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

Such an ecumenical council is a policy-setting meeting of the world's bishops presided over by the Pope.

From Time Magazine Archive

This was followed in 325 by the first universal or ecumenical council of the whole Christian church which met at Nicaea to decide upon the orthodoxy of the teachings of Arius of Alexandria.

From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Boak, Arthur Edward Romilly