Declaration of Utrecht
The common statement of five Old Catholic bishops meeting at Utrecht in 1889. It holds to the faith of the undivided church of the first millennium and rejects the Vatican decrees of 1870 on papal infallibility and universal jurisdiction.
The declaration is signed by the archbishop of Utrecht, the bishops of Haarlem and Deventer, the bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Germany and the bishop of the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland. The bishops say that this is their first such meeting and that they have resolved to meet regularly. The second article rejects the decrees of 18 July 1870 and at the same time acknowledges the historic primacy of the bishop of Rome as first among equals. Other articles reject the dogma of 1854 on the Immaculate Conception and accept the Council of Trent’s doctrinal decisions only where they agree with the teaching of the ancient church.
It is a primary source for the Old Catholic position, stated by the churches themselves nineteen years after the council.
Cited in
- 8 December 1854, firm date
- 1869 to 1870, firm date