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

Unlike an ecumenical council, which has well-defined ecclesiastical powers to legislate for the church, the synod is a purely papal creation.

From Time Magazine Archive

In a letter addressed to the Western bishops at a council at Rome this council speaks of their previous meeting at Constantinople in 381 as being an ecumenical council.

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