V. Balance and Imbalance: The Papacy and the Contested Legacies of the Vatican Councils

Horizons ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-138
Author(s):  
Shaun Blanchard

Toward the end of his magisterial study of Catholic ecclesiological struggles spanning 1300 to 1870 CE, Francis Oakley employed a striking image to illustrate the victory of papalism over conciliarism. After Vatican I, the “solitary horseman” left on a desolate “ecclesiological battlefield” many centuries in the making was “none other than the resilient ghost of Bellarmine.” By this image, Oakley meant that Pastor Aeternus’ twin definitions of papal infallibility and jurisdictional supremacy represented the definitive triumph of the ultramontane school, as typified by the counter-reformation Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. For Oakley—and in this point he echoed a common interpretation—Vatican I consigned conciliar and constitutionalist Catholic ecclesiologies to “oblivion.”

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (128) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Bernard Sesboüé

Faz-se o histórico da doutrina da infalibilidade da Igreja e, especialmente, do papa, diante da sensibilidade de hoje e diante da discrição do Vaticano II. Trata-se da verdade e da certeza da verdade na Igreja, que não pode errar. Distingue-se entre a indefectibilidade (da Igreja) e a infalibilidade, que implica a irreformabilidade da proposição. No primeiro milênio tinha-se consciência do dom da inerrância confiado à Igreja. Na Idade Média, acentua-se a plenitude do poder atribuída ao papa. O caso de João XXII e dos franciscanos espirituais, o problema do papa herege, o cisma ocidental e os concílios de Constança e de Basileia, a crise jansenista e o empenho de Fénelon levaram finalmente, no Vaticano I, à definição da infalibilidade papal. Esta, porém, não foi invocada com a frequência que se esperava. O Vaticano II ensina dentro da indefectibilidade da fé, sem definições irreformáveis.ABSTRACT: This article presents the history of the doctrine of the infallibility of the Church, and especially of the Pope, in light of the today’s sensibility and of the discretion of Vatican II. It deals with the truth and certainty of truth in the Church, which cannot err. A distinction is made between the indefectibility (of the Church) and the infallibility, which implies a “non-reformability” of the proposition. In the first Millennium there was an awareness of the gift of inerrancy entrusted to the Church. In the Middle Ages, the fullness of power assigned to the Pope became accentuated. The case of John XXII and of the spiritual Franciscans, the problem of the heretical pope, the Western schism and the Councils of Constance and Basileia, the Jansenist crisis and the work of Fénelon led finally, in Vatican I, to the definition of papal infallibility. This, however, was not invoked as often as expected. Vatican II teaches within the indefectibility of faith, without unalterable definitions.


Horizons ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
Paul K. Hennessy

AbstractMuch of the confusion about the proper interpretation of the carefully formulated definition of Pastor Aeternus on the infallibility of the papal magisterium stems from improper presentations, even immediately after the Council. Only Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore took the time to nuance his presentation. The sympathy evoked worldwide among Catholics for the loss of the Papal States and the freedom of the Roman Pontiff also added to the confusion. The texts of the letters and statements of the bishops are important objects of study for anyone wishing to trace the course of “papal infallibility.”


1981 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-335
Author(s):  
Terrence Murphy

The years 1864 and 1869 fall between what are generally recognised as two milestones in the career of Lord Acton. On the one hand, this period in his life began with the important decision to stop publishing the Home and Foreign Review; on the other hand, it drew to a close with the beginning of Vatican I. Both of these events have long been acknowledged as decisive steps in Acton's progressive alienation from his fellow Catholics, the one because it marked the unsatisfactory conclusion of six years of conflict in England, the other because it brought on the momentous struggle over the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility. What is not generally recognised, however, is that the years 1864 to 1869 constitute in their own right a crucial phase in Acton's career. The tendency has been to skip from the end of his endeavours as a journalist in England to the opening of the Vatican Council, as if the five years in between were little more than an interlude. Even recent studies of Acton's career have dealt with this period in a very incomplete fashion, leaving much wider gaps than are required by the evidence now available. For instance, the volume of essays and documents bearing the promising title of Lord Acton: the Decisive Decade, 1864–1874, though it brings to light some important material, contains not a single document dating from the period between October 1866 and September 1869.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document