The Pope, the Council, and the Unity of the Church: The NowUnseen Papal Ecclesiology Surrounding the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent

When scholars think about the Council of Trent, they generally do not remember it as a gathering that contributed substantially to doctrinal claims about the role of the papal office in the Catholic Church. This article challenges that paradigm by arguing that Trent made an indirect but decisive contribution to Catholic ecclesiology through two texts closely associated with the council: Pope Paul III’s 1542 bull of convocation and the catechism commissioned by the council, which contained important claims about the pope’s role as the center of Catholic unity. The relatively recent neglect of these two key sources has been among the principal factors that have led to the widespread scholarly perception that the Council of Trent, considered as a whole, had little influence on the conceptual formulation of the papal office and authority. In response, this article demonstrates that early modern publications of the Council of Trent fostered a religious culture that foregrounded the pope’s unique role in establishing and preserving the unity of the Catholic Church. When the council is framed within its original historical and textual context, that is, when its decrees are read alongside the 1542 bull of convocation and the catechism issued under its name—the combined work of the pope and the council, from the convocation of Trent to the publication of its catechism—emerges as a decisive contribution to the development of the idea that the papacy was the visible source of unity in the Catholic Church.

Keywords: Council of Trent, Papal Ecclesiology, Christian Unity, Pope Paul III, Roman Catechism.