The Second General Council of Lyons had to be held in Lyons because of a rift between the Eastern and Western Church which required it to be held outside of the Roman Domain in order to include the Eastern Patriarchal Sees.
The Division over the Trinity
The main schism between the Pope and Papal See of Rome and the Eastern Patriarch who resided in Constantinople was actually a division of belief over the Trinity.
Roman Catholicism held to the belief in the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Eastern Christians believed the belief in a Trinity was heresy. They believed in the Father and the Son, but not the Holy Spirit as being a third member of the Trinity of God.
This issue was resolved in the council with the decree: “We firmly profess that the Holy Ghost proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, not as from two principles but as from one principle, not as by two spiration but as by a single spiration. This is what the holy Roman Church, the mother and teacher of all the faithful has hitherto professed, preached and taught, this is what it holds, preaches, professes and teaches. This is truly what the unchanging judgment of the orthodox Fathers and Doctors, the Latins and the Greeks equally, holds.” The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325 – 1870 – By Philip Hughes
Other Doctrines Further Defined in the Second General Council of Lyons
Other doctrines were further defined, even though they had always been held as a part of the tradition of the church. Gregory X, the pope who resided over the Second General Council of Lyons, felt that they needed to be more clearly explained in the canons of this council.
Some of the doctrines which were further explained and propounded upon were the doctrine of purgatory, the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the concept of Transubstantiation, the sacrament of Marriage and the supreme authority of the See of Rome which was a big one considering the separation with the Eastern and Greek church for which the council was originally called.
The Controversy over the Election of Bishops and Popes
As was the norm in most General Councils up until this time, the issue of the election of bishops came into play yet again. Despite the constant defining of how bishops would be appointed, it was again necessary to stiffen these rules and make them more impenetrable. Consequences of greater magnitude were made against those who appointed bishops inappropriately.
But the newest thing to come out of the Second General Council of Lyons was the conclave, which is eminently known today as the sequestering of the bishops at the time of a Pope’s death allowing them no contact with the outside world until they have elected a new pope.
The conclave was proposed by Gregory X because there was a three year period between the death of the pope who preceded him and his election. Since this had happened before on at least one occasion where two years had passed between the death of one pope and the election of his successor, Gregory X felt that it was necessary to institute what would become the conclave the prevent Cardinals and Bishops from undertaking this very important task.
Gregory X tried very hard to institute a great deal of reform during this General Council, but in the end he was able to bring together the Eastern and Western Churches and institute only a few of his ideas. But it was a successful General Council, nonetheless. Gregory X died on his way back to Rome from the council on January 10, 1276.
The First General Council of the Lyons, 1245 A.D.
The General Council of the Vienne, 1311-1312 A.D.
Sources: The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325 – 1870 – By Philip Hughes, The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-One Church Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II – By Christopher M. Bellito, The Documents of Vatican II – By Walter M. Abbott, S.J. and the Very Reverend Monsignor Joseph Gallagher, A Short History of Christian Doctrine: From the First Century to the Present – By Bernard Lohse, The Reform of the Liturgy – Annibale Bugnini, www.catholicdigitalstudio.com/councils.htm
