_Rome, Feb. 2, 1870._—There is evidently a deep split running through the
Council. It is not merely the question of Infallibility which divides the
Bishops, though this rules the whole situation. Each party has an opposite
programme. The majority, with their reserve of the 300 Papal boarders,
speak and act on the principle that they are there to accept without
objection or substantial change whatever their master, the Pope, puts
before them; that they are as Bishops what the Jesuits are as Priests—the
heralds of the Pope’s omnipotence and infallibility, and the first
executors of his commands—and accordingly they mean to vote against every
motion not introduced or sanctioned by the Pope, and to impede, both in
Council and out of Council, whatever would displease him or curtail the
revenues of the _Curia_. And thus the 130 or 140 Bishops, who wish for
improvement in Church matters, are thwarted and paralysed at every step by
an adverse majority of 400, admirably generalled. Cardinal Barnabó,
Prefect of the Propaganda, is one of the most deserving men in the _Curia_
from this point of view. He maintains good discipline among the missionary
Bishops, and is not ashamed to besiege an individual Bishop who is under
Propaganda, or supported by it, for a whole evening, and threaten him with
the withdrawal of his pay if he does not vote just as the Pope desires.
Midway between the two opposite camps there stands a body of some 150
Prelates of different nations, averse to the new dogma and to the whole
plan of fabricating dogmas, to which the Jesuits are impelling the Pope,
and alive to the necessity and desirableness of many reforms, but who, on
various grounds, shrink from speaking out plainly and with the guarantee
of their names.
As far as I can gather from personal intercourse of various kinds with
many of the Infallibilist Bishops, their zeal is chiefly due to the
following notions:—
_First_, They are more or less impressed by the representation that there
is a general need for new dogmas, and that the old ones are no longer
sufficient; but for preparing and enforcing these a single infallible
dictator is better adapted than an episcopal assembly. For, besides the
inevitable opposition of a minority to every new dogma, the Bishops could
never come forward as more than witnesses of the tradition of their
respective Churches, whereas the infallible Pope, under direct inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, can at once make into a dogma and article of faith
whatever is clear to himself, without troubling himself about the past or
the tradition of particular Churches, even the Roman,—as, for instance, at
present, the doctrine of the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
_Secondly_—and this is a crucial point,—The distinction between Bishops
learned or ignorant in theology will become immaterial, because henceforth
they will be mere promulgators and executors of Papal decrees on faith,
and therefore ignorance of theology and Church history, which still has
some importance, and is felt as a defect to be ashamed of, will no longer
be any reproach to a Bishop. He who has no judgment of his own to form may
well be incapable of forming one; he is the mere speaking-trumpet of one
above him.
_Thirdly_, Theology itself will be greatly simplified, and its study
rendered shorter and easier. Those lengthy historical proofs of dogmas,
the investigations as to the range and consequences of a doctrine and the
like, will all become superfluous, and matters will be settled out of hand
by a brief question to the Pope and his reply. A collection of these
rescripts, under the title of “The Art of Learning Theology in a Week,”
may henceforth be placed in the hands of every candidate for the
priesthood, and would supply the place of a whole library. Even as a
matter of economy this is no despicable advantage. The majority of 400 and
minority of 137 are then opposed to each other in this way:—the majority,
or the Spanish and Italian section (_a fortiori fit denominatio_) say, “We
are resolved to abdicate as a teaching body and integral constituent of
the ecclesiastical ministry; we desire to commit suicide for the benefit
of the Church, in order that the authority of a single man may be
substituted for the collective authority of the whole episcopate and of
all Churches.” The minority think, on the other hand, “We are resolved to
hand down inviolate to our successors the inheritance of eighteen
centuries, bequeathed to us by our predecessors. Our spiritual forefathers
were judges and definers in matters of doctrine, and such we desire to
remain; we do not choose to give a helping hand to making ourselves and
our successors mere acclaimers instead of definers.”
For the rest, it involves a logical contradiction on the part of the
Infallibilists to lay any special weight on mere numbers, for nothing
turns on the votes of the Bishops in their system, but everything depends
on the decision of the Pope. If 600 Bishops were ranged on one side and
the Pope with 6 Bishops on the other, the 600 would be thereby proved to
be in error and the 6 in possession of the truth. Cardinal Noailles
observed very correctly, 150 years ago, that 300 Bishops, who proclaim a
doctrinal principle on the mere word of a Pope whom they regard as
infallible, have no more weight than one single Bishop who votes on his
own personal conviction. The opposition of the minority, as might be
expected from their antecedents of the last twenty years, is indeed
wrapped up in cotton, but at bottom it is positive enough. It comes to
saying that, if the Pope really wishes the Council to take in hand the
question of Infallibility, witnesses must be heard on the subject.
The Address of the forty-five German and Hungarian Bishops objects to the
boundaries, as they had been hitherto drawn by the Pope for the teaching
of the Church, being transgressed, and the Council being compelled to
enter on a discussion of the grounds _pro_ and _con_, which must
necessarily bring much suspicious matter into public debate. The
definition itself would be sure to excite hostility against the Church,
even with men of the better sort (_melioris notæ viros_) and lead to
attacks upon her rights. It may be said that the whole German episcopate,
and the immense majority of the German Catholic Church by their mouth, has
spoken out against the Infallibilist dogma.
Simor, Patriarch of Hungary, has not, or at least not yet, subscribed the
Address, but he spoke emphatically against the dogma in the meeting of
German Bishops on January 16. All the other Hungarian Bishops at Rome,
thirteen in number, have signed the Address; only the Greek Uniate Bishop
of Papp-Szilaghy has, like Simor, omitted to do so. The North Italian
Bishops too have determined on an address, substantially identical with
the German one.
The French Address, which thirty-three Bishops agreed to on January 15, at
a meeting at Cardinal Mathieu’s, differs somewhat in wording from the
German, but the contents are the same in the main, and it is hoped to get
forty signatures for this; twenty French Bishops wish to abstain from
signing anything, and something under twenty have signed Manning’s
address, so that there are still twice as many French on the side of the
Opposition as of the definition. We may add seventeen North Americans, who
have accepted the German Address, with the omission of the clauses omitted
in the French one, while the North Italians adopted it unaltered. The
opposition to the dogma has thus maintained an universal character,
including the most various nationalities. But it would be hardly feasible
to decide a new dogma by mere counting of heads, treating the Bishops,
like the privates of a regiment, as all equal, so that one vote is worth
just the same as another. An analysis of the component elements of this
majority, and a comparison of it with the Opposition in scientific culture
and representation of souls, would give sufficiently impressive results.
The most startling phenomenon is presented by the Belgian and English
Bishops. The former are all on the Infallibilist side, and there can be no
doubt that they understand the political importance of the new dogma. They
apparently wish to make the breach incurable between the Catholics of the
younger generation and the Liberal party, who adhere to the Belgian
Constitution; for no Catholic for the future can at once recognise the
doctrine of Papal Infallibility and the principles of the Belgian civil
law, without contradiction. What makes the majority of English Bishops
zealous adherents of Infallibilism it is hard to say; they are not in
other respects disposed to be led by Manning. Nor can we assume that, like
the Belgians, they deliberately wish to make the Catholic Church of their
country the irreconcilable foe of the British Constitution, though that
would be the inevitable consequence of the doctrine. It has been pointed
out to these Prelates from England, that the solemn declarations of
English and Irish Catholics are still preserved in the State Archives, in
which they formally renounced belief in Papal Infallibility, and purchased
thereby the abolition of the old penal laws and Emancipation. Thus it is
said in the “Declaration and Protestation,” signed by 1740 persons,
including 241 priests, “We acknowledge no infallibility in the Pope.” In
the “Form of Oath and Declaration,” taken in 1793 by all Irish Catholics,
occur the words, “I also declare that it is not an article of the Catholic
faith, neither am I thereby required to believe or profess, that the Pope
is infallible.” And a Synod of Irish Bishops, in 1810, declared this oath
and declaration to be “a constituent part of the Roman Catholic religion,
as taught by the Bishops; a formula affirmed by the Roman Catholic
Churches in Ireland, and sanctioned and approved by the other Roman
Catholic Churches.”
I hear that, among the Irish Bishops, Moriarty is averse to breaking with
the ancient tradition of his Church. Bishop Brown of Newport, an open and
decided opponent of Infallibilism, is kept away by ill health; Ullathorne
of Birmingham and Archbishop MacHale of Tuam wish also to keep clear of
it, but without signing the address. Bishop Clifford of Clifton, on the
contrary, as I hear, has signed it. So Manning’s following among his
countrymen is a very divided one.