Appendix

An ecumenical council is a solemn gathering of bishops from throughout the world. (The word “ecumenical” literally means “worldwide.”) Such a council is called by the pope (or approved by him, as some of the early ecumenical councils were called by a secular authority such as the emperor). In the history of the Church after the Council of Jerusalem described in the Acts of the Apostles, there have been twenty-one ecumenical councils, the most recent being the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), commonly referred to as Vatican II. Documents from seventeen of these councils are cited in the Catechism.

Here the councils are listed according to the years in which they were held. Council documents—which consist of “bulls,” “constitutions,” and “decrees”—are referred to in the Catechism by their “DS” numbers (see the note above under “Professions of Faith”), except for the documents of Vatican II. See the Index of Citations for a list of the council documents cited in the Catechism.

DateNameMajor DecisionsHeresies Addressed
AD 325Nicaea I
  • Composed the Nicene Creed
  • Affirmed that Jesus is divine—consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father
  • Set the date for Easter
  • Arianism
AD 381Constantinople I
  • Finalized the Nicene Creed
  • Finalized the language used for the Trinity: three persons (hypostases); one nature, substance, essence
  • Affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit
  • Eunomianism
  • Apollinarianism
  • Pneumatomachianism (Macedonianism)
  • Modalism (Sabellianism)
AD 431Ephesus
  • Affirmed Mary as the Mother of God (Theotokos)
  • Nestorianism
AD 451Chalcedon
  • Affirmed that Jesus is one person having two natures (divine and human)
  • Monophysitism
AD 553Constantinople II
  • Confirmed that the one person of Jesus is the second Person of the Trinity
  • Affirmed Mary as perpetual virgin
  • Confirmed that Jesus, the divine Person of God the Son, truly suffered and died for us in the flesh
  • Nestorianism
  • Monophysitism
AD 680-681Constantinople III
  • Affirmed Jesus has two wills, human and divine
  • Monothelitism
  • Monoenergism
AD 787Nicaea II
  • Affirmed the veneration of sacred images
  • Iconoclasm
AD 869-870Constantinople IV
  • Deposed Photius and reinstated Ignatius as the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople
  • Affirmed each human person possesses a single rational soul
AD 1123Lateran I (not cited in the Catechism)
  • Ended the lay investiture of bishops (disciplinary decision)
AD 1139Lateran II (not cited in the Catechism)
  • Formalized the discipline of priestly celibacy for the Western Church (disciplinary decision)
AD 1179Lateran III (not cited in the Catechism)
  • Established papal election by the college of cardinals (disciplinary decision)
AD 1215Lateran IV
  • Affirmed “transubstantiation” to describe the change in the Eucharist during Mass
  • Catharism (Albigensianism)
  • Waldensianism
  • Teachings of Joachim of Fiore
AD 1245Lyons I (not cited in the Catechism)
  • Deposed the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (disciplinary decision)
AD 1274Lyons II
  • Affirmed the doctrines of purgatory, hell, and final judgment
AD 1311-1312Vienne
  • Affirmed that the soul is the “form” of the body
  • Suppressed the Knights Templars
  • Issued decrees on the reform of morals
  • Reformed the discipline of poverty for religious life
  • Free Spiritualism
AD 1414-1418Constance
  • Ended the Great Western Schism
  • Affirmed the authority and necessity of the Church and the Pope
  • Affirmed the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
  • Affirmed that sacraments administered by clerics in a state of mortal sin are valid
  • Donatism
  • Teachings of John Wycliffe
  • Teachings of Jan Hus
AD 1439-1445Florence
  • Affirmed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque)
  • Affirmed the existence of purgatory and hell
  • Affirmed the seven sacraments are instruments of grace
  • Affirmed papal primacy
  • Attempted to restore union with Eastern Orthodox Christians
  • Conciliarism
AD 1512-1517Lateran V
  • Affirmed the immortality of the human soul
  • Condemned usurious practices
  • Latin Averroism
  • Gallicanism
  • Conciliarism
AD 1545-1563Trent
  • Reaffirmed the word “transubstantiation” to describe the consecration of Holy Communion
  • Clarified the Church’s teachings on salvation and the sacraments in response to the Protestant Reformers
  • Reformed the practices of the Church in light of the criticisms of the Protestant Reformers
  • Established the seminary system for the training of priests
  • Standardized the liturgy with the publication of a missal, breviary, and ritual
  • Published a universal catechism to instruct the clergy and the faithful in Catholic doctrine
  • Sola Scriptura
  • Sola fide
  • Pelagianism
  • Semi-Pelagianism
  • Conciliarism
  • Double predestination
  • Antinomianism
AD 1869-1870Vatican I
  • Explained the Catholic understanding of the relationship between faith and reason
  • Affirmed the infallibility and universal, ordinary jurisdiction of the pope
  • Conciliarism
AD 1962-1965Vatican II
  • Proclaimed the liturgy as the summit of the Church’s activity and provided for a more conscious and active participation of the laity
  • Provided for the study of Sacred Scripture and encouraged Catholics to incorporate Scripture into their spiritual lives
  • Examined the role of the Church in bringing the message of Christ to the modern world
  • Discussed the Church as the People of God, the role of the laity, and the universal call to holiness
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