Editing Independent Catholicism (section)

===Early episcopal consecrations without papal approval===
The consecration of bishops without the approval of the wider church or papal mandate appears to be an ancient phenomenon, which led to Canon VI of the [[Council of Chalcedon]]'s assertion that any potential sacramental validity of such consecrations is valueless without the church's endorsement.{{Sfn | Jarvis | 2018 | pp = 206}} The resurgence of the phenomenon in the modern era seems to have coincided with the spread of [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] values. Beginning in 1724, [[Dominique Marie Varlet]] (1678–1742), the [[Latin Catholic]] Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baghdad|Babylon]], consecrated four men successively as [[Old Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht|Archbishop of Utrecht]] without [[papal]] approval.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dominique Marie Varlet|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG243536|access-date=2020-09-06|website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Varlet|first=Dominique-Marie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpwfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP13|title=Domestic Correspondence of Dominique-Marie Varlet: Bishop of Babylon 1678–1742|date=1986-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-07671-6|language=fr}}</ref>

This consecration by Varlet caused a theological controversy and [[schism]] within the Catholic Church, which now possessed bishops who were validly consecrated without the permission of the pope. This [[schism]] marked the birth of the movement that would later be known as the [[Old Catholic Church]] (a term coined in 1853 for the Catholics of [[Utrecht]]).