Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florence
- Date
- 1438–1445
- Place
- Ferrara (1438), Florence (1439–1443) and Rome (1443–1445); previously Basel (from 1431)
What it decided
With Emperor John VIII Palaiologos and Patriarch Joseph II taking part, the decree Laetentur caeli (6 July 1439) proclaimed union with the Greeks: agreement on the Filioque (also explained as “through the Son”), purgatory, papal primacy and the validity of both leavened and unleavened bread. Mark of Ephesus refused to sign. Decrees of union with the Armenians (1439) and the Copts (Cantate Domino, 1442), among others, followed.
- Convoked by
- Pope Eugene IV (transferred to Ferrara the council opened at Basel in 1431)
Who recognises it
Catholic Church only (seventeenth ecumenical council). The Orthodox Church rejected the union.