_Rome, Feb. 9, 1870._—In commencing the discussion on the Catechism the
Council passed into the last stage of the peaceful proceedings, which are
to precede the battle on the claims of the Roman authority. The speech of
Cardinal Rauscher, who is ill, was delivered by the Bishop of Gurk, and
made a great impression. He was followed by Cardinal Mathieu, one of the
best Latinists in the French episcopate, the Primate of Hungary and the
Archbishop of Tours. After them Dupanloup spoke, who was again, as on the
former occasion, not well heard. He lashed those who think that the
cultivated nations of the Catholic world are to have a Catechism dictated
to them by Rome. The Session was not favourable to the propositions, but
men can no longer fix their minds on themes of lesser importance. All are
thinking of the decisive contest which is imminent. Many indeed on both
sides wish that it could be avoided. The threatening attitude of the
policy of France has roused serious misgivings. It was known in Rome at
the end of January, but the decisive instructions only arrived on
Saturday, February 5, and produced a deep and unpleasant sensation.
Hitherto the Court of Rome was able to hinder the withdrawal of the French
troops, by threatening to take refuge under English protection at Malta;
but with the good understanding that now prevails between the French and
English Governments this is no longer possible. It is perfectly well known
in the Vatican that neither of the two powers will stretch out a hand to
uphold Papal absolutism. It is a proof of the strong impression produced
by the French note that the Papal Court has kept it secret. No appeal is
tried to Catholic public opinion or the loyal episcopate, for it is well
ascertained that the Infallibilist doctrine has very different enemies
from the temporal power. To Cardinal Antonelli it seems like a denial of
the whole work of his life to stake the temporal power of the Pope for the
sake of a new dogma. But if this is to be saved, the dogma must be
sacrificed. So the Opposition now has the assurance that the neutrality
and non-intervention of the Catholic powers is come to an end, and it is
encouraged at the same time by the part the learned world has begun to
take on its side, since the publication in Germany of the addresses which
attest the antagonism of eminent Catholic scholars and professors of
theology to the new dogma.
Nevertheless the minority is composed of heterogeneous elements, and it
may be safely calculated that they will not all hold out to the last. Some
opponents of the definition are friends of the doctrine, and oppose it on
grounds not of a purely abstract or theological nature. No one has
calculated the numerical proportion of these in inopportunists to the real
opponents of Infallibility. Any serious discussion of the question has
long been avoided, and many think it ought to be avoided, because therein
lies the dangerous weakness of the party. The ground of inopportuneness,
which had already been adopted in the Letter to the Pope from Fulda, was
taken up from the first, in the hope of paralysing the majority by an
imposing number of dissentients. They hoped to be strong by their numbers,
and to look strong by a certain kind of unity. The theory of
inopportuneness seemed to provide a common ground for the decided
opponents of the dogma and for the timid and vacillating or moderate
adherents of the doctrine itself. That a really united Opposition has been
formed on this basis is mainly due to the Bishop of Orleans. He attacked
the opportuneness with such a powerful array of testimonies in his famous
Pastoral, that every one saw clearly the doctrine itself was involved,
though he never entered in so many words on the theological question. The
position he provided has served its purpose for two months, without the
party being brought to a declaration for or against the dogma. It has
served to bring in adherents to the Opposition, who in the strictest sense
of the word belong to the Roman Court party, and to provide waverers with
a comparatively innocent method of resistance. It has prevented the
victory of the _Curia_ in the days of their greatest ascendancy, but it is
untenable for a permanence. The position of the inopportunists has the
fatal disadvantage that it can be out-flanked. That would have happened,
had the Bishops been separately requested to give their opinions “sub
secreto,” with a promise that no public declaration in the Council should
be desired.
Then, again, it is a position that can easily be mastered by means of the
majority. A minority may be invincible on the ground of dogma, but not of
expediency. Everything can be ventured to combat a false doctrine, but not
to hinder an imprudence or a premature definition. In questions of faith
one dare not give in; not so in questions of discretion only. And then the
Council must have been sooner or later driven from the ground of
inopportuneness, if it was not shipwrecked on the order of business; for
it was a point of view the decision could not finally hinge upon, in
presence of a preponderating majority.
The defection of part of the Opposition was thus only a question of time,
though it became more difficult for individuals after each act done in
union, and many an inopportunist has advanced to theological contradiction
of the dogma. But the attempt to make the rejection of the doctrine the
principle of the party forced the contrast more and more on the minds of
individuals. Among the Germans primarily, and in the groups of leading
Bishops from different countries who took counsel together, a more
determined spirit gradually developed itself, and it was seen that their
adversaries made capital out of every sign of unclearness of view among
the Opposition. They were constantly spreading reports that on the main
point all were united, and that at most there were not above twenty
opponents of the dogma, including only two Germans, who were adherents of
Hermes and Günther; perhaps only five opponents in all, or none at all. In
presence of these assertions a public declaration seemed necessary, less
for the faithful at home than for non-Catholics, who ask about the
doctrine. The Bishops of the Opposition told themselves that honour and
episcopal duty demanded that a Bishop should not withhold his belief on a
fundamental question, at a moment when all have to speak, the moment of
danger. The very success of the inopportunist policy is no true success.
It is no victory of the truth, when it is not openly proclaimed in the
contest. Those who do not fight under the banner of their own convictions
are not on equal terms with their adversaries.
Thus the view has been more and more making way, that not only must every
definition be avoided as dangerous, but that the doctrine of the Roman
theologians and their adherents in the Episcopate must be rejected as
false. And this brought men more and more to the scientific ground. It was
no longer a mere affair of personal conviction, but of direct evidence,
and the moment was come for literary argument to assert its place in the
proceedings of the Council. The position of the mere inopportunists became
more difficult, and the band which held the party together was loosened.
Their adversaries at once zealously availed themselves of this favourable
crisis; nearly every Bishop of the minority was plied with various
intermediate formulas and conciliar proposals. Attempts were made to sow
disunion among the leaders; political jealousies at home, and whatever
else could be made use of, were seized upon to undermine mutual
confidence. Some were to be deceived by the phantom of a middle party, and
were told that they might take a position as peacemakers at the head of a
mediating section—of course in the anticipation that every one who makes
concessions and admits the principle of the definition will pass over to
the majority. Against all these attempts the Bishops of the minority have,
on the whole, though not without some wavering, kept firm and true. But
still the transition to the strictly theological standpoint, where
individual conviction on the question of Infallibility must be decisively
recognised and represented, cannot be accomplished without an internal
conflict and shaking of the party.