The Conciliar Movement

The “Conciliar Movement”, started in 1409, was en effort made by a council representing all of Western Europe to eradicate and end corruption in the Catholic Church. The council’s first action was to demand that both reigning popes step down, and elect a new pope. However, none resigned, and the three popes battled for power. To discourage hesery, John Huss was tried and burned at the stake in 1414 by the Council of Constance. This persuaded all three popes to step down, and Martin V (1417-1431) was elected, which finally unified the church under one pope. Even with the new pope and the committee; nepotism (giving offices to family), simony (selling church offices), and bribery was rampant, and the newly elected pope began to fight with the Council of Constance for ultimate power in the church. The popes had followed the example of Boniface VIII (1294-1303) and now widely accepted the practice of “indulgences”, increasing the corruption even more. Nevertheless, in most of Europe, the popes slowly began to prevail over the councils. However, the Gallican (French) Church declared the supremacy of the councils over the popes during the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges in 1438. In 1449, the Council of Basel failed, and a great Jubilee was held to celebrate the victory of the papacy in 1450. However, this victory was followed by a series of great Renaissance popes like Nicholas V (1447-1455), Pius II (1458-1464), Innocent VIII (1484-1492), Julius II (1503-1513), and Leo X (1513-1521).