What is an Ecumenical Council?

General or Ecumenical Council are meetings/councils called by a pope, though historically not always a pope, whose attendees generally include the worlds bishops. They are not held on a regular schedule but are generally called as needed. Ecumenical Councils, such as Vatican II (21st Ecumenical Council), involve the worlds bishops with the pope. These should be distinguished from Local, Plenary, or Provincial Councils or synods of bishops occurring within a particular country (i.e. Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1800’s which produced the Baltimore Catechism). While it is not necessary that the pope actually attends all sessions or meetings of a Council, it is necessary that the Pontiff ultimately approve of the teachings and declarations of a Council in order for them to be binding upon the faithful of the Church and to be considered without error as regards faith and morals.

            We are reminded that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, in addition to the other twenty ecumenical councils, include teachings that we are required to believe in order to remain Catholics. While they were not pronounced as infallible dogmas per se, we believe that the Council Fathers, in union with the Roman Pontiff, were guided by the Holy Spirit in their deliberations and these teachings are without error, in spite of the fact that the Fathers themselves were fallible and imperfect men. Thus the teachings of an Ecumenical Council are not considered binding on the faithful until they are approved by the pope and he orders them to be published. The Code of Canon Law states:

The decrees of an ecumenical council do not have obligatory force unless they have been approved by the Roman Pontiff together with the council fathers, confirmed by him, and promulgated at his order (c.341).

- Ordinary Magisterium: Non-Infallible. They are generally always correct because they are based on infallible teachings of Sacred Scripture and Tradition, but they can later be reformed or updated. Example: The teachings of individual bishops or groups of bishops (USCCB). Catholics are obliged to believe these statements but with a “religious assent” of faith (see: CCC#155,176). Lumen Gentium (VCII) notes clearly that even when the Pope speaks non-ex cathedra the faithful are to fully believe this with religious assent.

- Extraordinary/Sacred Magisterium: Always Infallible. When all the bishops of the world universally agree on an issue of faith and morals and is agreed upon by the Pope it is infallible. Example: Ex Cathedra statements or an Ecumenical Council. Must be adhered to by the faithful with the “assent of faith” or with the fullness of their faith (fides divina).

In believing and accepting what the Councils and popes teach to be genuine, true, and without error we think with the mind of the Church (sentire cum ecclesia). General councils have met for many reasons over the years: to refute heresy, to depose emperors, and to correct dogma. Thus many of the councils were called as a reaction to something, someone, or some event. Only the Second Vatican Council was not called under these circumstances. It was called to update the Church (aggiornamento) in accord with the modern world. Pope Paul VI addresses this in his encyclical published during the Council entitled Ecclesiam Suam/His Church (August 6, 1964):

            How often in past centuries has the determination to instigate reforms been associated with the holding of ecumenical councils! Let it be so once more, but this time not with a view to removing any specific heresies concerning the Church or to remedying any public disorders...but rather with a view to infusing fresh spiritual vigor into Christ’s mystical body considered as a visible society and to purifying it from the defects of many of its members and urging it on to the attainment of new virtue.

            While the term “ecumenical council” is not mentioned in scripture specifically, the Acts of the Apostles does refer to the first Council (though generally not considered among the other twenty- one). At this Council Peter, James, Paul, Barnabas, and others considered as leaders among the Church were present wherein they decided as to whether or not it was necessary for the gentiles to first undergo circumcision prior to becoming Christian. James, in union with Peter and the other Church leaders, stands up and renders the verdict of the Council stating, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities...” (Acts 15:28). As the bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, James stands up to render the verdict of the Council but only after the Apostle Peter has first spoken about how God has called the Gentiles to salvation as well (Acts 15:7). Thus James in union with the first pope, Peter, declares that it is by the Holy Spirit guiding their decision that the gentiles would not be required to be circumcised prior to becoming Christian. Interestingly enough, as much as most Protestants believe in Sola Scripture/Scripture Alone, they generally overlook the meaning of this passage and therein reject the authority of the ecumenical councils of the Church.

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