ecumenical council

American  

Or Ecumenical Council

noun

1. a solemn assembly in the Roman Catholic Church, convoked and presided over by the pope and composed of cardinals, bishops, and certain other prelates whose decrees, when confirmed by the pope, become binding.

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ecumenical council British  

noun

1. an assembly of bishops and other ecclesiastics representative of the Christian Church throughout the world. Roman Catholic canon law states that an ecumenical council must be convened by the pope

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Example Sentences

The town’s dominant monument is Little Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine church that in the eighth century hosted the last ecumenical council recognized by both the Eastern and Western churches.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

In 325, for example, Constantine convened the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, to settle the question of Jesus’s divine nature and his relationship to God.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

In his homily at an ecumenical council, the politically conservative Cardinal John O’Connor, archbishop of New York, took away larger lessons from the anniversary.

From Slate • Mar. 5, 2018

The papal plea looked toward the forthcoming meeting of the Roman Catholic Church's ecumenical council, for which some 2,300 clerics and theologians will flock to Rome, many for their first view of the city.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Council of Nicæa was held before there was any definition of the place of an ecumenical council.

From A Source Book for Ancient Church History by Ayer, Joseph Cullen