35 From Vatican I to Vatican II

The First Vatican Council (1870) taught that the pope has authority to define doctrine infallibly, even without consent of a council—an authority used twice in connection with doctrines about the Blessed Virgin Mary, that is, the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950). Vatican I also taught that God can be known by natural reason, without faith. The officially sponsored form of Catholic thought after Vatican I was neo-Thomism, which engendered controversies about whether the supernatural order was extrinsic to human life or an integral part of it. With Vatican II, the critics of extrinsicism, such as Henri de Lubac and Karl Rahner, won the day. Vatican II also took a new and more affirmative view of the modern world, other religions, and other Christians.