Editing Ecumenical council (section)

===Catholic Church===
{{main|Catholic ecumenical councils}}
Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches recognize seven councils in the early centuries of the church, but Catholics also recognize fourteen councils in later times called or confirmed by the Pope.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iv8pAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |first=Thomas J. |last=Reese |title=Inside the Vatican |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-674-93261-6 |page=35}}</ref> At the urging of German King [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]], who was to become Holy Roman Emperor in 1433, the [[Council of Constance]] was convoked in 1414 by [[Antipope John XXIII]], one of three claimants to the papal throne, and was reconvened in 1415 by the Roman [[Pope Gregory XII]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAsjkHJ8aP8C&pg=PA401 |first=John |last=Deely |title=Four Ages of Understanding |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-44261301-0 |page=401}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k85JKr1OXcQC&pg=PA274 |editor-first1=Orlando O. |editor-last1=Espín |editor-first2=James B. |editor-last2=Nickoloff |title=An Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies |publisher=Liturgical Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-81465856-7 |page=274}}</ref> The [[Council of Florence]] is an example of a council accepted as ecumenical in spite of being rejected by the East, as the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon are accepted in spite of being rejected respectively by the [[Church of the East]] and [[Oriental Orthodoxy]].

The Catholic Church teaches that an ecumenical council is a gathering of the [[College of Bishops]] (of which the [[Pope|Bishop of Rome]] is an essential part) to exercise in a solemn manner its supreme and full power over the whole Church.<ref>The [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2A.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 883–884] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429072610/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2A.HTM |date=29 April 2011 }} states: "The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Supreme Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head. As such, this college has supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Supreme Pontiff. The college of bishops exercises power over the universal Church in a solemn manner in an ecumenical council."</ref> It holds that "there never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter's successor".<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, 884</ref> Its present [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]] requires that an ecumenical council be convoked and presided over, either personally or through a delegate, by the Pope, who is also to decide the agenda;<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P17.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 338] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525120911/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P17.HTM |date=25 May 2012 }}. Vatican.va.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum orientalium, die XVIII Octobris anno MCMXC - Ioannes Paulus PP. II {{!}} Ioannes Paulus II|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/la/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1.html|access-date=12 September 2020|website=www.vatican.va|archive-date=5 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005191556/http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/la/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but the church makes no claim that all past ecumenical councils observed these present rules, declaring only that the Pope's confirmation or at least recognition has always been required, and saying that the version of the [[Nicene Creed]] adopted at the [[First Council of Constantinople]] (381) was accepted by the Church of Rome only seventy years later, in 451.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P17.HTM#XT Catechism of the Catholic Church, 247] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329042425/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P17.HTM#XT |date=29 March 2020 }}. Vatican.va.</ref>