I Vatican Ecumenical Council
The first ecumenical council Vatican is being held from 8 December 1869 to 20 October 1870. Convened by Pope Pius IX , it specifically defines the papal infallibility. He is interrupted when Italian troops invaded Rome. Suspended indefinitely, it is never repeated.
Summary |
Background
Background
This council is part of a geo-political very troubled, marked on the plan by the Italian Risorgimento and one of its corollaries, the Roman question , and internationally by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
The council is taking place while, since 1861 , the Pope lost his temporal power over the Papal States , except the city of Rome, and Rome itself under the protection of French troops of Napoleon III.
Ecclesiastical Context
Pius IX speaks in private for the first time for a new ecumenical council on 6 December 1864 , during a session of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The previous council, that of Trent , had ended three centuries ago. During the year 1865 , Pope consults with Latin-rite bishops on matters of discipline.
On 28 June 1867 on the occasion of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, he publicly proclaimed his intention to convene a council. He puts the bishops present a questionnaire on the state of the church.
On 28 June 1868 , the bubble indiction Aeterni Patris Catholic bishops to convene a council to be held in Rome from the 8 December 1869. The bubble plots the agenda for the subsequent meeting: defending the faith against the errors of the time, previously condemned by the Syllabus , updated canons of the Council of Trent. An invitation is sent to a large number of prelates, dignitaries and even Orthodox.
The council is open on 8 December 1869. Of the thousand bishops invited, 3 / 4 are present. Immediately infaillibiliste majority and a minority are opposed, with both major prelates. The majority includes Cardinal Bilio , and various bishops including Archbishop Dechamps (Maline), Bishop Manning (Westminster), Archbishop Pius (Poitiers) and most of the Italian bishops, many (35% of fathers). The minority includes the Cardinals Rauscher (Vienna), Mathieu (Besanon), Schwarzenberg (Prague) and various bishops whom Archbishop Simor (Primate of Hungary), Bishop Ketteler (Mainz), Bishop Dupanloup (Orleans), Bishop Darboy (Paris) and many other German bishops and French Adjournment After several sessions, work hard and complex debates, only two dogmatic constitutions could finally be passed and ratified when, on 20 September 1870 , Italian troops enter Rome. On October 9 , what is left of the Papal States is united with the rest of Italy by a plebiscite. The council is physically unable to continue. On October 20 , Pius IX suspended indefinitely. The first Dogmatic Constitution of Vatican I, Dei Filius , was passed unanimously by the Council Fathers and ratified soon by the pope on 24 April 1870. The second Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus respect for its papal infallibility and papal primacy. Part of the Roman and Parisian press, inspired by the ultramontanism , had developed the idea that the main purpose of the council would be to define the dogma of papal infallibility. The pope at the time, Pius IX , published in 1864 the syllabus , an official statement in which he condemned among other modern ideas and "freedom of conscience." Pius IX in the Syllabus also claimed the supremacy of religion on the temporal order. Ten years ago, 8 December 1854 , Pius IX had defined ex cathedra the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, without convening a council as usual in matters concerning dogmas. In January 1870 , a petition of some bishops to ask that we put on the agenda of the council the question of papal infallibility: it collects the signatures of more than 400 of the 700 bishops present. Shortly after, 136 bishops signed a petition in the opposite direction . The bishops and cardinals of the minority were supported by several well-known in Europe as the Bishop of Orleans , Bishop Dupanloup , German historian Ignaz von Dllinger , the bishop of Mainz , Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler. Between the two parties were tumultuous debates. It particularly mentions a few cases of supposed doctrinal errors committed by popes Honorius I. , condemned by the Third Council of Constantinople ( 680 - 681 ), Free , Vigil , John XXII. The historical debates are then appeal to other scholarly works, such as those of St. Alphonsus Liguori , or those more contemporary Rohrbacher (1789-1856) in his monumental history of the Church, or those of Dom Guranger (1805 -1875), the restorer of the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes , to counter the accusations against some popes mentioned above. After long theological debates on 13 July 1870 , is still one quarter of the assembly who disagrees. The negotiations resume, the details are made, but yet the whole rally of the minority: 55 bishops of the minority decide to abstain and leave Rome rather than voting no. On 18 July 1870 , the council, by the votes of 533 of the 535 Fathers present, asserts the primacy of the pope as universal divine right and defines that the papal infallibility is a divinely revealed truth of faith . This infallibility is strictly and precisely defined: it concerns the case where the pope, by virtue of his office and in matters of faith or morals, and solemnly pronounces ex cathedra that "doctrine must be held by the whole Church" . The two fathers who had not voted and those who abstained then rallied after the ratification vote by the pope of the council See also The two dogmatic constitutions
Infallibility
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