Non-Catholic observers allowed at previous councils

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xzereus

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I remember reading somewhere awhile back that the Church allowed non-Catholic observers at councils before Vatican II (though I’m not sure if any actually went before Vatican II). I’ve been trying to find the source for this but haven’t had any luck yet. Is anybody else familiar with this? Do you possibly have a link to read more about it?
 
Well, obviously certain councils like Florence had non-Catholic delegates (if that is the right word) to them, to try to resolve disputes with their Churches or movements. I’ve never heard of non-Catholic observers in the modern sense before Vatican II.
 
There were protestant observers at certain sessions of the Council of Trent. Some sessions were postponed to give them the travel time necessary. I do not, for the life of me, understand the reaction that some have because of non-Catholic observers. Keep in mind that they don’t just show up; they are invited by the Church.
 
Vatican 1 and Trent invited non-Catholic observers, Florence and Lyons 2 actually had non-Catholic (Eastern Orthodox) participants. Actually there were also non-Christian observers at Lyons 2, the Mongolian embassy of Abaqa Khan, the embassy probably had a mix of Bhuddist and Christian Nestorians in their ranks (Nestorianism was practiced by some Mongols).
 
Scythian said:
Vatican 1 and Trent invited non-Catholic observers, Florence and Lyons 2 actually had non-Catholic (Eastern Orthodox) participants. Actually there were also non-Christian observers at Lyons 2, the Mongolian embassy of Abaqa Khan, the embassy probably had a mix of Bhuddist and Christian Nestorians in their ranks (Nestorianism was practiced by some Mongols).
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Florence also had Oriental Orthodox participants (representatives of Ethiopia).
 
Luther and other Protestants were invited to participate at Trent to the extent that they were granted promises of safe passage to and from the Council and invited to explain their theologies to the Council Fathers.
 
The whole point of inviting them to the councils was to try to convert them to the Truth Faith.
 
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