The New York herald., 1870-03-13
Tho Situation in Rope-Ths Infalibiiity
DimcuAy.

answer Some Of our readers will say, 1.-THE
currency; that is the question Of the hour"
Some will say, ''It Ks the school di1dcuity-
the Bible or no Bible" Some will say, s'The
constitution; is it Christian? Is it in any sense
rsligious?" This being Sunday, and every
reader Of the HERALD being more or less re-
ligiously disposed and imbued more or less
with catholic sentiments-we use the word
catholic in its true sense-most will say, re-
membering the news Of the week, ut is infal-
libility." After all, infallibility really is the
question.
Our news from Rome during the week that
is gone has been more, far more than usually
interesting. We have been told in variety
of ways that Won Beust has given in his ulti
matum, and that he will have no Syllabus and
no infallbility. We have been told that
Napoleon has actually rebelled, and insisted
that If the Syllabus and the dogma Of infalli-
bilty form serious part of the Papal purpose, he
must have in Rome and in the Council a lay
commissioner. We have also been told that
Austria and Bavaria and the other Catholic
States will stand by France in this emergency.
The Syllabus makes work short and sharp with
all the Catholic Powers; and, indeed, with all
the world, whether Catholic or Protestant. OF
course, the Protestant world is wrong But it
is not less matter Of course that the Catholic
world, which has foolishly and somewhat wick
edly given in to Protestant ways, Is also
wrong. In other words, there has been too
much temporizing, too little of a foundation,
too much Of doubt and too little of faith.
We have got to something like solid ground.
We now know what the great question is and
what ii means. The Pope tells us that Jesus
Christ gave to the world all that infallibiity
has ever claimed. Jesus Christ did say, son
this rock will build my Church )" but that
great name never did say, "All the fools who
claim My name are right" we have watched
this Roman controversy all through. We like
the pluck and spirit which it has called
forth. 1t has seemed to us that the
Pope is very nearly all right and that all the
world is very nearly foolish. The Pope can
not force things. The world moves on. Daily
the conditions are new, and every moment it
is more and more difficult to- say which is
right
The great fact is that the world wishes to
be religious, and that the world does not know
how it is safest and most wise to assume
that character. The Roman question has
given the test. The world all over is full Of
faith it has no doubt, no difficulty. The
facts. Facts are strangely and somewhat
wickedly troublesome. Almost all good men
say that if the Church would ask less the
Church would be more and more powerful.
The Pope says that his power is derived
from Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ was the
Incarnation of divinity and that the infallibility
trouble is as nearly as possible q question
as old as the Christian era. 1t is something
worth knowing that men still think and that
even good Catholics, in their anxiety to win,
place themselves in circumstances extremely
questionable. We cannot endorse every modern
platform. Won Beust and Won Bismarck, and
even Napoleon, have been all at sea. The
situation is SO new that they do not know
what they want. They think Of State neces-
sites. The Church thinks of necessities
which will have place and power when State
necessities will be Of small account indeed, aud
to-day we have no choice, but say that what
the wofid thinks or the Church thinks, while
they form part Of the thought of the hour,
will not seriously affect the facts of the
future.
If we wanted proof for what we have
said, we should point to the schema. The
IL ~
world is sick Of doubt. The Church is full of
faith. The schema meets the wants Of the
doubling world. It tells us where faith ends
and doubt begins. The Pope fully compre-
hends the question. For one thousand years
the minority has questioned the judgment
Of the Vicar of Christ. Most men have
faith in the Church, and there are very few
who wish to die with sorrow or doubt
The schema, in our judgment, settles the
whole question. 1t reveals the weakness Of
Rome. 1t lays open the gullibility of modern
life. The Pope says that for eighteen hundred
years the dogma, or doctrine Of infallibiity,
has been fully believed, and he naturally and
properly asks the question why it should be
doubted now. So far as we can see the Pope
is right. Infallibility is no new thing, 80 far
es he is concerned. 1t is as old as st. Peter.
II has never been question refuted. 1t has
all along, before and since the Reformation,
been looked upon as grand fact-the rallying
point of Christian belief. We shall he sur
prised if the Pope is defeated, for the simple
reason that the Pope represents common sense
and that all this trouble means no more, no
less than q tempest in a teapot. The Churches
are not much better than our gold rings or our
Albany rings. Peace based upon common
sense is desirable. The great future for which
we sigh is little ahead. The Pope or the
Primacy is only one Of the troubles
TUE BILL TO ENFORCE THE FIFTEENTH
AMENDMENT has been reported back from the
Judiciary Committee of the House of Repre-