High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Old Catholic Church is a Christian denomination originating with mainly German-speaking groups that split from the Holy See in the 1870s because they disagreed with the solemn declaration of the doctrine of papal infallibility promulgated by the First Vatican Council (1869?1870). The church is not in formal communion with the Holy See, though the Union of Utrecht of Old Catholic Churches is in full communion with the Anglican Communion. The term "Old Catholic" was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht who, as with the earliest Catholic communities, did not recognise any claimed 'infallible' papal authority. As the groups that split from the Holy See in the 1870s had no bishop, they joined Utrecht to form the Union of Utrecht. The Old Catholic Churches which form the Union of Utrecht are not in communion with any of the various groups which style themselves Independent (Old) Catholic.