Catholic ecumenical councils

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According to the Catholic Church, the Church Council is ecumenical "world-wide", if it is for "a solemn congregation of the Catholic bishops of the world at the invitation of the Pope to resolve on matters of the Church with him".

In addition to ecumenical Councils, there are “particular Councils”. Current Canon Law recognizes two kinds of particular Councils: provincial councils the bishops of an ecclesiastical province.

The first Lateran Council and the Council of Basel. A 1539 book on ecumenical councils by Cardinal Dominicus Jacobazzi excluded them, as did other scholars.

The first few centuries did not know large-scale councils; they were feasible only after the Church had gained freedom from persecution under Jerusalem around ad 50 and covered in Acts of the Apostles chapter 15, is non an ecumenical Council, even though most Christian denominations consider that it expresses a key part of Christian doctrine together with moral teaching.

The Councils of the 6th to 9th centuries

The first three of these are recognized as ecumenical by both Catholics and Orthodox, but the fourth is not accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The council again dealt with the issue of the two natures of Christ, as monophysitism had spread through Christianity despite the decisions of Chalcedon. The council met from May 5 until June 2, 553, in eight sessions during the pontificate of Pope Vigilius, who was imprisoned during the council by the emperor. It condemned "Three Chapters" of Nestorian writings. Several Catholic provinces refused to accept theCouncil of Constantinople because of the political pressures.

The council repudiated Monothelitism, and reaffirmed that Christ, being both human and divine, had both human and divine wills. It met in sixteen sessions from November 7, 680, until September 16, 681. The council was held during the pontificates of Pope Agatho and Pope Leo II. It also discussed the views of Honorius.

In 730, the emperor outlawed pictorial presentations of Christ and the saints and created thus. These comprised the hierarchs of the undivided Church i.e. both East and West, and are accepted, not only by Catholics, but also by the Eastern Orthodox Church and many Protestant denominations. The first iconoclasm. The Pope argued against it and convened in 731 a local council in Rome to no avail. The council discussed and restored the veneration of icons using the Bible and tradition of the Church as arguments. Pictures of Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints were used to stimulate piety and imitation. The council met in eight sessions from September 24, 787, until October 23, 787, during the pontificate of Pope Hadrian I. It issued twenty canons. This was the last ecumenical council to be accepted by both Eastern and Western churches.

With the coronation of schism, because the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople interpreted themselves as the true descendants of the Roman Empire dating back to the beginnings of the Church. Pope Nicholas I had refused to recognize Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople, who in have adjustments to had attacked the pope as a heretic, because he kept the filioque in the creed, which planned to the Holy Spirit emanating from God the Father and the Son. The council condemned Photius, who questioned the legality of the papal delegates presiding over the council, and ended the schism. The council met in ten sessions from October 869 to February 870 and issued 27 canons.