1869–1870 · Vatican City
First Vatican Council
Why this council matters
Vatican I is often remembered only for papal infallibility, but its constitution Dei Filius also addresses God, revelation, faith and reason. Pastor Aeternus treats the primacy of the bishop of Rome and the conditions of definitive papal teaching.
Those conditions matter: infallibility is not a claim that a pope is sinless or that every opinion, decision or interview is protected from error. The council’s interruption left an unfinished agenda, so later teaching about bishops and the Church should be studied with it.
Read and investigate
The constitutions are currently available through an external primary edition.
Controversies
Faith and reason, revelation, and the primacy and infallibility of the Roman pontiff.
Decrees
Promulgated Dei Filius and Pastor Aeternus before the council was interrupted.
Definitions
Papal infallibility concerns specified definitive teaching on faith and morals; it does not mean every papal statement or action is inerrant.