#12616 Did Constantine Rig the Council of Nicea? Early Church Issues - William Albrecht

Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“Did Constantine rig the Council of Nicea?” This question opens a discussion on early Church issues, including the specifics of the canon established at the Council of Florence and the complexities surrounding the organization of the early Church. Other topics include the role of Protestant pastors in critiquing Catholicism and the scriptural basis for attending Mass and confession.

Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter

Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com

Questions Covered:

02:30 – Did Constantine rig the Council of Nicea?
07:51 – What is the specific canon of the council of Florence (1422) whereby the Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Coptics all agreed on the 73 book canon of scripture?
12:40 – How can we help stop this war in the Middle East? What can I do?
16:51 – How do I respond to a Protestant claim citing Eamon Duffy’s book, Saints and Sinners, that Clement never makes the claim to be a bishop, that his letter from the whole Roman community (not just him), and that the church at that time was organized under a group of bishops, not a single bishop.
21:32 – Why do Protestant pastors feel compelled to put down the Catholic faith? If they don’t believe it, why don’t they just leave us alone?
29:12 – Where is it in scripture that we need to attend Mass once a week and go to confession once a year? And are there any exceptions for people who can’t get there (like if they can’t drive).
34:09 – Why do all of the apostolic Churches like the Oriental Orthodox have different canons on scripture and different christologies?
41:08 – If my mother and father are in Purgatory, do they know each other in Purgatory? Can souls in Purgatory pray for each other?
46:28 – In the early church, how did they know how to consecrate the bread and wine at Mass?
49:10 – How does the Catholic Church view the development of the election of a pope changing from Roman clergy to the College of Cardinals?
51:48 – I’ve heard people say that Peter and Paul had different gospel messages, and that since I’m American, I’m a gentile, therefore I should follow Paul instead of Peter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Buying or selling your home, real estate for life can connect you with a pro-life real estate agent.
0:05.2	When Real Estate for Life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic Answers.
0:11.5	Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Welcome back to Catholic Answers Live. It's Ask Me Anything in Catholic Paulism edition here on Catholic Answers Live. My name is Thomas Graff, as I've mentioned before.
0:39.6	I'm taking a break from my social media duties here at Catholic Answers to fill in for the absence Cy Kellett. Who will be back with you in short order? We had a great first hour answering all your questions about the Catholic faith with Tom Nash, and we're going to keep on rolling with that same theme.
0:55.0	And joining us now, as he does so often, is our good friend William Albrecht, ready to take
1:00.0	all the questions that you have about the Catholic faith. William Albrecht, thanks so much
1:03.4	for coming back on the show.
1:05.1	Hey, brother.
1:05.6	I'm thrilled and I'm pumped to be with you.
1:06.9	Happy to be here, my friend.
1:08.4	William Albrecht, as you know, runs the website Patristic Pillars. He's an international speaker and debater who's participated in lots and lots of live and moderated debates, published a number of articles, including a few on our very own website, Catholic.com. And William, this bio I'm reading says you're currently working on four book projects that are soon to be
1:27.7	published. How up to date is that? Are any of those done yet?
1:30.9	Funny enough, when I sent that bio in, those got done, but now at the current moment, there are
1:37.4	three, and two of them are done, and one of them is almost done. So I'm always active there in the
1:42.1	writing world. Wow. Yeah. What's the latest from you?
1:45.3	So I am done with a Maryology book completely in Spanish and then just completed a Mary book,
1:52.7	probably the most comprehensive one that you all have ever seen on the perpetual virginity of Mary.
1:57.0	A massive one. That one is pretty big. Now it's going to be over 550 pages. Keeping active, keep being very active in the realm of apologetics. But I got to tell you, a highlight of my month, my week, or whatever, joining you all. I have never been on Catholic Anters Life with you as host. So, hey, I'm thrilled to be here with you, brother. That means a lot, William, thank you. We'll see how that goes.
2:21.3	Maybe it's a disaster, but maybe it'll just be the best hour in the history of the show.
2:22.2	Anything's possible.
2:25.4	888-3187-884 is a number to call.
2:31.2	And before we go to the phones, William, we thought we'd open with you with a question of church history.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Catholic Answers, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Catholic Answers and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.