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Glite Dictionary
conciliarism

conciliarism

1 9.9
The belief that church councils have more authority than the pope, especially in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages
  • noun
  • /kənˈsɪlɪərɪzəm/
  • Specialized
: conciliarismo
  • The principle of conciliarism suggests that church councils should govern major doctrinal decisions instead of relying solely on papal authority.

Examples

  • During the Middle Ages, many believed in conciliarism, arguing that church councils held greater authority than the pope.

  • This sounds like rehashed conciliarism adapted to the needs of post-Tridentine theology.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The move toward conciliarism during the papal schism in the latter part of that century encouraged the constitutional ambitions of the nobility throughout Scandinavia.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Historians study conciliarism to understand the conflicts between church councils and the papacy in medieval Europe.

Surface Forms

conciliarism singular
conciliarisms plural

Morphology

conciliarism = conciliar (transparent) = conciliar + ism

Formed by the adjective 'conciliar' plus the productive suffix '-ism' meaning a doctrine or movement, so the meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Conciliarism comes from the Latin word concilium, meaning 'council' or 'meeting', and the ending -ism, which shows a 'belief' or 'movement', and you can see the same root in the word council. So conciliarism is the idea or movement that gives power to church councils rather than to a single leader like the pope.