A democratic tradition

ECUMENICAL councils, primarily a gathering of Bishops from around the world (ecumene in Greek means "whole inhabited earth") convened to discuss doctrinal and disciplinary matters, have had an important status in Church history.

According to the new Code of Canon Law (1983), the supreme law of the Catholic Church, it is the "prerogative" of the Pope alone to summon an ecumenical council. He alone has the right to "preside over it personally or through others, to transfer, suspend or dissolve the Council, and to approve its decrees". The law also stipulates that "only Bishops" have the "right and obligation" to attend a council "with a deliberative vote". Others (such as theological experts and representatives of other Churches) can be invited only by the "supreme authority in the Church", the Pope (Canons 338-339).

In contrast, the first eight councils were convened and their decrees promulgated by the Eastern Roman Emperor. Interestingly, two councils, Chalcedon (451) and Nicea II (787), were convened by Empresses Pulcheria and Irene. The conciliar tradition has important implications for the ecumenical movement too. The only profession of faith accepted by all Christian Churches is the Nicene Creed, formulated and accepted by Nicea I (325) and amplified by Constantinople I (381).

Fr. Norman Tanner, S.J., distinguished Oxford historian who teaches at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, points out that ecumenical councils might well be the oldest representative institution in Europe. While the Althing of Iceland or Parliament of Britain, generally deemed to be the continent's "oldest national assemblies with an institutional continuity", first met in 930 and 1257, the eighth council, Constantinople IV, had concluded in 870 (Was the Church too Democratic? Councils, Collegiality and the Church's Future; Dharmaram Publications, Bangalore, 2003; page 6).

All the councils up to Vatican I (1869-70) were convened to deal with specific challenges - mainly heresies, doctrinal errors, schismatic tendencies and so on - faced by the Church of the period. The first eight councils denounced heresies such as Arianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism and defined the basic doctrines, liturgical practices and legal framework of a nascent Church. The Council of Trent (1545-63) tackled the greatest crisis faced by the Western Church since the 1054 Eastern Schism: the Protestant Reformation.

The Second Vatican Council struck a unique note in conciliar history. Commenting on "those ways of life which despise God and His law or place excessive confidence in technical progress and a well-being based exclusively on the comforts of life", the Blessed Pope John XXIII spelt out the Church's response in his opening speech: "The Church has always opposed these errors. Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations." Gone were the days of Roma locuta, causa finite (Rome has spoken, the case is finished), at least for the time being.

The Council passed 16 documents - four constitutions, three declarations and nine decrees - of varying juridical authority. The most important ones in terms of their impact on the post-conciliar Church are Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Liturgy), Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relations of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) and Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism).