the Roman Pontiffs._
That which the Prince of Shepherds and great Shepherd of the
sheep, Jesus Christ our Lord, established in the person of the
Blessed Apostle Peter to secure the perpetual welfare and
lasting good of the Church, must, by the same institution,
necessarily remain unceasingly in the Church; which, being
founded upon the Rock, will stand firm to the end of the
world. For none can doubt, and it is known to all ages, that
the holy and Blessed Peter, the Prince and Chief of the
Apostles, the pillar of the faith and foundation of the
Catholic Church, who received the keys of the kingdom from Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the race of
man, continues up to the present time, and ever continues, in
his successors the Bishops of the Holy See of Rome, which was
founded by Him, and consecrated by His blood, to live and
preside and judge. Whence, whosoever succeeds to Peter in this
See, does by the institution of Christ Himself obtain the
Primacy of Peter over the whole Church. The disposition made
by Incarnate Truth therefore remains, and Blessed Peter,
abiding through the strength of the Rock in the power that he
received, has not abandoned the direction of the Church.
Wherefore it has at all times been necessary that every
particular Church—that is to say, the faithful throughout the
world—should agree with the Roman Church, on account of the
greater authority of the princedom which this has received;
that all being associated in the unity of that See whence the
rights of communion spread to all, as members in the unity of
the Head, might combine to form one "connected body. If, then,
any should deny that it is by the institution of Christ the
Lord, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter should have a
perpetual line of successors in the Primacy over the Universal
Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of Blessed
Peter in this Primacy; let him be anathema.