Most Catholics are aware of the effects Vatican II had on the Catholic Church, at least insofar as it brought an end to the exclusive use of Latin in the Mass. Slightly better-read Catholics perhaps know of other significant ecumenical councils like Trent, which codified Catholic tradition in an attempt to combat the Protestant Reformation, or Nicaea, which standardized the creed that we recite at Mass to this day.
Far less famous, however, is the First Vatican Council, which despite its lesser name recognition, still had a significant impact on both papal authority and the Catholic response to popular cultural movements–– and it is still relevant today.
Convened by Pope Pius IX and opened in 1869, the initial purpose of the council was to combat the various new philosophical movements that were beginning to take hold in cultured European circles. These included rationalism (which asserts reason is the highest ideal and can be used to test all knowledge), materialism (the idea that the highest good is that which results in the highest amount of pleasure for the greatest number of people), and pantheism (the concept that God is really just a unison of objects in the universe). Perhaps more controversial amongst today’s Catholics, the council also set out to combat liberalism––although its definition of the concept varies greatly from what most people today think of as “liberal.” Under its own definition, liberalism is the concept that man should be free from all authority, both civil and ecclesiastical. This even includes freedom from the subservience man owes to God.
Although the condemnations of these schools of thought was an important reaction to emerging heresies, the condemnations themselves were uncontroversial amongst the council’s attendees. The dogmatic constitution Dei Filius, which officially issued the condemnations, was passed unanimously and with very little debate. Describing the process of drawing up the constitution, Henry Edward Cardinal Manning said “Well, we meet, and we look at one another, and then we talk a little, but when we want to know what we have been doing, we read The Times,” illustrating the boredom the bishops faced while writing the document.
As the council moved along, however, a much more controversial and interesting question surfaced. For a long time the idea of papal infallibility had been mostly accepted by orthodox Catholics, and in 1854 Pius IX had even declared, in what he considered to be an infallible decree, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to be dogma. The bishops, however, were wary of explicitly declaring infallibility itself to be dogma, even though it was an idea accepted by most of the faithful. Nevertheless, a large group of bishops were interested in increasing papal authority at a time when it was being viciously combated by secular forces both in Italy and abroad. This group combined with bishops like Cardinal Manning, who wished infallibility to be recognized for purely theological reasons, and advanced the issue through the council.
The document drafted to officially recognize infallibility, Pastor Aeternus, proved much more controversial than the council’s first document. Some theologians, led by Filippo Cardinal Guidi, believed that tradition dictated the pope can only exercise infallible authority with the consent of the bishops, and because of this a number of bishops initially voted against the constitution. Pius IX, however, responded to this assertion with the infamous comment “I am the tradition,” and the bishops who opposed the new dogma, not wanting to be associated with a teaching they found perturbing, left Rome and the remaining bishops voted for the constitution, codifying the idea of papal infallibility.
Although the council had other ideas it wished to consider, secular events intervened. While the council was adjourned for the summer in 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out and German troops advanced into France, capturing the French Emperor Napoleon III. This forced the French troops who had been protecting papal rule in Rome to withdraw and defend their homeland, leaving the Papal States without its military guards. The newly formed Kingdom of Italy therefore quickly invaded Rome and Pius IX was forced into exile inside the Vatican walls, bringing an effective end to the council. An official closure, however, was not enacted until 1960, when Vatican II was convened as the next ecumenical council.
- The Beatles, Baseball, and the Christian Life - April 30, 2021
- Avatar and the Christian Faith - March 25, 2021
- Praying Through Holy Thursday - March 25, 2021