Council of Trent on Authority of Scripture
Scripture with tradition and church teaching office
receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety, and reverence
THE POSITION
The Fourth Session (1546) holds that the truth and discipline of the Gospel are contained "in the written books, and the unwritten traditions" received from the apostles, and that the council receives both "with an equal affection of piety, and reverence." A second decree forbids anyone to interpret Scripture against the sense held by "holy mother Church" or "contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers."
12 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Met in twenty-five sessions over three periods, at Trento in northern Italy except for two sessions held at Bologna in 1547. Called by Paul III and closed under Pius IV. It answered the Reformation point by point: Scripture and tradition, the canon, original sin, justification and the seven sacraments. From the Sixth Session on, each subject is set out in chapters and then in canons ending "let him be anathema." The Catholic Church counts it the nineteenth ecumenical council; the Orthodox and Protestant churches do not count it as ecumenical. Read here in J. Waterworth's 1848 translation.
Cite this page
"Council of Trent on Authority of Scripture", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/trent/scripture-authority (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/trent/scripture-authority).