Page:The True Story of the Vatican Council.djvu/73

Rh personal or official. By personal infallibility some thought that inspiration was attributed to the Pope to be used personally at his will. But the idea of a personal infallibility distinct from the office was never maintained by any theologian. This wild notion existed only in the minds of those who imputed it as an extravagance to their opponents. But they simply taught that the successor of Peter cannot err in faith. No Catholic theologian ever held more than this. The doctrine affirmed by the schools and by the Holy See was, that infallibility attaches to the office, and that the office is held not by many as if in commission, but by one. Infallibility is personal, therefore, only in the sense that the office is borne by a person. It was in this sense that the bishops in 1862 and in 1867 said that the voice of Pius was the voice of Peter. Peter's office, with all its prerogatives, is perpetual, and his office is borne by the person who succeeds to his place. But it is not necessary to dwell longer now upon this doctrine. We shall have time to do so when we come hereafter to the history of the definition.

9. Such, then, was the state of this question when the solemnities of the Centenary closed, and the bishops returned to their dioceses. Many at once published pastoral letters giving an account of the events in Rome. In some of these documents the intellectual and doctrinal significance of the