Name:
First Vatican Council
Vatican Council 1
Dates:
Began: December 8, 1869
Ended: October 20, 1870
Definition:
The First Vatican Council was the twentieth general or ecumenical council of the
Roman Catholic Church and it met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Called by Pope
Pius IX, it was hoped that this council would serve as a defense against the
growing influences of modernity, liberalism, the Enlightenment and even the
French Revolution which occurred almost one century earlier. It ended early due
to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war - technically, it was never officially ended,
but it also never reconvened.
Restults:
The First Vatican Council resulted in two major dogmas: Dei Filius, which
explained the relationship between reason and faith and Pastor Aeternus,
which established the doctrine of papal infallibility. The most famous and
controversial is that of papal infallibility, but the final decision was much
more mild that desired by some. There were those who argued that the pope should
be considered infallible in all things and that this infallibility was the
source of the infallibility of the entire church. In the end, however, it was
simply decided that the pope was infallible in a narrow set of circumstances:
when speaking ex cathedra on maters of church doctrine.
There were, nevertheless, quite a few who opposed the doctrine of papal infallibility, largely because they felt that it conflicted with the traditional and ecclesiastical structure of the church itself. However, it seems likely that this opposition never had any chance. Those responsible for preparing this council were almost entirely those who supported the doctrine of Ultramonatism - the supremacy of the pope. Thus, even from the early days of preparation there was an interest in asserting the infallibility of the pope.
Dei Filius expressed fundamental opposition to rationalism, the idea that matters of revelation should, in any way, be subject to the judgment of reason and logic. It also denied the idea that human reason could in any way acquire religious or ethical knowledge - such results could only be had through revelation and the Church.
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