The Purpose of the Papacy | Page 7

been all along contained implicitly in the few initial facts, it is
quite clear they could never have been evolved from them. _Nemo dat,
quod non habet._
Hence Papal Infallibility is not so much a new truth, or an "addition to
the Faith," as some heretics would foolishly try to persuade us, as a
clearer expression and a more exact and detailed presentation of what
was taught from the beginning.
It is here that the well-known historian, Döllinger, who rejected the
definition, proved himself to be not only a proud rebel but also a very
poor logician. Until 1870, he was a practising Catholic, and, therefore,
like every other Catholic, he, of course, admitted that the Pope and the

Bishops, speaking collectively, were divinely supported and
safeguarded from error, when they enunciated to the world any doctrine
touching faith or morals. Yet, when the Pope and the Bishops,
assembled at the Vatican, did so speak collectively, and did conjointly
issue the decree of Papal Infallibility, he proceeded to eat his own
words, refused to abide by their decision, and was deservedly turned
out of the Church of God: being excommunicated by the Archbishop of
Munich on the 17th of April, 1871, in virtue of the instructions given
by Our Divine Lord Himself, _viz._: "If he will not hear the Church
(cast him out, _i.e._), let him be to thee as the heathen and publican"
(Matt. xviii. 17). He, and the few misguided men that followed him in
his rebellion, and called themselves Old Catholics, had been quite
ready to believe that the Pope, with the Bishops, when speaking as one
body, were Infallible. In fact, if they had not believed that, they never
could have been Catholics at any time. But they did not seem to realise
the sufficiently obvious fact that, whether they will it or not, and
whether they advert to it or not, it is utterly impossible now to deny the
Infallibility of the Pope personally and alone, without at the same time
denying the Infallibility of the "Pope and the Bishops collectively," for
the simple reason that it is precisely the "Pope and the Bishops
collectively" who have solemnly and in open session declared that the
Pope enjoys the prerogative of Infallibility in his own individual person.
Since the Vatican Council, one is forced by the strict requirements of
sound reason to believe, either that the Pope is Infallible, or else that
there is no Infallibility in the Church at all, and that there never had
been.
Those who were too proud to submit to the definition followed, of
course, the example of earlier heretics in previous Councils. They
excused themselves on the plea that the Council was (_a_) not free, or
else (_b_) not sufficiently representative, or, finally, (_c_) not
unanimous in its decisions. But such utterly unsupported allegations
served only to accentuate the weakness of their cause and the
hopelessness of their position; since it would be difficult, from the
origin of the Church to the present time, to find any Council so free, so
representative, and so unanimous.

Pope Pius IX. (whom, it seems likely, we shall soon be called upon to
venerate as a canonised saint) convened the Vatican Council by the
Bull _Æterni Patris_, published on 29th June, 1868. It summoned all
the Archbishops, Bishops, Patriarchs, etc., throughout the Catholic
world to meet together in Rome on 8th December of the following year,
1869. When the appointed day arrived, and the Council was formally
opened, there were present 719 representatives from all parts of the
world, and very soon after, this number was increased to 769. On 18th
July, 1870--a day for ever memorable in the annals of the Church--the
fourth public session was held, and the constitution _Pater Æternus_,
containing the definition of the Papal Infallibility, was solemnly
promulgated. Of the 535 who were present on this grand occasion, 533
voted for the definition (_placet_) and only two, one from Sicily, the
other from the United States, voted against it (_non placet_). Fifty-five
Bishops, who fully accepted the doctrine itself, but deemed its actual
definition at that moment inopportune, simply absented themselves
from this session. Finally, the Holy Father, in the exercise of his
supreme authority, sanctioned the decision of the Council, and
proclaimed officially, urbi et orbi the decrees and the canons of the
"First Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ".
It may be well here to clothe the Latin words of the Pope and the
assembled Bishops in an English dress. They are as follows: "We (the
Sacred Council approving) teach and define that it is a dogma revealed,
that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks _ex cathedrâ_--that is, when
discharging the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians, by reason
of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines