Pastor Aeternus: First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ

by First Vatican Council, Pope Pius IX

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion

Unknown Binding

First published July 18, 1870

About the author

The Vatican Council (Latin: Concilium Vaticanum Primum) was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned on 20 October 1870. Unlike the five earlier General Councils held in Rome, which met in the Lateran Basilica and are known as Lateran Councils, it met in the Vatican Basilica, hence its name. Its best-known decision is its definition of papal infallibility, strongly promoted by the Archbishop Luigi Natoli, while opposed by [author:John Henry Newman}

The Council was convoked to deal with the contemporary problems of the rising influence of rationalism, liberalism, and materialism. Its purpose was, besides this, to define the Catholic doctrine concerning the Church of Christ. There was discussion and approval of only two constitutions: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith and the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, the latter dealing with the primacy and infallibility of the Bishop of Rome. The first matter brought up for debate was the dogmatic draft of Catholic doctrine against the manifold errors due to Rationalism.

Reviews

[Adam]

Vatican I constitution which reaffirms and formally defines several teachings:
1. The Roman Pontiff has universal jurisdiction over the entire Church
2. Anathematizes those that say Peter and his successors do not have headship over the whole Church and that Rome only has a primacy of honor
3. Renews the Council of Florence in saying that all must believe that Rome has primacy over the whole world
4. The True Faith has always been kept undefiled in Rome
5. When the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra and is defining a doctrine regarding faith and morals to be divinely revealed, he is protected with infallibility. Therefore, these teachings are to be considered irreformable.

[Miles Smith]

Reading through the Risorgimento's primary documents is incomplete without a look at Pius IX's famous dogmatic declaration. Once the fall of the pope's temporal power seemed a reality, Vatican I inevitably moved to a declaration like Pastor Aeternus.