Page:William John Sparrow-Simpson - Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility (1909).djvu/252

 232 of the Papacy, and especially the dogma of the Pope's Infallibility. It is with this last subject exclusively that we are concerned.

This subject of Papal Infallibility was not mentioned among the causes for which the Council was assembled, nor was it introduced into the discussion for the first three months. During that period the Bishops' attention was devoted to discussions on faith; the discipline of the clergy; the project of the compilation of a new Catechism, for universal use, in place of all local Catechisms in the Roman body. Matters such as these occupied the first twenty-eight Congregations. But progress was excessively slow: partly owing to the reluctance of the minority to proceed, under fear of what the future would produce, and under dislike of various extreme measures proposed to them. It seems clear that the Roman authorities had not anticipated so much persistent opposition. At the end of three months, minority-Bishops said with relief, "We have done nothing, and that is a great deal." The Dogmatic Constitution on faith was expected to be ready for the second Public Session on 6th January. But when the date arrived the doctrine was not ready. Consequently the entire Session was occupied by formal recitation of the Tridentine Creed.

In January 1870 the crisis became acute when Manning and other members of the Vatican Council presented the Pope with an Address, urging him to declare his own Infallibility.

Upon this Döllinger wrote his "Few Words " to the Augsburg Gazette. He pointed out with all possible emphasis the magnitude of the suggested revolution. He declared that Papal Infallibility had never been believed hitherto—believed, that is, with the faith due to a divine revelation. Between the faith due to a truth