Editing First Vatican Council (section)

== Papal infallibility ==
{{Papal primacy and infallibility|expanded=overview}}
{{Main|Papal infallibility}}

The object of the council was a mystery for a while. The first revelation was given in February 1869 by an article in {{lang|it|[[La Civiltà Cattolica]]}}, a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] periodical. It claimed, as the view of many Catholics in France, that the council would be of very brief duration, since the majority of its members were in agreement, and mentioned {{lang|la|inter alia}} the proclamation of papal infallibility. Factions around the proposal arose across Europe, and some Italians even proposed setting up a rival council in [[Naples]]. However, before the council met all became quiet in view of the studied vagueness of the invitation.{{sfn|Mirbt|1911|p=947}}

Pope Pius defined as [[Dogma in the Catholic Church|dogma]] the [[Immaculate Conception]] of [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary, the mother of Jesus]], in 1854.{{sfn|Burton|Woodruff|2014}} However, the proposal to define papal infallibility itself as dogma met with resistance, not because of doubts about the substance of the proposed definition, but because some considered it inopportune to take that step at that time.{{sfn|Burton|Woodruff|2014}} [[Richard McBrien]] divides the bishops attending Vatican I into three groups. The first group, which McBrien calls the "active infallibilists", was led by [[Henry Edward Manning]] and [[Ignatius von Senestrey]]. According to McBrien, the majority of the bishops were not so much interested in a formal definition of papal infallibility as they were in strengthening papal authority and, because of this, were willing to accept the agenda of the infallibilists. A minority, some 10% of the bishops, McBrien says, opposed the proposed definition of papal infallibility on both ecclesiastical and pragmatic grounds, because, in their opinion, it departed from the ecclesiastical structure of the [[early Christianity|early Christian]] church.{{sfn|McBrien|1995|p=1297}} From a pragmatic perspective, they feared that defining papal infallibility would alienate some Catholics, create new difficulties for union with non-Catholics, and provoke interference by governments in ecclesiastical affairs. Those who held this view included most of the German and Austro-Hungarian bishops, nearly half of the Americans, one third of the French, most of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church|Chaldaeans]] and [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church|Melkites]], and a few [[Armenian Catholic Church|Armenians]].{{sfn|Kirch|1912|p=305}} Only a few bishops appear to have had doubts about the dogma itself.{{sfn|Kirch|1912|p=305}}