Denzinger EN 1065

Purgatory*

[From the same letter to Consolator]

1066 570s We ask if you have believed and now believe that there is a purgatory to which depart the souls of those dying in grace who have not yet made complete satisfaction for their sins.

1067 Also, if you have believed and now believe that they will be tortured by fire for a time and that as soon as they are cleansed, even before the day of judgment, they may come to the true and eternal beatitude which consists in the vision of God face to face and in love.

The Matter and Minister of Confirmation*

[From the same letter to Consolator]

1068 Dz 571 (12) You have given responses which influence us to ask the following from you: first, concerning the consecration of chrism, whether you believe that the chrism can rightly and deservedly be consecrated by no priest who is not a bishop.

1069 Dz 572 Second, whether you believe that the sacrament of confirmation cannot ordinarily be administered by any other than by the bishop by virtue of his office.

1070 Dz 573 Third, whether you believe that by the Roman Pontiff alone, having a plentitude of power, the administration of the sacrament of confirmation can be granted to priests who are not bishops.

1071 Dz 574
Fourth, whether you believe that those confirmed by any priests whatsoever, who are not bishops and who have not received from the Roman Pontiff any commission or concession regarding this, must be anointed again by a bishop or bishops.

The Errors of the Armenians

[From the same letter to Consolator]

1072 574a (15) After all the above mentioned, we are forced to wonder strongly that in a certain letter, which begins, "To the honorable Fathers in Christ," you retract fourteen chapters from the first fifty-three chapters. First, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

1073 Third, that children contract original sin from their first parents.

1074 Sixth, that souls separated from their bodies, when entirely cleansed, clearly see God.

1075 Ninth, that the souls of those departing in mortal sin descend into hell.

1076 Twelfth, that baptism destroys original and actual sins.

1077 Thirteenth, that Christ did not destroy a lower hell by descending into hell.

1078 Fifteenth, that the angels were created good by God.

1079 Thirtieth, that the pouring out of the blood of animals works no remission of sins.

1080 Thirty-second, those who eat of fish and oil on the days of fasts, shall not judge.

1081 Thirty-ninth, that having been baptized in the Catholic Church, if they become unfaithful and afterwards are converted, they must not be baptized again.

1082 Fortieth, that children can be baptized before the eighth day and that baptism cannot be by any liquid other than pure water.

1083 Forty-second, that the body of Christ after the words of consecration is the same in number as the body born from the Virgin and immolated on the Cross.

1084 Forty-fifth, that no one even a saint can consecrate the body of Christ, unless he is a priest.

1085 Forty-sixth, that it is necessary for salvation to confess all mortal sins perfectly and distinctly to one's own priest or with his permission (to another priest).


INNOCENT VI 1352-1362

URBAN V 1362-1370 - Errors of Dionysius Foullechat (Perfection and Poverty) *

[Condemned in the order "Ex supremae clementiae dono," Dec. 23, 1368]

1087 Dz 575 (1) This blessed, indeed most blessed and sweetest law, namely, the law of love, takes away all propriety and power,--false, erroneous, heretical.

1090 Dz 576 (2) The actual renunciation of sincere will and temporal powers shows and produces the most perfect state of dominion or authority-false, erroneous, heretical.

1091 Dz 577 (3) That Christ did not renounce such possession and right in temporal things is not held according to the New Law, but rather the opposite false, erroneous, heretical.



GREGORY XI 1370-1378 - Errors of Peter of Bonageta and of John of Lato (The Most Holy Eucharist) *

[Examined and condemned by the Inquisitors according to the mandate of the Pontiff]

1101 Dz 578
(1) That if a consecrated host fall or is cast into a sewer, into mud, or some disgraceful place, that, while the species remain, the body of Christ ceases to be under them and the substance of bread returns.

1102 Dz 579 (2) That if the consecrated host is gnawed by a mouse or is consumed by an animal, that, while the so-called species remains, the body of Christ ceases to be under them and the substance of bread returns.

1103 Dz 580 (3) That if the consecrated host is consumed by a just man or by a sinner, that while the species is being crushed by the teeth, Christ is snatched up to heaven and He is not cast into the stomach of man.


URBAN VI 1378-1389

BONIFACE IX 1389-1404

INNOCENT VII 1404-1406

GREGORY XII 1406-1415

MARTIN V 1417-1431 - COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE 1414-1418 - Ecumenical XVI (against Wycliffe, Hus, etc.)

SESSION VIII (May 4, 1415) - Errors of John Wycliffe *

[Condemned in Council and by the Bulls "Inter Cunctas" and "In eminentis" Feb. 22, 1418]

1151 Dz 581 1. In the sacrament of the altar the material substance of bread and likewise the material substance of wine remain.

1152 Dz 582 2. In the same sacrament the accidents of the bread do not remain without a subject. The sacrament Christ is not identically and really with His

1153 Dz 583 3. In the same sacrament Christ is not identically and really with His own bodily presence.

1154 Dz 584 4. If a bishop or priest is living in mortal sin, he does not ordain, nor consecrate, nor perform, nor baptize.

1155 Dz 585 5. it is not established in the Gospel that Christ arranged the Mass.

1156 Dz 586 6. God ought to obey the devil.

1157 Dz 587 7. If man is duly contrite, every exterior confession on his part is superfluous and useless.

1158 Dz 588 8. If the pope is foreknown and evil, and consequently a member of the devil, he does not have power over the faithful given to him by anyone, unless perchance by Caesar.

1159 Dz 589 9. After Urban VI no one should be received as pope, unless he live according to the customs of the Greeks under their laws.

1160 Dz 590 10. It is contrary to Sacred Scripture that ecclesiastical men have possessions.

1161 Dz 591 11. No prelate should excommunicate anyone, unless first he knows that he has been excommunicated by God; and he who so excommunicates becomes, as a result of this, a heretic or excommunicated.

1162 Dz 592 12. A prelate excommunicating a cleric who has appealed to the king, or to a council of the kingdom, by that very act is a traitor of the king and the kingdom.

1163 Dz 593 13. Those who cease to preach or to hear the word of God because of the excommunication of men, are themselves excommunicated, and in the judgment of God they will be considered traitors of Christ.

1164 Dz 594 14. It is permissible for any deacon or priest to preach the word of God without the authority of the Apostolic See or a Catholic bishop.

1165 Dz 595 15. No one is a civil master, no one a prelate, no one a bishop, as long as he is in mortal sin.

1166 Dz 596 16. Temporal rulers can at their will take away temporal goods from the Church, when those who have possessions habitually offend, that is, offend by habit, not only by an act.

1167 Dz 597 17. People can at their will correct masters who offend.

1168 Dz 598 18. The tithes are pure alms and parishioners can take these away at will because of the sins of their prelates.

1169 Dz 599 19. Special prayers applied to one person by prelates or religious are not of more benefit to that person than general (prayers), all other things being equal.

1170 Dz 600 20. One bringing alms to the Brothers is excommunicated by that very thing.

1171 Dz 601 21. If anyone enters any private religious community of any kind, of those having possessions or of the mendicants, he is rendered unfit and unsuited for the observance of the laws of God.

1172 Dz 602 22. Saints, instituting private religious communities, have sinned by instituting them.

1173 Dz 603 23. Religious living in private religious communities are not of the Christian religion.

1174 Dz 604 24. Brothers are bound to acquire their food by the labor of hands and not by begging.

1175 Dz 605 25. All are simoniacs who oblige themselves to pray for others who assist them in temporal matters.

1176 Dz 606 26. The prayer for the foreknown is of avail to no one.

1177 Dz 607 27. All things happen from absolute necessity.

1178 Dz 608 28. The confirmation of youths, ordination of clerics, and consecration of places are reserved to the pope and bishops on account of their desire for temporal gain and honor.

1179 Dz 609 29. Universities, studies, colleges, graduations, and offices instruction in the same have been introduced by a vain paganism; they are of as much value to the Church as the devil.

1180 Dz 610 30. The excommunication of the pope or of any prelate whatsoever is not to be feared, because it is the censure of the Antichrist.

1181 Dz 611 31. Those who found cloisters sin and those who enter (them) are diabolical men.

1182 Dz 612 32. To enrich the clergy is contrary to the rule of Christ.

1183 Dz 613 33. Sylvester, the Pope, and Constantine, the Emperor, erred in enriching the Church.

1184 Dz 614 34. All of the order of mendicants are heretics, and those who give alms to them are excommunicated.

1185 Dz 615 35. Those entering religion or any order, by that very fact are unsuited to observe divine precepts, and consequently to enter the kingdom of heaven, unless they apostatize from these.

1186 Dz 616 36. The pope with all his clergy who have possessions are heretics, because they have possessions; and all in agreement with these, namely all secular masters and other laity.

1187 Dz 617 37. The Roman Church is a synagogue of Satan, and the pope is not the next and immediate vicar of Christ and His apostles.

1188 Dz 618 38. The decretal letters are apocryphal and they seduce from the faith of Christ, and the clergy who study them are foolish.

1189 Dz 619 39. The emperor and secular masters have been seduced by the devil to enrich the Church with temporal goods.

1190 Dz 620 40. The election of the pope by cardinals was introduced by the devil.

1191 Dz 621 41. It is not necessary for salvation to believe that the Roman Church is supreme among other churches.

1192 Dz 622 42. It is foolish to believe in the indulgences of the pope and bishops.

1193 Dz 623 43. Oaths are illicit which are made to corroborate human contracts and civil commerce.

1194 Dz 624 44. Augustine, Benedict, and Bernard have been damned, unless they repented about this, that they had possessions and instituted and entered religious communities; and thus from the pope to the last religious, all are heretics.

1195 Dz 625
45. All religious communities without distinction have been introduced by the devil.

See the theological censures of these 45 articles to be proposed to the Wycliffites and Hussites, n.. 11 (661 below).


SESSION XIII (June 15, 1415) Definition of Communion under One Species *

1198 Dz 626 Since in some parts of the world certain ones have rashly presumed to assert that Christian people should receive the sacrament of the Eucharist under both species of bread and wine, and since they give communion to the laity indiscriminately, not only under the species of bread, but also under the species of wine, after dinner or otherwise when not fasting, and since they pertinaciously assert that communion should be enjoyed contrary to the praiseworthy custom of the Church reasonably approved which they try damnably to disprove as a sacrilege, it is for this reason that this present Council . . . declares, decides, and defines, that, although Christ instituted that venerable sacrament after supper and administered it to His disciples under both species of bread and wine; yet, notwithstanding this, the laudable authority of the sacred canons and the approved custom of the Church have maintained and still maintain that a sacrament of this kind should not be consecrated after supper, nor be received by the faithful who are not fasting, except in case of sickness or of another necessity granted or admitted by law or Church;

1199 and although such a sacrament was received by the faithful under both species in the early Church, yet since then it is received by those who consecrate under both species and by the laity only under the species of bread [another reading: And similarly, although this sacrament was received by the faithful in the early Church under both species, nevertheless this custom has been reasonably introduced to avoid certain dangers and scandals, namely, that it be received by those who consecrate it under both species, and by the laity only under the species of bread], since it must be believed most firmly and not at all doubted that the whole body of Christ and the blood are truly contained under the species of bread as well as under the species of wine. Therefore, to say that to observe this custom or law is a sacrilege or illicit must be considered erroneous, and those pertinaciously asserting the opposite of the above mentioned must be avoided as heretics and should be severely punished, either by the local diocesan officials or by the inquisitors of heretical depravity.


SESSION XV (July 6, 1415) Errors of John Hus*

[Condemned in the Council and by the above mentioned Bulls in 1418]

1201 Dz 627 1. One and only is the holy universal Church which is the aggregate of the predestined.

1202 Dz 628 2. Paul never was a member of the devil, although he did certain acts similar to the acts of those who malign the Church.

1203 Dz 629 3. The foreknown are not parts of the Church, since no part of it finally will fall away from it, because the charity of predestination which binds it will not fall away.

1204 Dz 630 4. Two natures, divinity and humanity, are one Christ. *

1205 Dz 631 5. The foreknown, although at one time he is in grace according to the present justice, yet is never a part of the holy Church; and the predestined always remains a member of the Church, although at times he may fall away from additional grace, but not from the grace of predestination.

1206 Dz 632 6. Assuming the Church as the convocation of the predestined, whether they were in grace or not according to the present justice, in that way the Church is an article of faith.

1207 Dz 633 7. Peter is not nor ever was the head of the Holy Catholic Church.

1208 Dz 634 8. Priests living criminally in any manner whatsoever, defile the power of the priesthood, and as unfaithful sons they think unfaithfully regarding the seven sacraments of the Church, the keys, the duties, the censures customs, ceremonies, and sacred affairs of the Church, its veneration of relics, indulgences, and orders.

1209 Dz 635 9. The papal dignity has sprung up from Caesar, and the perfection and institution of the pope have emanated from the power of Caesar

1210 Dz 636 10. No one without revelation would have asserted reasonably regarding himself or anyone else that he was the head of a particular church nor is the Roman Pontiff the head of a particular Roman Church.

1211 Dz 637 11. It is not necessary to believe that the one whosoever is the Roman Pontiff, is the head of any particular holy church, unless God has predestined him.

1212 Dz 638 12. No one takes the place of Christ or of Peter unless he follows him in character, since no other succession is more important, and not otherwise does he receive from God the procuratorial power, because for that office of vicar are required both conformity in character and the authority of Him who institutes it.

1213 Dz 639 13. The pope is not the true and manifest successor of Peter, the first of the other apostles, if he lives in a manner contrary to Peter; and if he be avaricious, then he is the vicar of Judas Iscariot. And with like evidence the cardinals are not the true and manifest successors of the college of the other apostles of Christ, unless they live in the manner of the apostles, keeping the commandments and counsels of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1214 Dz 640 14. Doctors holding that anyone to be emended by ecclesiastical censure, if he is unwilling to be corrected, must be handed over to secular judgment, certainly are following in this the priests, scribes, and pharisees, who, saying that "it is not permissible for us to kill anyone" (Jn 18,31), handed over to secular judgment Christ Himself, who did not wish to be obedient to them in all things, and such are homicides worse than Pilate.

1215 Dz 641 15. Ecclesiastical obedience is obedience according to the invention of the priest of the Church, without the expressed authority of Scripture.

1216 Dz 642 16. The immediate division of human works is: that they are either virtuous or vicious, because, if a man is vicious and does anything, then he acts viciously; and if he is virtuous and does anything, then he acts virtuously; because as vice, which is called a crime or mortal sin, renders the acts of man universally vicious, so virtue vivifies all the acts of the virtuous man.

1217 Dz 643 17. Priests of Christ, living according to His law and having a knowledge of Scripture and a desire to instruct the people, ought to preach without the impediment of a pretended excommunication. But if the pope or some other prelate orders a priest so disposed not to preach, the subject is not obliged to obey.

1218 Dz 644 18. Anyone who approaches the priesthood receives the duty of a preacher by command, and that command he must execute, without the impediment of a pretended excommunication.

1219 Dz 645 19. By ecclesiastical censures of excommunication, suspension, and interdict, the clergy for its own exaltation supplies for itself the lay populace, it multiplies avarice, protects wickedness, and prepares the way for the Antichrist. Moreover, the sign is evident that from the Antichrist such censures proceed, which in their processes they call fulminations, by which the clergy principally proceed against those who uncover the wickedness of the Antichrist, who will make use of the clergy especially for himself.

1220 Dz 646 20. If the pope is wicked and especially if he is foreknown, than as Judas, the Apostle, he is of the devil, a thief, and a son of perdition, and he is not the head of the holy militant Church, since he is not a member of it.

1221 Dz 647 21. The grace of predestination is a chain by which the body of the Church and any member of it are joined insolubly to Christ the Head.

1222 Dz 648 22. The pope or prelate, wicked and foreknown, is equivocally pastor and truly a thief and robber.

1223 Dz 649 23. The pope should not be called "most holy" even according to his office, because otherwise the king ought also to be called "most holy" according to his office, and torturers and heralds should be called holy, indeed even the devil ought to be called holy, since he is an official of God.

1224 Dz 650 24. If the pope lives in a manner contrary to Christ, even if he should ascend through legal and legitimate election according to the common human constitution, yet he would ascend from another place than through Christ, even though it be granted that he entered by an election made principally by God; for Judas Iscariot rightly and legitimately was elected by God, Jesus Christ, to the episcopacy, and yet he ascended from another place to the sheepfold of the sheep.

1225 Dz 651 25. The condemnation of the forty-five articles of John Wycliffe made by the doctors is irrational and wicked and badly made; the cause alleged by them has been feigned, namely, for the reason that "no one of them is a Catholic but anyone of them is either heretical, erroneous, or scandalous."

1226 Dz 652 26. Not for this reason, that the electors, or a greater part of them, agreed by acclamation according to the observance of men upon some person, is that person legitimately elected; nor for this reason is he the true and manifest successor or vicar of the Apostle Peter, or in the ecclesiastical office of another apostle. Therefore, whether electors have chosen well or badly, we ought to believe in the works of the one elected; for, by the very reason that anyone who operates for the advancement of the Church in a manner more fully meritorious, has from God more fully the faculty for this.

1227 Dz 653 27. For there is not a spark of evidence that there should be one head ruling the Church in spiritual affairs, which head always lives and is preserved with the Church militant herself.

1228 Dz 654 28. Christ through His true disciples scattered through the world would rule His Church better without such monstrous heads.

1229 Dz 655 29. The apostles and faithful priests of the Lord strenuously in necessities ruled the Church unto salvation, before the office of the pope was introduced; thus they would be doing even to the day of judgment, were the pope utterly lacking.

1230 Dz 656 30. No one is a civil master, no one is a prelate, no one is a bishop while he is in mortal sin [see n. 595].

See the theological censures of these thirty articles among "Questions of Wycliffe and Hus to be proposed" n. 11 ( 661 below ).


Questions to be Proposed to the Wycliffites and Hussites *

[From the Bull above mentioned "Inter Cunctas," Feb. 22, 1418]

Articles 1-4, 9-10 treat of communions with said heretics.

1247 Dz 657 5. Likewise, whether he believes, holds, and declares, that every general Council, including that of CONSTANCE, represents the universal Church.*

1248 Dz 658 6. Likewise, whether he believes that what the sacred Council of Constance, which represents the Catholic Church, has approved and does approve in favor of faith, and for the salvation of souls, must be approved and maintained by all the faithful of Christ; and that what (the Council) has condemned and does condemn to be contrary to faith and good morals, this must be believed and proclaimed by the same as considered worthy of condemnation.

1249 Dz 659 7. Likewise, whether he believes that the condemnations of John Wycliffe, John Hus, and Jerome of Prague, made by the sacred general Council of CONSTANCE, concerning their persons, books, and documents have been duly and justly made, and that they must be considered and firmly declared as such by every Catholic whatsoever.

1250 Dz 660 8. Likewise, whether he believes, holds, and declares, that John Wycliffe of England, John Hus of Bohemia, and Jerome of Prague have been heretics and are to be considered and classed as heretics, and that their books and doctrines have been and are perverse; and because of these books and these doctrines and their obstinacy, they have been condemned as heretics by the sacred Council of CONSTANCE.

1251 Dz 661 11. Likewise, let the especially learned person be asked, whether he believes that the decision of the sacred Council of CONSTANCE passed concerning the forty-five articles of John Wycliffe and the thirty of John Hus described above, would be true and Catholic: namely, that the above mentioned forty-five articles of John Wycliffe and the thirty of John Hus are not Catholic, but some of them are notedly heretical, some erroneous, others audacious and seditious, others offensive to the ears of the pious.

1252 Dz 662 12. Likewise, whether he believes and maintains that in no case one may take an oath.

1253 Dz 663 13. Likewise, whether he believes that by the order of a judge an oath must be uttered regarding truth, or anything else suitable for a cause be allowed, even if it must be done for the purification of infamy.

1254 Dz 664 14. Likewise whether he believes, that perjury knowingly committed, for whatever cause or occasion, for the conservation of one's own bodily life or that of another, even in favor of faith, is a mortal sin.

1255 Dz 665 15. Likewise, whether he believes that anyone deliberately despising the rite of the Church, the ceremonies of exorcism and catechism, of consecrated baptismal water, sins mortally.

1256 Dz 666 16. Likewise, whether he believes, that after the consecration by the priest in the sacrament of the altar under the semblance of bread and wine, it is not material bread and material wine, but the same Christ through all, who suffered on the Cross and sitteth at the right (hand) of the Father.

1257 Dz 667 17. Likewise, whether he believes and maintains that after the consecration by the priest, under the sole species of bread only, and aside from the species of wine, it is the true body of Christ and the blood and the soul and the divinity and the whole Christ, and the same body absolutely and under each one of these species separately.

1258 Dz 668 18. Likewise, whether he believes that the custom of giving communion to lay persons under the species of bread only, which is observed by the universal Church, and approved by the sacred Council of CONSTANCE, must be preserved, so that it be not allowed to condemn this or to change it at pleasure without the authority of the Church, and that those who obstinately pronounce the opposite of the aforesaid should be arrested and punished as heretics or as suspected of heresy.

1259 Dz 669 19. Likewise, whether he believes that a Christian who rejects the reception of the sacraments of confirmation, or extreme unction, or the solemnization of marriage sins mortally.

1260 Dz 670 20. Likewise, whether he believes that a Christian in addition to contrition of heart is obligated out of necessity for salvation to confess to a priest only (the priest having the proper faculties), and not to a layman or laymen however good and devout.

1261 Dz 671 21. Likewise, whether he believes, that the priest in cases permitted to him can absolve from sins a sinner who has confessed and become contrite' end enjoin a penance upon him.

1262 Dz 672 22. Likewise, whether he believes that a bad priest, employing the proper matter and form and having the intention of doing what the Church does, truly consecrates, truly absolves, truly baptizes, truly confers the other sacraments.

1263 Dz 673 23. Likewise, whether he believes that blessed Peter was the vicar of Christ, possessing the power of binding and loosing on earth.

1264 Dz 674
24. Likewise, whether he believes that the pope canonically elected, who lived for a time, after having expressed his own name, is the successor of the blessed Peter, having supreme authority in the Church of God.

1265 Dz 675 25. Likewise, whether he believes that the authority of jurisdiction of the pope, archbishop, and bishop in loosing and binding is greater than the authority of the simple priest, even if he has the care of souls.

1266 Dz 676 26. Likewise, whether he believes that the pope, for a pious and just reason, especially to those who visit holy places and to those who extend their helping hands can grant indulgences for the remission of sins to all Christians truly contrite and having confessed.

1267 Dz 677 27. And whether he believes that from such a concession they who visit these very churches and they who lend helping hands can gain indulgences of this kind.

1268 Dz 678 28. Likewise, whether he believes that individual bishops can grant indulgences of this kind to their subjects according to the limitation of the sacred canons.

1269 Dz 679 29. Likewise, whether he believes or maintains that it is lawful that the relics and images of the saints be venerated by the faithful of Christ.

1270 Dz 680 30. Likewise, whether he believes that objects of religious veneration approved by the Church were duly and reasonably introduced by the holy Fathers.

1271 Dz 681 31. Likewise, whether he believes that a pope or another prelate, the proper titles of the pope for the time having been expressed, or whether their vicars can excommunicate their ecclesiastical or secular subject for disobedience or contumacy, so that such a one should be considered as excommunicated.

1272 Dz 682 32. Likewise, whether he believes that with the growing disobedience or contumacy of the excommunicated, the prelates or their vicars in spiritual matters have the power of oppressing and of oppressing him again, of imposing interdict and of invoking the secular arm; and that these censures must be obeyed by his inferiors.

1273 Dz 683 33. Likewise, whether he believes that the pope and other prelates and their vicars in spiritual matters have the power of excommunicating priests and disobedient and contumacious lay men and of suspending them from office, benefaction, entrance to a church, and the administration of the sacraments of the Church.

1274 Dz 684 34. Likewise, whether he believes that it is permissible for ecclesiastical personages to hold possessions and temporal goods of this world without sin.

1275 Dz 685 35. Likewise, whether he believes that it is not permissible for the laity to take away these temporal goods by their own power; that on the contrary, if they do take them away, seize, and lay hold on these ecclesiastical goods, they are to be punished as sacrilegious persons, even if the ecclesiastical personages possessing goods of this kind were living bad lives.

1276 Dz 686 36. Likewise, whether he believes that a seizure and an attack of this kind thoughtlessly or violently committed or wrought against any priest whatsoever, even though living an evil life, leads to sacrilege.

1277 Dz 687 37. Likewise, whether he believes that it is permissible for the laity of both sexes, namely men and women, freely to preach the word of God.

1278 Dz 688 38. Likewise, whether he believes that it be freely permitted to individual priests to preach the word of God, wheresoever, and whenever, and to whomsoever it may be pleasing, even though they are not sent.

1279 Dz 689 39. Likewise, whether he believes that all mortal sins, particularly manifest, should be publicly corrected and eradicated.

Condemnation of the Proposition Concerning Tyrannicide*

1235 Dz 690 The holy Synod, July 6, 1415 declares and defines this opinion: "Any tyrant can lawfully and meritoriously be killed and ought so to be killed by any vassal or subject of his, even by secret plots, and subtle flattery and adulation, regardless of any oath of fealty or any pact made with him, without waiting for an opinion or command of any judge whatsoever", . . . is erroneous in faith and morals, and it (the Synod) condemns and rejects it as heretical, scandalous, and as offering a way to frauds, deceptions, lies, treasons, and false oaths. In addition it declares decrees, and defines that those who persistently sow this most pernicious doctrine are heretics . . . .




EUGENIUS IV 1431-1447: COUNCIL OF FLORENCE 1438-1445 - Ecumenical XVII (Union with the Greeks, Armenians, Jacobites)

Decree for the Greeks *

[From the Bull "Laetentur coeli," July 6, 1439]

1300 Dz 691 [The procession of the Holy Spirit] In the name of the Holy Trinity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with the approbation of this holy general Council of Florence we define that this truth of faith be believed and accepted by all Christians, and that all likewise profess that the Holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son and has His essence and His subsistent being both from the Father and the Son, and proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and one spiration;

1301 we declare that what the holy Doctors and Fathers say, namely, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, tends to this meaning, that by this it is signified that the Son also is the cause, according to the Greeks, and according to the Latins, the principle of the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, as is the Father also. And since all that the Father has, the Father himself, in begetting, has given to His only begotten Son, with the exception of Fatherhood, the very fact that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, the Son himself has from the Father eternally, by whom He was begotten also eternally.

1302 We define in addition that the explanation of words "Filioque" for the sake of declaring the truth and also because imminent necessity has been lawfully and reasonably added to the Creed.

1303 Dz 692 We have likewise defined that the body of Christ is truly effected in and unleavened or leavened wheaten bread; and that priests ought to effect the body of our Lord in either one of these, and each one namely according to the custom of his Church whether that of the West or of the East

1304 Dz 693 [ De novissimis] * It has likewise defined, that, if those truly penitent have departed in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by the worthy fruits of penance for sins of commission and omission, the souls of these are cleansed after death by purgatorial punishments; and so that they may be released from punishments of this kind, the suffrages of the living faithful are of advantage to them, namely, the sacrifices of Masses, prayers, and almsgiving, and other works of piety, which are customarily performed by the faithful for other faithful according to the institutions of the Church.

1305 And that the souls of those, who after the reception of baptism have incurred no stain of sin at all, and also those, who after the contraction of the stain of sin whether in their bodies, or when released from the same bodies, as we have said before, are purged, are immediately received into heaven, and see clearly the one and triune God Himself just as He is, yet according to the diversity of merits, one more perfectly than another.

1306 Moreover, the souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin or in original sin only, descend immediately into hell but to undergo punishments of different kinds [see n. 464].

1307 Dz 694 We likewise define that the holy Apostolic See, and the Roman Pontiff, hold the primacy throughout the entire world; and that the Roman Pontiff himself is the successor of blessed Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and the true vicar of Christ, and that he is the head of the entire Church, and the father and teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him in blessed Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ, to feed, rule, and govern the universal Church; just as is contained in the acts of the ecumenical Councils and in the sacred canons.


Denzinger EN 1065