The Purpose of the Papacy | Page 6

process, we arrive at a clearer and
more explicit knowledge of other important truths, which were not at
first universally recognised as being contained in the original deposit.
The dogma of Papal infallibility is an instance in point. For though no
Catholic ever doubted the genuine infallibility of the Church, yet in the
early centuries, there existed some difference of opinion, as to where
precisely the infallible authority resided. Most Catholics, even then,
believed it to be a gift conferred by Christ upon Peter himself [who
alone is the _rock_], and upon each Pope who succeeded him in his
office, personally and individually, but some were of opinion that, not
the Pope by himself, but only "the Pope-in-Council," that is to say, the
Pope supported by a majority of Bishops, was to be considered
infallible. So that, while all admitted the Pope with a majority of the
Bishops, taken together, to be divinely safeguarded from teaching error,
yet the prevailing and dominant opinion, from the very first, went much
further, and ascribed this protection to the Sovereign Pontiff likewise

when acting alone and unsupported. This is so well known, that even
the late Mr. Gladstone, speaking as an outside observer, and as a mere
student of history, positively brings it as a charge against the Catholic
Church that "the Popes, for well-nigh a thousand years, have kept up,
with comparatively little intermission, their claim to dogmatic
infallibility" (_Vat._ p. 28). Still, the point remained unsettled by any
dogmatic definition, so that, as late as in 1793, Archbishop Troy of
Dublin did but express the true Catholic view of his own day when he
wrote: "Many Catholics contend that the Pope, when teaching the
Universal Church, as their supreme visible head and pastor, as
successor to St. Peter, and heir to the promises of special assistance
made to him by Jesus Christ, is infallible; and that his decrees and
decisions in that capacity are to be respected as rules of faith, when
they are dogmatical, or confined to doctrinal points of faith and morals.
Others," the Archbishop goes on to explain, "deny this, and require the
expressed or tacit acquiescence of the Church assembled or dispersed,
to stamp infallibility on his dogmatic decrees." Then he
concludes:--"Until the Church shall decide upon this question of the
Schools, either opinion may be adopted by individual Catholics,
without any breach of Catholic communion or peace."
This was how the question stood until 1870. But it stands in that
position no longer; for the Church has now spoken--_Roma locuta est,
causa finita_. Hence, no Catholic can now deny or call into question the
great prerogative of the Vicar of Christ, without suffering shipwreck of
the faith. At the Vatican Council, Pope Pius IX. and the Archbishops
and Bishops of the entire Catholic world were gathered together in
Rome, and after earnest prayer and prolonged discussion, they declared
that the prerogative of infallibility, which is the very source of Catholic
unity, and the very secret of Catholic strength, resides in the individual
Pope who happens, at the time, to occupy the Papal chair, and that
when he speaks _ex cathedrâ_, his definitions are infallibly true, and
consonant with Catholic revelation, even before they have been
accepted by the hierarchy throughout the world. But here it must be
borne in mind that the Pope speaks _ex cathedrâ_, that is to say,
infallibly, only when he speaks:--

1. As the Universal Teacher.
2. In the name and with the authority of the Apostles.
3. On a point of Faith or Morals.
4. With the purpose of binding every member of the Church to accept
and believe his decision.
Thus it is clearly seen that from the year 1870 the dogma of Papal, in
contra-distinction to ecclesiastical infallibility, has been defined and
raised to an article of faith, the denial of which is heresy.
The doctrine is at once new and yet not new. It is new in the sense that
up to the time of the Vatican Council it had never been actually drawn
out of the premises that contained it, and set forth before the faithful in
a formal definition. On the other hand, it is not new, but as old as
Christianity, in the sense that it was always contained implicitly in the
deposit of faith. Any body of truth that is living grows, and unfolds and
becomes more clearly understood and more thoroughly grasped, as
time wears on. The entire books of Euclid are after all but the outcome
of a few axioms and accepted definitions. These axioms help us to
build up certain propositions. And one proposition, when established,
leads to another, till at last we seem to have unearthed statements
entirely new and original. Yet, they are certainly not really new, for had
they not