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An initial repercussion of the Council was lively debate among the Roman Catholic academic world regarding the issue of papal infallibility<ref>Butler, Vatican Council, 427</ref>. The doctrine had not unexpectedly appeared from nowhere; the idea had been circulating throughout the Catholic world for centuries and did have significant support<ref>JD Holmes, BW Bickers, A short history of the Catholic Church, (Kent: Burns & Oates Tumbridge Wells, 1992), 243</ref>. Contemporary Catholic historians have suggested that the decree of papal infallibility was received with great joy throughout the Catholic world<ref>JD Holmes, BW Bickers, A short history of the Catholic Church, (Kent: Burns & Oates Tumbridge Wells, 1992), 243</ref>. Certainly, of the dissenting and abstaining bishops, all accepted the ruling of the council<ref>Detzler, The Lion Handbook, 515</ref>. However a number of university academics wrote against the pronouncement, chief among them, the Bavarian Professor J. Dollinger, who was excommunicated for his views<ref>Detzler, The Lion Handbook, 515</ref>. As his writings, and those of others, disseminated, a small but growing movement reacting against the decree evolved. This ultimately led to schism when a number of priests and prominent Roman Catholics broke away and formed parishes independent from the Church of Rome. These parishes, in parts of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, united as the Old Catholic Church<ref>CG Herbermann, EA Pace, CB Pallen, TJ Shahan, JJ Wynne, “Old Catholics”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Online Edition, (New York: Encyclopedia Press, 1912), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11235b.htm</ref>, and joined other previously independent 'old catholic' churches in the Netherlands. Membership in the Old Catholic Church was small, and although it has continued to this day, it has never exceeded 150,000 parishioners in Europe<ref>Butler, Vatican Council, 437</ref>.
The First Vatican Council ended when Italian soldiers entered Rome in September 1870<ref>Ferguson, “Papal Infallibility”</ref>. During the pontificate of Pius IX, the Papal State had been diminishing in size, as the armies of the House of Savoy unified Italy<ref>Wikipedia Online 2007, “House of Savoy”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Savoy</ref>. Outside of Italy, there had also been growing resentment of the temporal power that the Catholic Church wielded. Reacting to the Council's decree, the Prussian leader Bismarck, set about enacting policies, known as kulturkampf (or “culture struggle”), to restrict the power of the Catholic Church<ref>Herbermann et al, “Vatican Council”</ref>. This resulted, among other things, in the seizure of Church property and imprisonment of Catholic bishops and priests<ref>Butler, Vatican Council, 427</ref>. Thawing of relations between the German government and the Roman Catholic Church occurred two decades later, during the reign of Wilhelm, with repealing of the discriminatory laws against Catholicism.
The dogma of papal infallibility has had a significant impact on Catholic Mariology. The long held teaching of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was eventually clearly defined in 1854 by Pius IX, and later recognized within Catholicism as retrospectively infallible<ref>Berkouwer, Roman Catholic Thought, 20</ref>. One hundred years later, Pope Pius XII infallibly defined the dogma of the bodily assumption of Mary<ref>C Buchanan, The Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity 2nd Edition, Editor: Tim Dowley. (Oxford: Lion Publishing, 1990), 514</ref>. These Marian doctrines have increased veneration and devotion to Mary within the Roman Catholic Church, which has increased its separation from Protestantism<ref>TJ Nettles, J White, “Are there historical precedents to encourage hope that evangelical/Roman Catholic dialogue might have positive results”, Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Volume 5, 2006: 101</ref>.