1139–1139 · Rome
Second Lateran Council
Why this council matters
Lateran II met under Innocent II after a period of competing papal allegiances. Understanding its reform legislation requires that setting: restoring order in the Church was a central concern.
The canons range across clerical life, ordinations and practical abuses. Read them with attention to their historical subjects and purposes. A council’s relevance does not depend on producing a new dogmatic formula, and a disciplinary enactment must not automatically be treated as a universal rule still in force today.
Read and investigate
The canons are currently available through an external primary edition.
Controversies
Healing the recent papal schism and continuing ecclesiastical reform.
Decrees
Issued disciplinary measures concerning clergy, Church offices and social conduct.
Definitions
Its central work concerns reform and the restoration of ecclesial order.