What happened at Vatican I / the First Vatican Council?
The First Vatican Council was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held between 1869-1870 in Rome. It was convoked by Pope Pius IX to deal with the contemporary problems facing the church. The most significant outcome of the council was the dogmatic definition of papal infallibility.
Papal Infallibility
The doctrine of papal infallibility was defined at the First Vatican Council. This doctrine states that the Pope, when speaking ex cathedra (that is, when carrying out his duty as pastor and teacher of all Christians), is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine concerning faith or morals. This definition affirms that the Church of Christ is indefectibly holy, that the bishops and faithful are bound to obey the Pope, and that the Pope possesses the authority to distinguish true doctrine from false doctrine.
The dogma of infallibility reinforces the authority of the Pope, who serves as the guarantor of orthodoxy and a sign of unity within the Church. It does not mean that everything the Pope says or does is infallible, but only his solemn declarations about faith and morals made ex cathedra. The purpose of this dogma is to provide the faithful assurance in the unchanging and timeless teachings of the Church. While papal infallibility had long been generally believed by Catholics, Vatican I formally defined it as Catholic dogma.
The Council Fathers at Vatican I understood papal infallibility as one manifestation of the infallibility of the Church. The Holy Spirit, they taught, was given to the whole Church at Pentecost, and it is through the indwelling of the Spirit that the Church is enabled to live, teach, and abide by the truths of the Gospel until the end of time. The personal infallibility of the Pope is made possible only through his intimate union with the infallible Church, animated and guided by the Spirit of Truth. As the “rock” on which Christ chose to build his Church, the Pope serves as the formal guarantor and expounder of the truths of faith when teaching the universal Church.
Background and Convocation of the Council
In the decades preceding the First Vatican Council, Pius IX was dealing with attacks on the autonomy and authority of the Church. Revolutionary agitation in Europe had produced significant opposition to papal temporal authority, and some governments had expelled religious orders, seized church property, and deprived the Pope of his territories. The unification and centralization of national secular power challenged the international unity and decentralization of Catholicism. The rationalism, skepticism, and materialism of the Enlightenment further undermined faith, revelation, and the supernatural role of the Church. Biblical scholarship increasingly called into question traditional interpretations of Scripture that conflicted with modern science and philosophy.
Amid these growing threats, Pope Pius IX wished to reinforce the spiritual authority of the papacy and the Catholic Church more broadly. In 1864 he distributed a document asking the opinion of the bishops on the advisability of convoking a general council. Nearly all the replies approved the project, so on June 29, 1868, Pius IX announced his intention to convoke an ecumenical council. Vatican I was accordingly convened and opened on December 8, 1869. Over 700 bishops, mainly from Europe and Latin America, attended the council’s deliberations.
Debates and Documents
The original agenda of Vatican I was broad, intending to discuss rationalism, faith and science, the inspiration and interpretation of Scripture, etc. But the length and vehemence of the debates on papal infallibility meant that many items on the agenda were never debated. The Council ended up focusing narrowly on papal infallibility and issued only two dogmatic documents.
The primary debate was over the exact nature, extent, and basis of the proposed definition on papal infallibility. Some bishops argued that the Pope should be considered infallible only in matters of theological dogma, not on practical church discipline and governance. Others wanted to specify that the Pope is infallible only when he speaks in unison with the bishops of the Church, not unilaterally. Some questioned whether it was opportune to make such a definition at that moment in history. The proponents of a strong and declarative papal infallibility eventually prevailed.
The resulting dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus affirms the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff when speaking “ex cathedra.” The Pope is declared infallible when 1) carrying out his duty as pastor and teacher of all Christians, 2) defining a doctrine of faith or morals, and 3) defining a doctrine to be definitively held. This authority of the Pope to make infallible definitions is believed to be conferred directly by Christ upon Peter and his successors.
Pastor Aeternus also reiterates that the Pope possesses “full and supreme power of jurisdiction” over the universal Church. His primacy is affirmed as ordinary, immediate, and episcopal, and not merely honorary. As supreme pastor and teacher of all faithful Christians, obedience and conformity to the judgments of the Pope on matters of faith and morals is required. And the definition confirms that the Church of Christ is “by divine ordinance perpetual and indestructible.”
The other document produced by Vatican I was Dei Filius, a dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith. It deals with topics like the relationship between faith and reason, the validity of divine revelation, and the infallibility of the Church. It reasserts traditional Catholic teaching in response to modern philosophical, scientific, and historical challenges to Christian doctrine. The Council Fathers united against the threats of rationalism, materialism, pantheism, fideism, and other errors.
Suspension and Legacy
The First Vatican Council was never formally closed or suspended. Its work ended abruptly due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Italian troops protecting the Papal States had to be recalled from Rome to defend against the advancing army, allowing Italian nationalists to capture Rome and dissolve the Papal States. These momentous events forced Pope Pius IX to indefinitely suspend the council on October 20, 1870. Many bishops had already left Rome anyway due to the imminent invasion. Attempts were made to reconvene at a later date, but they ultimately proved unsuccessful. The council remained suspended until Pope John XXIII formally announced its discontinuance and the convocation of the Second Vatican Council in 1959.
The First Vatican Council only accomplished a small portion of its goals and agenda due to its premature ending. However, it remains historically significant for its solemn definition of papal infallibility and its reaffirmation of traditional Catholic doctrine amid theological confusion and social upheaval. This bolstered the spiritual and doctrinal authority of the papacy at a perilous time for the Church. The unchanging truths of the faith were definitively set forth to provide guidance and security for the faithful. While controversy continues around Vatican I and papal infallibility, this council officially codified doctrines and structures that remain pillars of Catholicism to this day.