1215

The Fourth Lateran Council

The council was convened by Innocent III and confirmed his program in three one-day sessions. For the first time it officially proclaimed the dogma of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The term "substance" was later interpreted through Aristotelian metaphysics.

The council required all adult Catholics to confess to a priest and to receive communion at least once a year at Easter. It also protected the seal of confession.

It condemned the Waldensians, the Albigensians, and Joachim of Fiore's trinitarian teaching. Peter Lombard's views, by contrast, were vindicated.

The council banned the founding of new monastic orders with their own rules. It required schools for the poor attached to cathedrals. New relics without papal approval were banned, as was payment for sacraments. Jews and Muslims were required to wear distinctive dress.

The council is considered the most significant of the Middle Ages. Its decisions, however, were not debated but only approved by those assembled.