Conciliarism

14th and 15th centuries

The concept that authority within the Catholic Church belonged to the incorporated entity, namely the Church council, not the pope himself. This was a response to the Avignon papacy and the Schism; Church authorities did not want the lay nobility to have that much influence over Church policy, by way of influencing the Pope. A council, comprised of many Church scholars, would be less open to corruption and political maneuvering. The conciliarism movement was eventually quashed by the Pope at the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517).