It is amusing to see the old partisans of the
Vatican Infalli- bility now using the very language of the minimisers, for the purpose of excusing themselves from the duty of paying too much attention to the counsels of a moderate Pope. The Arch- bishop of Mechlin, who, though never one of the strongest of the Ultramontanes, yet belonged unquestionably to the Vatican party, is now anxious to find excuses for the Belgian priesthood, in their reluctance to obey the moderate counsels of the Holy See, and consequently is at great pains to point out, in his recent pastoral to the clergy, that the Pope is infallible only under very strict conditions, and not at all infallible when he expresses only his own ideas, and does not claim to be teaching the Church on the subject of revealed truth. It is a wholesome lesson for the friends of infallibility in one Pope, to find themselves on the watch for loopholes through which they may escape the ninessity of recognising the infallibility of the next.
Previous page
