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62 was fully brought out. For some years before, in France, Germany, and England, the force and value of the pontifical acts, and the obligation imposed by the doctrinal authority of the Pope in definitions of faith or in inflicting censures, had been in lively discussion, and it cannot be doubted that the Centenary had powerfully moved half the episcopate of the Church to desire that the Œcumenical Council should put an end to internal divergences on these points, so nearly affecting the doctrinal authority of the Holy See.

10. We have seen that on the 26th of June, 1867, Pius the Ninth announced to the Bishops his intention to convoke the Council. The date, however, was still undecided. This decision was made in the following year. In a Secret Consistory held on the 22nd of June, 1868, Pius the Ninth interrogated the cardinals whether they thought it expedient that the Œcumenical Council should be promulgated on the next feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, that is, the 29th of the same month, and its opening fixed for the 8th of December, 1869. The cardinals unanimously answered in the affirmative, and the Pope enjoined them to pray thenceforward for the especial assistance of the Holy Ghost.