There are several 'rumours' about the great Infallibility question. The
Roman correspondent of the 7 bites makes Cardinal Bonnechose represent to the Pope the wish of the French Bishops that this question should not be raised, and the Pope reply in excited declamation. It is also represented that the majority of the French Bishops are opposed to the definition of the Pope's infal- libility. Both these rumours our Catholic contemporary above referred to treats with supreme contempt, asserting that Cardinal Bonnechose is well known to be favourable to the definition; and that while thirty of the French Bishops have declared in favour of the definition, only two besides Mgr. Dupanloup have avowed hostility. The Times' corre- spondent at Rome is certainly not to be trusted. He makes the Pope say in effect, in his allocution of the 2nd December to the prelates assembled in the Sixtine Chapel, that "it was no neutral or moderate coarse that he would be content With. They who were not with him would be against him, for their allegiance would be sharply tested." The allocution itself, which we have now in extenso, in both Roman Catholic and Protestant papers, certainly conveys no such meaning, which would have been in
the highest degree imprudent, and even aggressive. The enemies on whom the Pope appears to dwell are all outside the Church, and he expresses no anticipation but of support and consolation from the Fathers who had come to his aid. The allocution may suggest a psychological presumption that the Pope's mind is dwelling on the chance of disunion even amongst the members of the Council, but he was certainly not simple enough to say so, —rather did he overwhelm the assembled prelates with his confi- dence and gratitude.
