Conciliarism was a 15th-century movement in the Catholic Church that strove to have councils or representative assemblies of the church determine policy. This is contrasted with the prevailing power of the bishop of Rome, or pope.

It was a democratic, republican movement in the Roman Catholic Church that emerged during the great schism when three separate bishops claimed to be pope. A solution was seen in reforming church governance through periodic councils, like congresses, in which the representatives of the whole church were considered a greater authority than the official hierarchy of church administrators.

In terms of political or governmental theory, it represented a battle between legislative and executive authority. The idea of a more representative church governance emerged during the Councils of Constance (1414-18) and Basle (1431-49). It reflected developments in Canon law in the 12th and 13th centuries, in which the early church practice of ruling synods and reliance on scripture for church rules and discipline prevailed. The rise of church and civil corporations (colleges, guilds, towns) that were self-governing influenced conciliarism. This democratic impulse in the church affected modern constitution republican political thought, eventually supplanting monarchies in Europe with representative parliaments.

The conciliarist movement ended with the assertion of papal supremacy in the late 15th century and the pope's reinforcement of his supreme authority through agreements with various European monarchies. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was partly a result of the failure of the conciliar movement. For three centuries after this, republican church government was not associated with the Catholic Church. The Vatican II Roman Catholic council (1962-65) is seen as democraticizing the church with some of the conciliarist ideals.

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