The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-10-31
Prepara i;0ns for tie Grand Council--The
Prospect.

Preparaiio liens for tie Grand Council--The
| Prospect.
The semi detection Of Father Hyacilthe and
the sensation occasioned by tie same have not
made the world Indifferent to the approaching
religious demonstration at the Vatican. The
| bishops have set out on their pilgrimage to the
Mecca OF Christendom, and from all points
they are now converging towards tho Holy
City. 1t is calculated thot not fewer than one
thousand bishops will take their places in the
| Council Hall at st. Peters and the crowd
promises to be reasonably representative and
nearly as motley as possible In spite of the
| absence Of Professionals and other non-Catho-
lies there will be no lack of variety. There
will be prince bishops and pauper bishops,
bishops IN scarlet and bishops in SERGE
bishops with fine equipages and bishops with
none, bishops who can pay their own bills and
bishops who Will live at tie expense of the
Pope. The liveriod laclzey and the gorgeous
carriage will attest the character Of the one J;
| the Roman hackman and the dirty cab will
! attest the character of the other.
Preparations at st. Peters are going on
apace. The grand green embroidered carpet
| to be supplied by the King of Prussia is
| hourly expected from Berlin. The artists Of
Rome are busy executing portraits of the
| Popes and other church dignitaries whose
| names are prominently associated with
| previous councils of the kind There
| are, it appears, to be galleries on the
fi,a, tpf.t md taff Of
specially reserved for the shorthand reporters
and official theologians. Besides these there
are to be two. other galleries, one for ambas-
sailors and persons of distinguished rank, the
other for sovereigns or members OF royal
| families who may at the time be in Rome and
| seek admission to the show. With the excep-
| ton of such favored persons no outsiders will
| be admitted. Nor is it to be supposed that
the shorthand reporters will in any sense be
representatives of the press. The shorthand
reporters will report only TO the Council itself.
II has panied us TO see that the Council in this
particular is 80 far behind the age. 1t ought
to have been less fearful of the fine free air
Of public sentiment and more wiling to face
the light of day. 1t is gratifying to us to know
that if any exceptional liberty be taken
with the rigid rules which have been laid down,
that liberty will be exercised in favor Of the
New York HERALD. All things considered,
| II is now certain that Rome will, on the Sth of
December, present spectacle and enjoy a
| holiday which have had no parallels in many
centuries. How long the Council will sit is q
| matter of some doubt. 1t may be years or
| months or weeks; it may come to sudden
and abrupt termination In any case the first
day viii be the greatest. When the great
pageant of the opening day is over the sensa-
| ton viii be ended, and the many thousands
who journcyed thousands of miles to see the
| show will gradually dispense and seek their
| own homes.
| But what is the prospect? What will the
Council do? We cannot say that anything has
| occurred or late to warrant us to hope that it
| will accomplish anything very great. If the
| latest rumor be well founded the Council will
| only be dumb show. II will meet to ratfy
what has already been agreed upon. In such
| case it will, indeed, be the tamest of all tame
| affairs. For reasons at once numerous and
1
which we have alluded has any foundation in
fact. II ia not possible that the Pope and his
| advisers have made up their minds to insult
! the many devout adherents of the Catholic
| Church, who are looking forward to the ap-
! preaching Council in the confident belief that
| it will solve for them many Of their doubts and
remove out of the way many of their stumbling
blocks. There must be some form of discus
sion. Conclusions must be arrived at. If
Archbishop Manning is Of any authority wo
are not left in doubt upon one point. Speak
| ing Of the Council and its effects he says =
"The Syllabus will become the rule Of thought
with respect to the eighty-four errors which il
condemns, and the eighty-four truths which
| were condemned by those errors will become
the rule and law Of the intellectual belief o.
man." IT is very doubtful whether the trutha
condemned by the errors win ever become the
rule and law Of the intellectual belief Of man
| but when such language as that we have quoted
is used by dignitary like Archbishop Man
ming it is not doubtful that an attempt will be-
| made to make such the rule and law of the
Roman Catholic Church. 1t Is now nj
| longer doubtful that the question o
Papal infallibility will be considered and
In some way authorltatively settled. In whom
does infallibilty reside9 with what limits
and on what subjects? The Church and tn,
! world are anxious to have those questions
answered. 1t will not do to say that every
one of tho two hundred and twenty Pope'
has been, and that all their Successors to tn