INTRODUCTION
This council was summoned
by pope Julius II by the bull Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, issued at Rome on
18 July 1511, after several schismatic cardinals, officially supported by Louis
XII, king of France, had assembled a quasi-council at Pisa. Twice postponed,
the council held its first session in full solemnity at Rome in the Lateran
residence on 10 May 1512, at which session an elaborate address on the evils of
the church was made by Giles of Viterbo, general of the order of Augustinian
hermits.
There were twelve sessions.
The first five of them, held during Julius II's pontificate, dealt primarily
with the condemnation and rejection of the quasi-council of Pisa, and with the
revoking and annulment of the French "Pragmatic Sanction". After the
election of pope Leo X in March 1513, the council had three objectives: first,
achieving a general peace between christian rulers; second, church reform; and
third, the defence of the faith and the rooting out of heresy. The seven
sessions after Leo's election gave approval to a number of constitutions, among
which are to be noted the condemnation of the teaching of the philosopher
Pomponazzi (session 8), and the approval of the agreement completed outside the
council between pope Leo X and king Francis I of France (session 11).
All the decrees of this
council, at which the pope presided in person, are in the form of bulls. At the
beginning of them are added the words "with the approval of the sacred
council", and at the end "in public session solemnly held in the
Lateran basilica". The fathers confirmed all the decrees by their votes.
If anyone wished to reject a proposal, he made his dissenting opinion known
verbally, or briefly in writing. The result was that the matters proposed,
after various debates, were sometimes altered.
The decisions on the reform
of the curia produced almost no effect because of the timidity and inadequacy
of the recommendations, especially since the papacy showed slight inclination
to carry the matter through. On the other hand, the council totally suppressed
the Pisan schism. It is clear that bishops were never present in great numbers
at the council, and that prelates who lived outside Italy were notably absent
to such an extent that there has been frequent dispute about whether the
council was ecumenical.
The decrees and other acts
of the council were first published in Rome shortly after the council ended,
namely on 31 July 1521 by cardinal Antonio del Monte, acting on the orders of
pope Leo X. The title of this edition is: SA. Lateranense concilium
novissimum sub Iulio II et Leone X celebratum (= Lc). It was subsequently used in various conciliar
collections from Cr2 3 (1551) 3-192 to Msi 32 (1802) 649-1002. We have followed
this edition of 1521 and have taken the headings of the constitutions from the
summary which precedes it.
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