From Trent and Vatican I to Vatican II

Abstract This chapter sets Vatican II in the context of the 400 years that preceded it. It analyses the Council of Trent and shows how Luther influenced it. It then analyses the council’s aftermath and shows how Gallicanism, Jansenism, nationalism, and the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century led to the emergence of Ultramontanism in the next century. It describes the debates at Vatican I that led to the decree on papal primacy and infallibility. It concludes with a description of the theological and political developments in the decades leading up to Vatican II. The purpose of the chapter is to show how all these factors influenced the issues that Vatican II addressed and to make clear that the council cannot be fully understood without taking them into account.