Original: The movement emerged in response to the Avignon papacy ; the popes were removed from Rome and subjected to pressures from the kings of France -- and the ensuing schism that inspired the summoning of the Council of Pisa (/O1409/O) , the Council of Constance ( 1414 -- 1418 ) and the Council of Basel ( 1431 -- 1449 ) .
Simplified: The Conciliar Movement was a Christian reform movement in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Roman Catholic Church which held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with the Church as corporation of Christians , embodied by a general church council , not with the Pope .