Saint Robert Bellarmine Gives the Conditions for the Validity of a General Council

Saint Bellarmine also gives four conditions for such a General Council to be valid. He states that it is necessary:

 

1. “...that it be convoked as general, so that it be made known to all the major Christian provinces.”
    

2. “...that no bishop be excluded, but that whoever comes may come, provided it is established that he is a bishop and not excommunicated.”
    

3. “...that the four principal patriarchs be present, […] namely the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem” (But, says St. Bellarmine, these patriarchs are no longer necessary, for they are certainly schismatic today.)
    

4. “...that at least some should come from the greater part of the Christian provinces.” [1]

  
Therefore, an Imperfect General Council is legitimate under these conditions. The history of the Church, particularly during the Council of Constance, shows that the General Council can play a crucial role in dealing with a major crisis threatening ecclesial unity. When papal authority is usurped or uncertain, the Council is an extraordinary remedy. Convened by faithful bishops, it acts as a substitute to restore the legitimate papacy and manifest the unity of the Church, without creating a new hierarchy or overthrowing papal authority.

This is not an act of subversion. On the contrary, it is a necessary act to ensure the continuity of the visible Church and the restoration of its authority. Such a council usurps nothing, but fills a gap and mends a breach. It aims to restore normal order rather than overthrow it.

Theologians justify this extraordinary power by two fundamental principles: the indefectibility of the Church, which guarantees that she cannot disappear or lose her unity, and the idea that in the absence of an undisputed pope, the Universal Church herself becomes the ultimate subject of authority, capable of acting to ensure her own survival. This is a transitional measure dictated by necessity.

St Alphonsus teaches “that the Pope is above a council is not to be understood of a doubtful pope in a time of schism, when there is probable doubt about the legitimacy of his election; for then each person must submit to the council, as the Council of Constance defined. For then the general council holds immediately from Christ the supreme power, just as in the time of a vacant see, as St. Antoninus rightly observes.” [2] 

Theology, canon law, history and the actions of the saints therefore converge to show us that an Imperfect General Council is the realistic and traditional way to restore the Church’s hierarchical unity and to bring her out from the current crisis. We therefore call for the authority of the current Catholic Episcopate to be recognised at last. We affirm that it has the right and the duty to act. In order to remedy the grievous malady that afflicts the head of the Church today, we propose to work under its authority to bring together in Council all the faithful Catholic bishops, who certainly have the power necessary for such extraordinary action.