Catherine Masson

According to Christian theology, the councils are supposed to be "inspired" or "assisted" by the Holy Spirit, but it is clear that their annals are full of conflicts, dramatic turn of events, maneuvers, as well in the conduct of assemblies as in the writing of records.

The Great War tore the Roman Catholic Church: in both camps, it used the same religious references to legitimate the conflict. In the occupied dioceses, the confrontation of soldiers and civilians, churchgoers and priests of opposite nations maintained representations which were forbidding any real dialogue.