Cardinal Antonelli is said on good authority to have replied very lately
to the question of the ambassador of a Northern Government, that it is
certainly intended to have the dogma of Papal Infallibility proclaimed at
the ensuing Council; and, moreover, as this has long been the belief of
all good Catholics, that there would be no difficulty about the
definition. It by no means follows, if this report is correct, that the
importance of the new principle of faith to be created is not well
understood at Rome. The _Civiltà Cattolica_ leaves no room for doubt that
one of its principal effects is already distinctly kept in view, and that
a further principle, which again must involve an indefinite series of
consequences, is being deliberately aimed at.(2) In the number for April
3, it has spoken with full approval, with reference to the approaching
Council, of the famous Bull of Boniface VIII., _Unam Sanctam_, doubly
confirmed by Papal authority, and addressed as a supreme decision on faith
to the whole ecclesiastical world, and treats it as self-evident that all
the contents of the Bull, with other doctrinal decrees issued throughout
the Church, will come into full force after the Council, and thenceforth
form the basis of Catholic doctrine on the relations of Church and State.
The maxims that will have to be adopted, as well by the learned as in
popular instruction, when once Papal Infallibility has been defined, are
these:—
The two powers, the temporal and spiritual, are in the hands of the
Church, _i.e._ the Pope, who permits the former to be administered by
kings and others, but only under his guidance and during his good pleasure
(_ad nutum et potentiam sacerdotis_). It belongs to the spiritual power,
according to the Divine commission and plenary jurisdiction bestowed on
Peter, to appoint, and, if cause arise, to judge the temporal; and whoever
opposes its regulations rebels against the ordinance of God.
In a word, the absolute dominion of the Church over the State will next
year come into force as a principle of Catholic faith, and become a factor
to be reckoned with by every Commonwealth or State that has Catholic
inhabitants; and by “Church” in this system must always be understood the
Pope, and the Bishops who act under absolute control of the Pope.
From the moment therefore when Papal Infallibility is proclaimed by the
Council, the relations of all Governments to the Church are fundamentally
changed. The Roman See is brought into the same position towards other
States which it now occupies towards Italy in regard to the provinces
formerly belonging to the States of the Church. All States find
themselves, strictly speaking, in an attitude of permanent revolt against
their lawful and divinely ordained suzerain, the Pope. He indeed on his
side can and will tolerate much which properly ought not to be—for it has
long been recognised in Rome that right, even though divine, by no means
implies the duty of always exercising it. In numberless cases silence will
be observed, or some such formula adopted as that of the Austrian
Concordat, art. 14: “Temporum ratione habitâ Sua Sanctitas haud impedit,”
etc. But that must only be understood “during good behaviour,” or so long
as the times do not change or it seems expedient. In conscience every
Catholic is bound to be guided, in the first instance, in political and
social questions, by the directions or known will of his supreme lord and
master the Pope, and of course, in the event of a conflict between his own
Government and the Papal, to side with the latter. No Government therefore
can hereafter count on the loyalty and obedience of its Catholic subjects,
unless its measures and acts are such as to secure the sanction, or
agreement of the Pope. As to non-Catholic Governments, moreover, the
former declarations of Popes against heretical princes, which receive
fresh life from the dogma of Infallibility, come into full force. If it is
already a common complaint that in countries where the Government or the
majority are Protestant, Catholics are treated with suspicion when they
take any part in the service of the State, and are purposely excluded from
the higher and more important posts, how will this be after the Council?