The New York herald., 1869-10-03
The General Council-The syllabus.

In another place in this days HERALD will
be found translation of the celebrated Sylla-
bus which appeared in connection with the
Pope's Encyclical in 1864. The Syllabus has
been so forced into importance of late and has
been mentioned SO frequently in conjunction
with the name of the approaching General
Council that we have had it translated from
the Latin for the benefit of our readers. The
Syllabus has value not from any intrinsic merits
1t is good enough document in itself consid-
cred; but as document got up by the highest
authorities in the Catholic Church, and reflect
ing it's scholarship as well as the prevailing
tone of its thought, we cannot call it miracle
Of ability. For two reasons, however, it is
important. 1t was a full and faithful express
sion of the sentiments of the Papal mind
in 1864. Nothing has occurred to indicate
that the Papal mind has changed since that
date. 1t is on the very best authority said to
be the basis on which the Council has been
convened for December of this year. This
last constitutes its main value. If it be true
as is said and generally believed, even inside
the Catholic Church itself, that the Council
will be asked to sanction the Syllabus by a
| formal public act, then the world will no
longer be in doubt as to the true character of
the Popedom in the last half of the nineteenth
century. The document, as will be seen, is
purely negative. 1t leaves large margin for
readers. OF its merits and demerits they must
judge for themselves.
1t is, we think, safe to say that if the Council
gives its formal approval to all the sections and
clauses of the Syllabus the Catholic Church,
| as an institution is not in harmony with the
intellectual, moral and material progress of
this age. That which we most highly prize in
our nineteenth y-civilization-is, If not
openly condemned, at least not approved The
sanction and approval of the Syllabus by the
Council will create such breach-or. If YOU
will, gulf-between the Church and the world
as has not existed in any former age. If all
reports prove true, the approval Of the Sylla-
bus is not to be the only or the greatest sin of
the Council. 1t has been stated on high
authority that the Council Is to be asked to
mdht iutiIe COuucllb unnecessary Dy pro-
claiming the personal infallibility of the Pope
| lnfallbility, hitherto has been claimed only
| for the acts of the whole Church in council
| Infalibility henceforward, If the Council SO
| wills it, will be the special attribute of the
reigning pontiff. II has also been stated on
| high authority that the Immaculate Conception
Of the Virgin, which was proclaimed doc
trine Of the Church by special council in
1854, is to be confirmed by the General Coun-
! Gil to be held in December Of this year. This,
| however, is not all. The gullibility of the
| people is supposed to be illimitable. Hence
| it is intended to go step further and proclaim
| the bodily assumption Of the Virgin-thus
fully qualifying her for the high post OF Queen
| of Heaven. Poor Mary We fear that all
this nonsense will not give her much
| joys for this excessive adulaton will
have its drawbacks. II is almost certain
| to cut off many of her perquisites
But she will not be the first who has suffered in
the house of her friends. The endorsement OF
the Syllabus, the proclamation of the personal
infallibility Of the Pope, the elevation of the
Immaculate Conception and the Bodily Assump-