This week in Christian history: Charles Stanley names successor, First Vatican Council begins, Episcopal Church leader born
First Vatican Council begins – Dec. 8, 1869
This week marks the anniversary of when the First Vatican Council, an influential gathering of Catholic Church leaders that would last nearly a year, held its opening proceedings.
Convened by Pope Pius IX, the first session of the gathering was held at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy, with the proceedings being indefinitely halted the following year due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
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Also known as Vatican I, the gathering recognized the concept of papal infallibility, which states that under specific official circumstances, the pontiff cannot err on matters of faith.
Since the 1800s, papal infallibility has only been invoked twice: when Pope Pius IX declared that the Virgin Mary was born sinless and when Pope Pius XII declared that Mary was assumed into Heaven rather than dying a natural death.
Papal infallibility continues to be a point of contention between the Catholic Church and other Christians, especially Protestants, who take issue with giving the pope such power and disagree with the theological claim that Mary never sinned.
