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VATICAN COUNCLL, THE

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 951 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VATICAN COUNCLL, THE , of 1869 and 1870, the last ecumenical See also:

council of the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church, and the most important event. in her See also:historical development since the Tridentine See also:synod. The preliminaries were surrounded by the closest secrecy. As See also:early as the end of the See also:year 1864, See also:Pius IX. had commissioned the cardinals See also:resident in See also:Rome to See also:tender him their opinions as to the advisability of a council. The See also:majority pronounced in favour of the See also:scheme, dissentient voices being rare. After See also:March 1865 the See also:convocation of the council was no longer in doubt. See also:Thirty-six carefully selected See also:bishop& of diverse nationalities were privately interrogated with regard to the tasks which, in their estimation, should be assigned to the prospective See also:assembly. Some of them proposed, inter alia, that the See also:doctrine of papal See also:infallibility should be elevated to the See also:rank of a See also:dogma. In public, however, Pius IX. made no mention of his See also:design till the 26th of See also:June 1867, when Catholic bishops from every See also:country were congregated See also:round him in Rome on the occasion of the See also:great See also:centenary of St See also:Peter. On the 29th of June 1868 the See also:bull Aeterni Parris convened the council to Rome, the date being fixed for the 8th of See also:December 1869. And since the Roman Catholic Church claims that all baptized persons belong to her, See also:special bulls were issued, with invitations to the bishops of the See also:Oriental Churches, to the Protestants and to the other non-Catholics, none of which See also:groups complied with the See also:request. The See also:object of the council was See also:long a See also:mystery. The Bull of Convocation was couched in perfectly See also:general terms, and specified no definite tasks—a circumstance which at first ensured a favourable reception for the scheme, as it allowed ample See also:scope to See also:hope and See also:imagination.

But, among liberal Catholics,this See also:

mood underwent a` See also:complete reversal when See also:information began to leak' out as to the object of the See also:Curia in convening the council. The first—See also:epoch-making—See also:revelation was given, in See also:February 1869, by anarticle in the Civiltd Cattolisa, a periodical conducted under Jesuit 'auspices. . It was there stated, as the view of many Catholics in See also:France, that the council would be of very brief duration, since the majority of its members were in agreement. As a presumptive theme of the deliberations, it mentioned inter alia the See also:proclamation of papal infallibility. The whole proceeding was obviously . an, See also:attempt, from the Jesuit See also:side, to See also:gauge the prevalent See also:opinion with regard to this favourite doctrine of See also:ultramontanism. The repudiation was energetic and unmistakable, especially in See also:Germany. Certain articles On " The Council and the Civiltd," published by Dellinger in the Allgemeine'Zeitung, worked like a thunderbolt. Unions of the laity, designed to repel the encroachments of ultraniontanism, sprang up immediately; and all manner of old ideas for the remodelling of the See also:clergy were broached anew. It must, however, be admitted that See also:counter demonstrations were not • lacking. The attitude adopted by the See also:German episcopate well exemplifies the ecclesiastical situation of that See also:period. The bishops tried to allay the excitement by See also:publishing ,a See also:pastoral See also:letter See also:drawn up in See also:common; but in a written address to the See also:pope they declared against the contemplated-See also:definition of infallibility: In France also a violent conflict See also:broke out. Here it was principally the writings of Bishop See also:Maret in See also:Paris (Du concile general et de la •paix religieuse, 2 vols., 1869), and, of Bishop See also:Dupanloup of See also:Orleans, which gave expression to' the prevalent unrest, and led to those See also:literary controversies in which See also:Archbishop See also:Manning of See also:Westminster andDechamps of Mechlin tame forward to See also:champion the opposite cause.

In See also:

Italy the See also:free-thinkers considered the moment opportune for renewing their agitations on a larger See also:scale. They even attempted—though with no success ' See also:worth the name-nto counteract the Vatican Council by a See also:rival council in See also:Naples. That the projected dogma had weighty opponents among the-higher clergy of See also:Austria-See also:Hungary; Italy and See also:North See also:America was demonstrated during the progress of the council; but before it met all was quiet in these countries: The See also:credit of inviting the See also:European governments to consider their attitude towards the forthcoming synod; belongs to the, See also:president of the Bavarian See also:ministry, See also:Prince Chlodwig of See also:Hohenlohe-Schillingsftirst, the future imperial See also:chancellor. In his circular See also:note to the See also:Powers of the 9th :of See also:April 1869 he analysed the See also:political import of the doctrine of papal infallibility,' and proposed a common course of See also:action: But his overtures met with no response. In view of the strained See also:international situation, none of the Powers approached was willing to take a step which might easily have' resulted in •a See also:bitter conflict with the Church; and the studied vagueness of the Curia in its See also:official pronouncements on'the council enabled them to assume an attitude of reserve and suspension of judgs ment. France was equally inactive, though it rested with her to decide whether the council could even meet in Rome: fors the withdrawal of her troops from the papal See also:state would have been the See also:signal for a patriotic Italy to sweep this last. impedi ment to See also:national unity from the See also:face of the See also:earth. On none of the previous ecumenical See also:councils did the Roman see exercise so pronounced an See also:influence as on the Vatican. As early as the year ' 1865 a See also:committee of cardinals had been formed as a " special directive See also:congregation for the affairs of the future general council," a See also:title which was usually abbreviated to that of " Central See also:Commission." Among the earliest preliminaries, a number of distinguished theologians and canonists were retained as consultors to the council. In the selection of these the pre- ference for men of ultramontane tendencies was so pronounced— Dellinger, for instance, was not invited—that the influences at See also:work in the convocation of the council were obvious long before its opening. Under the See also:control of the Central Commission were six sub-commissions: (I) for dogma; (2) for matters ofecclesi- astical discipline; (3) for the religious orders; (4) for the Oriental Churches and the See also:missions; (5) for the See also:secular policy of the Church; The note was drafted by Dellinger (see INFALLIBIr!TY). (6) for the ceremonial of the council. The pope nominated the presidents of the council (Cardinals Reisach, de Luca, Bizarri, Bilio and Capalti); also the secretaries and the remaining officials.

Again, before the proceedings began, he determined the See also:

order of business on his own initiative (Multiplices inter d. d. Nov. 27, 1869), —thus precluding the members. of the synod from any opportunity of co-operating in the task. In these regulations the right of fixing the subjects for debate was reserved to the pope. The members of the synod, it is true, enjoyed the See also:privilege of proposing motions; but these motions. could never reach the See also:stage of discussion, except by the papal• See also:sanction., Another fact of great importance was the strict privacy in which the labours of the council were to be conducted, the members being pledged to silence on every point. For their deliberations, two forms of assembly, analogous to those employed at See also:Trent, were instituted: • the congregations generales and the sessions. The General Congregations, presided over by cardinals, were employed in considering the schemata (drafts) submitted to the synod; and provisory.. votes—not regarded as binding—were there taken. The sessions witnessed the definitive voting, the results of which were to be immediately promulgated as See also:ecclesia tical See also:law by the pope. The See also:form of this promulgation was, in itself, sufficiently characteristic; for the pope was represented as the real See also:agent, while the See also:acknowledgment of the See also:share of the council was confined to the phrase sacra appro bante concilio. In contrast to this, we may refer' to the synods of See also:Constance and Trent (C. Mirbt, Quellen u.s.w., pp.155-202, and the articles CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF, and TRENT, COUNCIL OF). In the event of the drafts submitted by • the Curia not being unanimously adopted by the General Congregations, they were to be retnitted, together with the objections raised, to special committees chosen from the See also:body of the council.

These committees (congregations speciales deputaliones), the presidents of which were also nominated by the pope, were four in number: (I) for matters of belief; (2) for questions of ecclesiastical discipline; (3) for the religious orders; (4) for affairs of the Oriental Churches. The whole proceedings took See also:

place in the church of St Peter, the See also:south See also:transept of which had been prepared especially for the purpose. That the acoustic properties of the structure were unequal to the demands made upon them was obvious from the first See also:day, and occasioned' numerous complaints. On the 8th of December the first session met, and the council was solemnly opened by Pius IX. From beginning to end it was dominated by the " Infallibility " problem. At the elections to' the committees the fact was already obvious; for the leaders of the synodal majority in favour of the dogma took excellent care that no one should be chosen who was known to lean toward the opposite side. The order of See also:procedure excited considerable dissatisfaction in many; and a See also:series of petitions, with alter-native suggestions, was submitted to the pope, but without success. The very first transactions of the council gave See also:proof that numerous bishops held the theory that their convocation implied the See also:duty of serious and See also:united work, and that they were by no means inclined to yield a perfunctory assent to the papal propositions, which—in See also:part at least—stood in urgent need of emendation. The Curia awoke to this unpleasant fact during -the discussion upon the first draft laid before the council,—the schema De Fide,—and some perplexity was the result; for on the 8th of December the second session had already been announced for the 6th of See also:January. Since the See also:consideration of the schema could not possibly be completed by that date, and since it was now futile to hope that the doctrine of infallibility would be carried by See also:acclamation, and without debate, in that session,—Archbishop See also:Darboy informing See also:Cardinal de Luca that, in this event, a See also:hundred bishops would leave Rome at once,—the second session, on the 6th of January, was reduced to a See also:mere formality, the delegates again declaring their See also:allegiance to the Professio Fidei Tridentinae, to which they had already pledged themselves at ordination. On the Toth of January the schema De Fide was referred to the committee " for matters of belief," to receive further revision. From the Loth of!

January to the 22nd of February 1870 theCOUNCIL council was occupied with proposals concerning ecclesiastical discipline and with questions of church See also:

life. On ; this occasion it became evident that the synod was not See also:blind to the See also:necessity, for many and various reforms. Even the See also:College of Cardinals and. the Curia did not See also:escape. Complaint was made, for instance, that the papal See also:chair and the Roman Congregations 'Are filled almost exclusively by Italians; while the control of the Church was too much centralized in Rome. Again, the treatment of impediments to marriagess of licences and of the scales of charges, was submitted to, See also:criticism. The fact was elicited' that the resolutions of provincial synods, when transmitted to Rome for approbation, were there subjected to arbitrary changes, so that the contents no longer corresponded with those to which the bishops had affixed their signatures. Even the See also:desire for national assemblies and for ecumenical councils, held at See also:regular intervals, found expression. The delicate subject of the compulsory See also:celibacy of the clergy was also discussed; the notorious defects of the Roman See also:Breviary were considered, and a long debate ensued with regard to the policy of See also:drawing up a See also:short See also:catechism for the 'whole of Catholic Christendom. Even the proposals which led to these declarations of opinion—many of which were neither anticipated nor desired-were not accepted by the council, but returned for revision to the respective committees. That matters progressed slowly was undeniable. It was the third See also:month, and not ne of, the proposals 'under consideration had' been despatched. That this unexpected delay was a natural sequel to the See also:character of the proposals themselves was a fact which the Curia declined to recognize.

Consequently, as that body could rely upon a complacent majority, it resolved to proclaim a' new order of procedure, by means of which it would be possible to end these unwelcome discussions and quicken the See also:

pace of the council. By the papal See also:decree of the loth of February the influence of the committees was increased; the majority was allowed to cut short a debate by accepting a See also:motion for its See also:closure; a See also:plurality of votes was declared sufficient to carry a proposal; and the voting itself was modified by the institution of a " conditional affirmative " (placet'iuxtet modatm). in addition to the regular affirmative and negative (place' and non pleat). Since neither the presidents nor the majority of the council could well be expected to employ the extensive powers thus placed at their disposal with much consideration for the rights of the minority, protests by the weaker party against the new regulations were 'hahtled in to the pope; but to no effect. The See also:main object, however, of this alteration in procedure was to ensure that if the council could not be induced to accept the doctrine of infallibility by acclamation, it should at least do so by See also:resolution. From the first the general See also:interest was almost exclusively concentrated on this question, which divided the members of the synod into two hostile camps. The adherents of the contemplated dogma—among whom Archbishop Manning of Westminster and Bishop Senestrey of See also:Regensburg admittedly held the leading position—circulated petitions to the pope requesting the introduction of a proposal to meet their views; and, as a result of their efforts, the signatures of 48o bishops were obtained. This ' manceuvre aroused the other side. Petitions to the opposite effect were now similarly distributed, and signed by 136. bishops. On the 9th of February. the committee of examination—as was only to be expected—resolved to re-commend the pope to See also:grant the wishes of the majority. The remarkable feature of the situation created by these agitations was not that the majority of members declared in favour of the dogmatization of infallibility—that was a foregone conclusion in view of the strides made by ultratnontanism in the Roman Catholic Church—but that so many could be found with courage enough to . withstand the aspiration to which Pius IX. had given open expression on every possible occasion. The See also:weight of their opposition. was accentuated by' the fact that the finest intellects and the ablest theologians of Catholicism were included in their ranks. The presence of striking personalities, whose devotion to the Church was. beyond question, -Archbishop Seherr of See also:Munich, Mel-See also:chess of See also:Cologne, Bishop See also:Ketteler of See also:Mainz, Bishop See also:Hefele of See also:Rottenburg, Cardinal See also:Schwarzenberg of See also:Prague, Cardinal Rauscher of See also:Vienna, See also:Arch-bishop Haynald of Kalossa, Bishop See also:Strossmayer of Sirmium, Archbishop Darboy of Paris, Bishop Dupanloup of Orleans, to say nothing of the others,—assured this See also:group an influence which, in spite of itself, the opposing See also:faction was See also:bound to feel.

If the minority indeed had formed one compact See also:

phalanx, the council might possibly have taken a different course; but this it was not, and the fatal truth could not be concealed from the pope and his advisers. The See also:bond which united its members was not a repudiation of the doctrine of infallibility itself, but simply a common sentiment that its See also:elevation to the rank of dogma was inopportune at the See also:time. Some—possibly many—may have entertained serious doubts with regard to that doctrine; but, if such was the See also:case, they succeeded in repressing and disciplining their suspicions, and the greatest anxiety was shown to avoid the least attempt at See also:founding their resistance on a dogmatic basis. And here the weakness of the opposition is at once See also:manifest; it lacked a clear and See also:positive See also:goal. In outside circles the proceedings at Rome were followed with strained See also:attention, and the See also:battle round the question of infallibility was waged with equal violence in France and Germany. In the one country public interest was focused on the writings of See also:Gratry, the former Oratorian; in the other on the trenchant attacks of See also:Dollinger. In See also:England, See also:Newman protested against the dogma. The progress of the council was marked by a plethora of controversial literature with which it was almost impossible to keep pace; articles and See also:pamphlets were poured forth in increasing See also:volume month after month, and even yet no classified collection of them is extant. Among them all, none exceeded in influence the Romische Briefe, first published in the See also:Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, which gave a regular See also:account of the most intimate transactions of the council, and maintained a high reputation for accuracy in spite of all attempts to discredit their authenticity. Important service in disseminating information among widely extended circles was done by the brochure Ce pi se passe au concile (May 1870), which revealed a number of proceedings never intended for publicity. Among the See also:secret propositions submitted to the council by the Curia was the schema De Ecelesia Christi, which was distributed to the members on the 21st of January. This contained fifteen sections, in which were defined the nature of the Church, the position of the pope in the Church, and, more especially, the relationship between the Church and the State.

In case the See also:

harmony between these two magnitudes is disturbed, the responsibility lies with the State, because it thereby disregards the rights and duties of the Church (cap. 13). The divine law is binding on temporal sovereigns, but the See also:administration of that law is a question which can only be decided by the supreme doctrinal authority of the Church (cap. 14). In addition to the See also:education of youth, the Church demands See also:absolute freedom in the training of its clergy and the See also:abrogation of all restrictions on the religious orders, &c. Thus the superiority of Church to State was here enunciated in the same drastic terms as in the See also:Syllabus of Pius IX. (1864)—a See also:declaration of See also:war against the See also:modern political and social order, which in its day provoked the unanimous condemnation of public opinion. When, in spite of the See also:injunction of secrecy, the schema became known outside Rome, its genuineness was at first impugned; but as soon as the authenticity of the See also:text was established beyond the possibility of doubt, this attempt to dogmatize the principles of the notorious Syllabus excited the most general indignation, even in the strongholds of Catholicism—France and Austria. It almost appeared as if both governments, incensed by these encroachments on the See also:sphere of the State, were at last See also:bent upon bringing pressure to See also:bear on the future deliberations of the council; but the international situation enabled the Curia to persist in its attitude of strict negation towards the despatches of See also:Count Beust and Count Darn. On political grounds See also:Napoleon was not inclined to employ any form of See also:coercion against the synod; See also:Bismarck maintained a like reserve; and although See also:Lord See also:Acton influenced See also:Gladstone in the contrary direction, Lord See also:Clarendon followed See also:Odo See also:Russell, his See also:charge d'affaires in Rome, who was himself adroitly kept in See also:hand by Manning. Thus the danger that the attitude of the secular powers might imperil the liberties of the council was averted for the second time. From the 22nd of February to the 18th of March no meetings of the General Congregations took place, on account of structural alterations in the aula itself.

During this See also:

interval all uncertainty as to whether the question of infallibility would actually be broached was dispelled. On the 6th of March a supplementary See also:article to See also:section 11 of the schema De Ecclesia, dealing with the primacy of the Roman see, was transmitted to the members, and in it the much disputed doctrine received formal expression. But before the animated discussions which centred round this problem could begin, it was imperative to conclude the debate on the schema De Doctrina Catholica. From the deputation " for matters of faith " it returned to the plenum in a considerably modified form, and there it occupied the attention of the assembly for a full month, beginning with the 18th of March. Even in this later stage it frequently gave rise to trenchant criticism; but the greatest sensation was created by a speech of Bishop Strossmayer, who took exception to the terms of the proposal on the ground that it described Protestantism as the See also:fountain-See also:head of See also:naturalism and as an unclean thing (pestis). There followed a dramatic See also:scene: the orator was interrupted by the president and compelled by the outcries of the indignant fathers to quit the See also:tribune. Nevertheless, Strossmayer by his courageous protest succeeded in modifying the objectionable clauses. The bishops of the minority were still dissatisfied with several passages in the schema, but, desirous of concentrating their whole available force in opposition to the next proposal, they suppressed their doubts; and the result was that, on the 24th of April, in the third public session, the Constitutio dogmatica de Fide Catholica 1 was adopted unanimously and immediately confirmed by the pope. Meanwhile, the elaboration of the all-important business of the council had been quietly proceeding. Influenced by the alarming number of amendments to the schema De Ecclesia, and anxious above all to ensure an early See also:acceptance for the dogma of infallibility, the deputation abandoned the See also:idea of subjecting the entire doctrine of the Church to debate, and resolved to eliminate everything See also:save the one question of papal authority, and to submit this to the council alone. That this procedure directly challenged criticism was obvious enough, and, within the synod, several speakers See also:drew attention to the capriciousness of a method which required them to consider the infallibility of the pope before the nature of the Church herself had been defined. The event, however, justified the See also:wire-pullers of the council in their policy, for the path they See also:chose obviated the danger that the discussion might lose itself in a See also:maze of generalities.

It is impossible to give a short and, at the same time, an adequate account of the debate: lengthy disquisitions were the order of the day, and the disputants did not See also:

scruple to indulge in verbose repetition of arguments worn threadbare by their predecessors. A pleasant impression is See also:left by the great candour of the opposition speakers, who, in the course of the next few See also:weeks, made every point against the doctrine which in their position it was possible to make. In the general debate, begun on the 13th of May, Bishop Hefele of Rottenburg, author of the well-known Konziliengeschichte, criticized the dogma from the standpoint of See also:history, adducing the fact that Pope See also:Honorius I. had been, condemned by the See also:sixth ecumenical council as a heretic (68o). Others were of opinion that the doctrine implied a See also:radical See also:change in the constitution of the Church: one See also:speaker even characterized it as See also:sacrilege. The contention that the dogma was necessitated by the welfare of the Church, or justified by See also:con-temporary conditions, met with repeated and energetic repudiation. The champions of infallibility were, indeed, confronted with no slight task: to establish their theory by See also:Holy See also:Writ and tradition, and to defend it against the arguments of history. Mirbt, Quellen, 391-79. But to them it was no See also:hypothesis waiting to be verified, but an already existing truth, the See also:possession of which no extraneous attacks could for a moment affect. On the 3rd of June the general debate was closed, and See also:forty prospective orators compulsorily silenced. In the special debate, which dealt with the proposal in detail, every important declaration with regard to the pope was impugned by one party and upheld by the other. The main See also:assault was naturally directed upon the See also:fourth section, " concerning the doctrinal authority of the pope," and Archbishop See also:Guidi of See also:Bologna, in particular, incurred the resentment of the majority through his outspoken utterances on the subject. Immediately after the session he was summoned to the Vatican, and, on defending his attitude by an See also:appeal to tradition, received from Pius IX. the celebrated See also:answer, " I am the tradition." From the beginning of See also:July onwards it became increasingly evident that the council was on the See also:verge of exhaustion: the great See also:heat was positively dangerous to members accustomed to a colder See also:climate, and the opinion gained ground that the spokesmen of both parties had sufficiently elucidated their views for the benefit of the See also:conclave.

Many delegates who had announced their intention of speaking relinquished the privilege, and on the 13th of July it was found possible to conclude the debate. On that day the voting in the 85th General Congregation, on the whole schema, showed that, out of 6o1 members See also:

present, 451 had voted placet, 88 non placet and 62 placet iuxta modem. That the number of prelates who rejected the placet would amount to 150 had not been expected. The question was now: Could the doctrine of infallibility be raised to dogmatic rank when it was repudiated by so formidable a minority? At the height of the crisis several leaders of the opposition attempted, by a See also:direct appeal to the pope, to secure a modification in the terms of the dogma, which might enable them to give their assent. On the evening of the 15th of July six bishops were accorded an See also:audience with Pius IX., in which they preferred their modest See also:requests. Ketteler threw himself at the feet of the pope and implored him to restore See also:peace to the Church by a little See also:act of compliance. The touching scene appeared to have made some impression on Pius IX.; but, after the deputation had left, opposing influences gained the ascendant, and the result was simply that the clauses on which everything hinged received an addition the See also:reverse of conciliatory (General Congregation, 16th July). The bishops who had hitherto formed the recalcitrant minority were now face to face with the final decision. On the one hand was their See also:loyalty to the pope, allied with the desire to avoid any demonstration calculated to impair the See also:prestige of the Church; on the other, their conviction that the very doctrine which the council was about to proclaim as dogma was a gigantic See also:error. There was but one way out of the impasse, to leave Rome before the. deciding session,—and on the 16th of July the pope met their wishes and accorded the leave of See also:absence previously withheld. A section of the dissentient bishops reiterated their views in a letter to Pius IX., and agreed to direct their subsequent actions in common,—a compact which was not observed.

On the 18th of July, in the fourth public session, the dogma was accepted by 535 dignitaries of the Church, and at once promulgated by the pope; only two members repeated their non placet, and these submitted in the same session. The council continued its labours for a few more weeks, but its main achievement was over, and the See also:

remainder of its time was occupied with affairs of secondary importance. When, coincident with the outbreak of the Franco-German War, the papal state collapsed, the pope availed himself of the altered situation, and prorogued the council by the bull Postquam Dei munere (See also:October 20). The See also:Italian See also:government at once protested against his statement that the liberties of the council would be prejudiced by the See also:incorporation of Rome into the See also:kingdom of Italy. The resolutions of the Vatican Council entirely revolutionized the position of the pope within the Church. He is first accredited with " complete and supreme jurisdictionary authority over the whole Church, not simply in matters of faith and morality,but also in matters touching the discipline and governance of the Church; and this authority. is a regular and immediate authority, extending over each and every Church and over each and every pastor and believer " (Sessio iv. cap. 3, fin.; Mirbt, Quellen, p. 38o). These words conceded to the pope a universal episcopate in the entire Church, in virtue of which he may, at any time, in any See also:diocese, exercise the functions of the regular bishop: the individual bishop forfeited the See also:independence which he had formerly enjoyed, and the episcopate as a whole was dispossessed of that position which, in preceding centuries, had enabled it to champion the true welfare of the Church against a decadent papacy. Nor was this all: it is laid down " as a dogma revealed. by See also:God, that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra,—that is to say, when, in virtue of his supreme See also:apostolical authority, and in the exercise of his See also:office as pastor and instructor of all Christians, he pronounces any doctrine touching faith or morality to be binding on the whole Church,—is, by See also:reason of the divine assistance promised to him in the See also:person of St Peter, endowed with that infallibility which, according to the will of the Redeemer, is vouchsafed to the Church when she desires to See also:fix a doctrine of faith or morality; and that consequently all such decisions of the Roman pontiff are per se immutable and See also:independent of the subsequent assent of the Church. But if any See also:man,—which See also:Heaven forefend t" proceeds the document, " shall venture to deny this definition, let him be accursed ! " (Sessio iv. cap.

4; Mirbt, Quellen, p. 381). These clauses contain the doctrine of papal infallibility, and make the recognition of that doctrine See also:

incumbent on all Catholic Christians. But how are we to recognize whether the decision of the pope is given " in the exercise of his doctrinal office," or not? No criterion is assigned, and no See also:authentic See also:interpretation has been accorded from the chair of St Peter. Thus great uncertainty prevails with regard to utterances ex cathedra; and the result has been that every papal declaration has tended to be invested with the See also:halo of infallibility. Again, the dogma implies a fundamental change in the position of the ectmeriical councils, which, in See also:conjunction with the papacy, had till then been supposed to constitute the See also:representation of the Roman Catholic Church. By the Vaticanum they lost every vestige of actual, independent authority, for their See also:function of defining the doctrine of the Church now passed to the pope; and, though in the future they may still be convened, their indispensability is a thing of the past. They have ceased to form a constituent See also:organ of the Church, and are sunk to the level of a decorative or consultative assembly. Thus the decrees of the council possess a See also:double significance; they have not only erected the papacy into the See also:sole tribunal for questions of belief, but have at the same time radically transformed the constitution of the Church. The two factors which previously served to check the papal ambition have been shorn of their strength, and the papacy has attained the status of an absolute See also:monarchy. The concurrent loss of the papal states, so far from enfeebling this new See also:absolutism, tended, in spite of the protests of the Curia, to increase its strength, for its position now became unassailable, and it was enabled to concentrate its energies on a purely international policy to a greater extent than formerly: The bishops, who, on the council, had impugned the doctrine of papal infallibility, submitted without exception to the promulgated dogma.

Confronted with the alternative of either seceding from the Church or adopting a theory which they had previously attacked, they resorted to the " See also:

sacrifice of reason," many with bleeding See also:hearts; many, as it would seem;: without any pangs of See also:conscience: But though they submitted they failed to carry with them the whole of the theologians and See also:lay-men who had ranged themselves at their side in the battle against the dogma; and after the conclusion of the council a new Church, was formed, which, in contrast with the fin de siOcle Catholicism which, by the Vatican, Synod, had cut itself loose from the traditions of the past, was termed Old Catholic (see the special article). In the sphere of politics also the Vaticanum was attended by important results. The secular governments could not remain indifferent to the prospect that the proclamation of papal infallibility would invest the dicta of the See also:medieval popes, as to the relationship between Church and State, with the character of inspired doctrinal decisions, and confer dogmatic authority on the principles enunciated in the Syllabus of Pius IX. Nor was the fear of these and similar consequences diminished by the proceedings of the council itself. The result was that on the 3oth of July 187o, Austria annulled the See also:Concordat arranged with the Curia in 1855. In See also:Prussia the so-called Kulturkampf broke out immediately afterwards, and in France the synod so accentuated the See also:power of ultramontanism, that, in See also:late years, the See also:republic has taken effectual steps to curb it by revoking the Concordat of 18ot and completely separating the Church from the State. The antecedent history of the council was long; its subsequent history is a See also:chapter which has not yet been closed. That the dogma was carefully prepared beforehand, mainly by the Society of Jesus, is a demonstrable and demonstrated fact; notwithstanding the denials emanating from writers belonging to the society. The general position of Roman Catholicism was consolidated by the Vatican Council in more respects than one; for not only did it promote the centralization of government in Rome, but the See also:process of unification soon made further progress, and the attempts to control the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church have now assumed dimensions which, a few decades ago, would have been regarded as anachronistic. On the other hand, however, a counter-See also:movement can be traced in all countries with a predominant Catholic See also:population,—the so-called Reformed Catholicism, which may See also:wear a different aspect in different districts and different strata of society, but is every-where distinguished by the same fundamental aspiration towards increased See also:liberty. Thus the victory gained by ultra-montane influences within the Church—a victory for which the Vaticanum was largely responsible—closes one period of development, but a second has already begun, the keynote of which is the See also:search for a modus vivendi between this Vatican See also:system and the Catholicism which is rooted in the intellectual life of the modern See also:world. 5 seq.

(ed. 3, See also:

Leipzig, e9o8). The two most detailed accounts are: rFriedrich, Geschichte See also:des Vatikanischen Konzils (3 vols., See also:Bonn, 1877, 1883, 1887) ; and Th. Grauderath, S.J, Geschichte des Vatikanischen Konzils (ed. K. Kirch, 3 vols., See also:Freiburg See also:im See also:Breisgau, L.19o3-6). The last-mentioned work ' represents the Jesuitico-Curial standpoint (cf. C. Mirbt, See also:Die Geschichtschreibung des Vatikanischen Konzils," Historische Zeitschrift, See also:Band Io1, 1908, pp. 529-600). The most important collections of the acta are: Collectio acensis, tome vii. (Freiburg, 189o); E.

See also:

Friedberg, Sammlung der AktenstiIcke aunt ersten Vatikanischen Konzil (See also:Tubingen, 1872) ; J. See also:Friedrich, Documenta ad illustrandum Concilium Vaticanum (See also:Nordlingen, 1871) ; A. v. Roskovany, See also:Romanus See also:Pontifex, tomes 7-16, Suppl. 7-10 (Nitriae, 1871–79).. For the dogmatic resolutions see also C. Mirbt, Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums (ed. 2, Tubingen, 1901), pp. 371–82. For the See also:internal history of the councils one of the main. See also:sources is See also:Quirinus, Romische Briefe vom Konzil (Munich, 187o). Also, J. Friedrich, Tagebuch w" rend des Vatikanischen Konzils (Nordlingen, 1871); Lord Acton, Zur Geschichte des Vatikanischen Konziles (Munich, 1871, Eng. in Hist. Essays,1907) ; J.

See also:

Fessler, Das Vatikanische Concilium' (Vienna, 1871); Manning, The True See also:Story of the Vatican Council (See also:London, 1877) ; E. 011ivier, L'Aglise et 1'etat au concile du Vatican (2 vols., Paris, 1879) ; See also:Purcell, Life of Cardinal Manning (2 vols., London, 1896). Cecconi's great work, La Storia del Concilio ecumenico Vaticano (4 vols., Rome, 1873–79), is incomplete. For criticism of the council, see See also:Janus, DerPepst and das Konzil (Leipzig, 1869), revised by J. Friedrich under the title F. v. Dollinger, Das Papsttum (Munich, 1892). Also, Glad-See also:stone's Vatican Decrees and Vaticanism (London, 1874). (C.

End of Article: VATICAN COUNCLL, THE

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