Page:The Decrees of the Vatican Council.djvu/43

Rh Whence, whosoever succeeds to Peter in this See does by the institution of Himself obtain the primacy of Peter over the whole Church. The disposition made by Incarnate Truth (dispositio veritatis) therefore remains, and Blessed Peter, abiding in the rock's strength which he received (in accepta fortitudine petræ perseverans), 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 come to the Church of Rome on account of the greater princedom it has received; so that in this See, whence the rights of venerable communion spread to all, they might as members joined together in their head grow closely into one body. If, then, anyone shall say that it is not by the institution of the, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter has a perpetual line of successors in the primacy over the universal Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy; let him be anathema.

 III

On the Power and Nature of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff

HEREFORE, resting on plain testimonies of the Sacred Writings, and adhering to the plain and express decrees both of Our predecessors the 