''Execrabilis'' is a papal bull issued by

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...

on 18 January 1460 condemning

conciliarism Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to ...

. The bull received its name from the opening word of its

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

text, which labelled as "execrable" all efforts to appeal an authoritative ruling of a

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

to a council.

Background

In 1415, the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

sought to put a definitive end to the

Western Schism The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon bo ...

by asserting its authority over the rival papal claimants. It issued a document entitled ''

Haec Sancta The decree ''Haec sancta synodus'' ("This holy synod") was promulgated by the Fifth Session of the Council of Constance on April 6, 1415. It contains a section on the question of whether the Pope is above an ecumenical council or, conversely, such ...

'' which

...declares that if anyone, of whatever rank, condition, or dignity, including the pope, shall refuse to obey the commands, statutes, ordinances, or orders of this holy council, or of any other holy council properly assembled, in regard to the ending of the schism and to the reformation of the church, he shall be subject to the proper punishment, and unless he repents, he shall be duly punished.

This decree established a precedent whereby even the

is subject to the decrees of an

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

. Encouraged by this decree, a rump of bishops defiantly continued to meet at Basel even after

Pope Eugene IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

had transferred the main body of the

Council of Basel The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. Those remaining at Basel believed themselves to constitute the true council and even felt empowered to declare Eugene IV deposed and elect an

anti-pope An antipope ( la, antipapa) is a person who makes a significant and substantial attempt to occupy the position of Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church in opposition to the legitimately elected pope. At times between the 3rd and mid- ...

in response to their eventual

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

. Although Basel had set out to reform the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, the mixed and somewhat confused results it produced, coupled with Eugene IV's actions, convinced many to look somewhere other than the papacy for real reforms. At times these conciliarist attempts at reform became a political tool wielded by those who sought to undermine the Pope. These developments posed a significant challenge to the authority of the papal office. In an effort to nullify the threat, Pius II issued ''Execrabilis'' to proclaim that the judgments of his office are final and cannot be appealed.

Text

This bull denounces those who "presume to appeal from the pope to a future council, in spite of the fact that the pope is the

vicar of Jesus Christ Vicar of Christ (from Latin ) is a term used in different ways and with different Theology, theological connotations throughout history. The original notion of a vicar is as an "earthly representative of Christ", but it's also used in the sense of ...

" and "condemn all such appeals and prohibit them as erroneous and detestable." Penalties for violators of any status or rank, including those having imperial, royal or even papal dignity, are grave. Anyone who contravened this papal decree would "

ipso facto is a Latin phrase, directly translated as "by the fact itself", which means that a specific phenomenon is a ''direct'' consequence, a resultant ''effect'', of the action in question, instead of being brought about by a previous action. It is a ...

incur sentence of

anathema Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...

, from which he cannot be absolved except by the

Roman Pontiff Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and at the point of death." The bull concludes with a formula also used by Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...

at the conclusion of his

Munificentissimus Deus ''Munificentissimus Deus'' ( la, The most bountiful God) is the name of an apostolic constitution written by Pope Pius XII. It defines ''ex cathedra'' the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the first ''ex-cathedra'' infal ...

that if anyone would seek to alter this decree, "let him know that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God and of Saints Peter and Paul, His apostles."

Reaction

Pius II had intended ''Execrabilis'' to put a definitive end to all future attempts to appeal papal decisions to a council. However, his intention was weakened by the fact that this injunction was not consistently invoked by subsequent Renaissance popes in response to the various manifestations of conciliarist tendencies. It was further weakened by the fact that it was "viewed less in its day as an authoritative pronouncement than a propagandistic proclamation of the view of one particular faction." However, it was cited in 1483 by his successor

Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...

during the

War of Ferrara The War of Ferrara (also known as the Salt War, Italian: ''Guerra del Sale'') was fought in 1482–1484 between Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and the Papal forces mustered by Ercole's personal nemesis, Pope Sixtus IV and his Venetian allies. ...

as a pretext to excommunicate the

Doge of Venice The Doge of Venice ( ; vec, Doxe de Venexia ; it, Doge di Venezia ; all derived from Latin ', "military leader"), sometimes translated as Duke (compare the Italian '), was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 a ...

on account of a Venetian appeal to a council. In 1509, Pope

Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...

again invoked ''Execrabilis'' when the Venetians appealed to a council during the

War of the League of Cambrai The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...

. When ''Execrabilis'' was issued, many

prelates A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

in France and Germany were opposed to this bull on account of their support for conciliarism. In the 16th century, these conciliarist tendencies helped to generate support for

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

, who had in 1518 lodged with a notary his own appeal to a general council from the judgment of the Pope. In 1520, Pope

Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

alluded to ''Execrabilis'' when he brought up the name of his predecessor Pius II in his own bull, ''

Exsurge Domine () is a papal bull promulgated on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X. It was written in response to the teachings of Martin Luther which opposed the views of the Church. It censured forty-one propositions extracted from Luther's ''Ninety-five Theses'' ...

'', which threatened Luther with

for teachings the

perceived to be problematic. Leo declared that "...

uther Uther Pendragon (Brittonic) (; cy, Ythyr Ben Dragwn, Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons in sub-Roman Britain (c. 6th century). Uther was also the father of King Arthur. A few mi ...

broke forth in a rash appeal to a future council. This to be sure was contrary to the constitution of Pius II and Julius II our predecessors that all appealing in this way are to be punished with the penalties of heretics."Leo X, Bull ''Exsurge Domine''.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * *{{cite book , last = Stinger , first = Charles L. , title = The Renaissance in Rome , publisher = Indiana University Press , year = 1998 , ISBN = 9780253212085

Background

Text

Reaction

See also

Notes

References

Further reading