_Rome, April 27, 1870._—We find ourselves in a remarkably critical
position here. The great event so long expected of the first promulgation
of dogmas is over, and the desired unanimity has been successfully
attained for these four chapters of the _Schema de Fide_, notwithstanding
the supplemental paragraph. Two Bishops who could not overcome their
dislike to that paragraph preferred to stay away or leave Rome for the
day. All the curialists are in high feather, and are congratulating each
other on their victory, boasting that they have gained three most
important points without any public opposition. First, the Pope, for the
first time for 350 years,(92) and in contradiction to the practice of the
first 1000 years of Church history, has defined and published the decrees
in his own name as supreme legislator, just like those masters of the
world, Innocent III., Innocent IV. and Leo X., merely with the addition
that the Council also sanctions them. Secondly, the new order of business
has now been virtually accepted by all, and the protest abandoned.
Thirdly, the conclusion, which is meant to invest with conciliar authority
the former dogmatic decrees of the Popes, has been accepted.
The excitement visible on the countenances of the majority, when
Schwarzenberg, Darboy, Rauscher and Hefele were called up to vote, showed
what had been expected. The mass of the majority say the same thing will
happen when the _Schema_ on the Church has to be voted on; the minority
answer that it will not, and that they only want to avoid wasting their
powder before the time; “la minorité se recueille,” like Russia after the
last war, and on the division day will be found fully equipped for the
fight. We shall soon see, for that day is not far distant. But now what
next? The infallibilist party are afraid of this dogma being lost after
all, like a ship wrecked in port. They reckon that the time is approaching
when the Council must inevitably be prorogued, and therefore urge the Pope
to break through the regular order of the _Schemata_, and bring forward at
once either the whole _Schema de __ Ecclesiâ_ or the article on papal
infallibility which has been interpolated into it. The four French Bishops
assured him that they spoke in the name of the 400. Pius would not of
course feel any very constraining influence in their wishes _per se_, for
he knows well enough that the 400 are composed mainly of his foster-sons
and of the Bishops of the States of the Church and the Neapolitans, who
all speak or hold their peace and sit or stand as they are bidden. But it
would be an unspeakably bitter sacrifice for him to refuse to his trusty
adherents what he so earnestly desires himself, and to let these 400 or at
least many of them say, “Your own organ, the _Civiltà_, the Jesuits,
Veuillot, Margotti—have forced this question upon us; we have agitated for
it and staked our name and theological credit on it, and now it is all to
be labour lost!”
But now the writings of the German Bishops have appeared and the notes of
the Governments have been delivered. To the French note is added a more
urgent one from Austria, as well as a Prussian, a Portuguese and now also
a Bavarian note, and all breathe the same spirit. All give warning that
they shall regard the threatened decrees on the power and infallibility of
the Pope as a declaration of war against the order and authority of the
State. Even the English Government leaves no room for doubt about its
mind, and if the Pope—as I know—fears above all things any manifestation
of feeling there, he might learn from Manning that the strongest antipathy
is felt among all classes, high and low, to the proposed dogmas, and that
English statesmen see in them nothing less than a suicidal infatuation.
Manning has thoroughly authentic proofs of that in his hands, but of
course he won’t produce them.
Pius is in a chronic state of extreme irritation. He sees with pleasure
his two favourite journals—the _Univers_ and _Unita_—abuse the Opposition
Bishops in the most contemptuous language, and he indulges himself in
outbreaks of bitterness against those who question his infallibility,
which pass from mouth to mouth here but which one dares not write down.
Even Cardinal Bilio is alarmed at such ebullitions, and affirms that he is
constantly urging moderation and forbearance on the Pope, and has already
warded off a great deal of mischief.
What strikes us foreigners is the evident indifference to the Council and
its acts manifested by the inhabitants of the eternal city of every class.
It is seldom spoken of in society, and what absorbs the attention of the
world north of the Alps seems hardly to have the least interest for the
Romans, what is there heard of with astonishment they hardly think worth a
passing mention. And if ever the Council is spoken of, it is in hurried,
mysterious, abrupt sentences, for every one says the espionage system has
never been in such force here as since the opening of the Council, and a
large staff lives by the trade. I know persons here whose doors are
constantly watched by spies, who do not even conceal themselves, and if
the Roman theologians had such rich materials for their investigations as
is possessed by the Roman police, they would not have their equals in the
world.
The Romans as a rule are fully aware of the financial value of the
infallibilist doctrine, and know right well that a large increase of
revenue as well as power from all countries is looked for as its product.
That in their eyes is already an accomplished fact. They know for certain
that the dogma will be at once proclaimed, and there is hardly a Roman
here who has not an uncle or brother or nephew in orders and may not hope
to share the anticipated profits in his own person or in the person of his
relatives. The curialists here say, “We have lost so much by the
diminution of the States of the Church, and so many payments, benefices
and lucrative posts have passed out of our hands, that we absolutely
require to be indemnified in some other way, and this the new dogma is
intended to do and must do for us.” If ever the Pope is acknowledged
throughout Christendom as an infallible authority, it is inevitable that
ecclesiastical centralization should take much larger dimensions than
before. Not only doctrine, but everything concerning Church life will be
drawn to Rome and there finally settled. Theologians may undertake to
distinguish between matters to which the Pope’s infallible authority
extends or does not extend, but in practice everything signed with his
name will be held to be an utterance of divine truth, and nothing which is
not attested with that signature will be held valid. There is a proverb
here—
Quei consigli son prezzati
Che son chiesti e ben pagati.
And who would not gladly pay a handsome sum to be armed with an infallible
decision, which will at once crush all opposition and put down all
adversaries? The golden age of papal chanceries and clerks lies not in the
past, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries when, as a court prelate
of the day tells us, the papal officials were daily employed in counting
up gold pieces; it will first dawn on the day this truly golden doctrine
of infallibility is promulgated. Were Cicero to re-appear in Rome now, he
might repeat what he said in the Oration _Pro Sextio_, “Jucunda res plebi
Romanæ, victus enim suppeditabatur large sine labore;” only he could no
longer add, “Repugnabant boni, quod ab industriâ plebem ad desidiam
avocari putabant.” For such “boni” no longer exist at Rome; rather is the
account of Tacitus completely verified, “Securi omnes aliena subsidia
expectant, sibi ignavi, aliis graves.”(93) Another thing is the large and
incurable deficit in the Roman finances, which must increase every year.
There is an annual expenditure of thirty million francs to cover, and the
Peter’s pence, which came to fourteen millions in 1861, have sunk to about
eleven millions, notwithstanding the collections ordered to be made
everywhere twice a year. No further help can be obtained from loans. M. de
Corcelles, who has exposed this uncomfortable state of things with the
best intentions, has no other remedy to propose but a great increase of
Peter’s pence. It is hoped in Rome that the different nations will
contribute larger sums than before to the Pope, now he is become
infallible and thus more closely united to Deity. But they reckon much
more on the enormous centralization and all-embracing monopoly of all
possible dispensations, indulgences, consultations, canonizations, and
decisions on moral, liturgical, political, dogmatic and disciplinary
questions. They remember the treasures amassed in the temple of Delphi in
ancient days, and expect the new oracle to be erected on the Tiber to
attract, like a vast magnet, not iron but gold and silver.
Neither Pius nor the Monsignori and other curialists think it conceivable
that the minority will hold out to the last in their opposition. They
reckon securely on this fraction of the Council being broken up by fear
and discouragement, and that few if any of them will let matters come to a
_non placet_ in the next public Session, and thus openly confess
themselves unwillingly subdued. To those Roman clerics, who are accustomed
to look at religious questions only as the ladder by which to mount to an
agreeable life and good income, courage and steadfastness in the
confession of ascertained truth is something strange and inconceivable.
Fear and hope, calculations of loss and gain, will finally decide the
Bishops’ votes—that is the firm persuasion of every Italian member of the
_Curia_. So much is certain: if on the very eve of the Solemn Session,
when the new dogma is to be promulgated, it was certainly known that
eighty Bishops would say _Non placet_ next day, the Session would be
countermanded and the Church saved. The first question for us Germans is
of course whether we can trust our Bishops? Will they abide steadfast? Or
will they at last sacrifice themselves and the truth, their clergy and
their flocks? As to what immediately concerns the clergy, this is not
strictly a question of doctrine belonging to the sphere of religious faith
and mystery, where one might make a willing submission of mind to a decree
held to be the voice of divine revelation; it is a pure question of
historical facts to be determined by historical evidence, of points on
which every educated man capable of judging evidence, whether a Catholic
or not, can form an independent judgment. Every one with eyes to see can
answer with absolute certainty these three questions, on which the whole
matter hinges—
1. Is it true that the admonition to Peter to confirm his brethren has
always and in the whole Church been understood of an infallibility
promised to all Bishops of Rome?
2. Is it true that this infallibility of all Popes has been taught and
witnessed to in the whole Church through all ages down to our own day?
3. Is it true that no Pope has ever taught a doctrine rejected by the
Church, and that no Pope has ever been condemned by the Church for his
doctrine?
It is absolutely impossible for any one, who feels compelled by his own
investigation of history to answer these three questions in the negative,
to submit inwardly to the opposite decision of the Council, whatever
external homage he may pay to it. Ten Councils will not be able to shake
him for a moment in his conviction; he will only say, “pur si muove.” His
doubts will be turned, not against what is historically certain but
against the Council; he will call in question the real freedom, the
intrinsic claims and authority of this Council, and—to go no further—the
two successive regulations for conducting business supply in this case
abundant materials for the question. And it is just as impossible for a
man who has a notion of historical certainty to believe in any one else’s
mind being changed by the decree of an assembly of Bishops. If a
well-educated man told me he had just come to the conclusion that Julius
Cæsar never lived, I should not believe in his conviction but in some
disorder of his mental faculties, and should advise him to undergo medical
treatment. And so, if the new dogma is proclaimed and the clergy submit
either tacitly or expressly, no cultivated man in all Germany will believe
that the thousands of scientifically trained men who have had a German
education have suddenly changed their convictions, because some hundreds
of Italians and Spaniards have chosen to decree away the testimony of
history. “Facts are stubborn things.” Public opinion will recognise only
two alternatives in the case of those who submit, ignorance or
dissimulation and falsehood. And the effect will be an immeasurable moral
degradation of the Catholic clergy and a corresponding decay of their
influence.
This consideration will not of course make the slightest impression on the
majority of the Council, or even on those Germans who belong to it. We
have psychological riddles to deal with here. How, _e.g._, are we to
explain the fact that a man, who has taught the very opposite doctrine in
a manual of instruction for the higher class of colleges published
seventeen years ago, and has let it pass through eleven or twelve editions
without a word being altered, is now in Rome one of the most zealous
promoters of the definition, and is constantly affirming that all the
clergy except a few professors will readily submit?