.
- Tierney, Brian (2008). Religion, Law and the Growth of Constitutional Thought, 1150-1650. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521088084.
- Oakley, Francis (1969). Council Over Pope?: Towards a Provisional Ecclesiology. Herder and Herder.
- Oakley, Francis (1987–88). "Constance and its Aftermath: The Legacy of Conciliar Theory". University of Rochester Library Bulletin. XXXX.