The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-09-03
The Faithful and the Pope.


The Faithful and the Pope.
This expression, "the Faithful" applied
to all true Catholics, has moro Significance
than 10 1t first apparent. It implies that
u to be found inthe body OF
the Church ~ we'll - In its head. Tho
Pope a head OF the Church Il undoubtedly |
ON questiops OF faith snd morals,
but % IL tho body &C the. Chsrch, because
ii IL could o. . body reject the truth enc
hold to errors In faith, IT. members could
NOT with justice BE- entitled to the, title Of
!" the Faithfully This b remarkably we'll
explained in the Auguss number Of the o.
tholic World, OF the current year, in On ar
ticle ON Infallibility. The life Of Faith
is there exempliaed BY the light Of tho hu-
man body, which resides not only IN the
head and principal members, bnt In every
portion Of the whole structure Ihe Ire
If infallible truth must be found In the
Pope, because he is the head of the Church
aud ii the head is dead there can be NO
life in the body. But in the same way We
may say that If the body dies the head can
not survive; therefore, If either the Pope
should teach error or the body Of the
Church should believe error, the life OF
faith would be extinguishod for the whole,
aud the Church would perish. Why, then,
do we refer in matters of doubt to the
Pope especially Because the head has
more dignity in the order of life than the
body, and because it is infinitely easier to
consult him than to canvass the whole
mass of the Faithful.
But there are questions upon which IL as
of great Importance to consult the BODY OF
the Faithful and have their verdict. Thus
where there are several claimants OF the
Holy See at the same time, where each has
a powerful support and can make plausi-
BILE defense of his title, how are we to know
which is the real head of the Church. In
this case the universal consent OF the
Faithful points infallibly to him whom
they accept as the true pastor. These
principles are briefly set forth in the fol-
lowing words quoted from the article re-
ferred to:
The body of the Church is immortal in the
life of faith, aud indefeasi0le in it's supesnatu.
raj existence, and, therefore, infallible g well
as the head. 1t cannot separate from It's neao
dOEtT1nG. SAS
Pope by the Church makes IL infallibly certain
that he is the true and legitimate rope ano
the universal acceptance of council .: ecu
menical makes it infallibly certain tnst u e 9
| true council, although it be certain also, on
other infallible motives, that Pope and council
are legitimate.
! DR.. Dollinger aud his clique admit thai
there is infalhb:lity somewhere in the
Church. They deny that it is In the Pope
They must deny also that it is the epssco
pate. because the bishops in council Assem-
bled have declared that the Pope is infalli
BILE, and il they were wrong in this
through no matter what motives, they can
not be infallible. DR.. DollingSf's infalli
bility, then, must be in the body Of th'
Faithful. Now, can any man living doub
that all the Catholic laity of the world, a
q body, hold implicitly to the dogma O
Papal Infallibility as laid down by til
Councili No candid man can doubtit. w
do not know of single practical Catholi
within our acquaintance who hesitates
accept that dogma, and the came unanimit
appears to exist every where. If there
infallibility in the Church at all, if dog
, ma is of faith because the Church holds
to be 90, then the dogma Of Papal Infall
bility 10 undoubtedly correct, because it
: held most explicitly and firmly by Pop
. Council an6 laity.
' If there were any real ground for doub
. ing the belief of the laity in this doctrin
it, would not be very difficult to get II
signatures of nearly all the Catholics in IL
world to professions of such belief.
would be easy enough for every man, W
man and child in any one parish TO sign b
K name or cause it to be signed to q formu
70 like the following: 81 believe the POI
IL to be infallible according to the definite
l. of the Vatican Council" And If easy
~ ~ one parish why not in another, why not
all the parishes of the worldf Such
\. movement might he inaugurated by Cat
t. Ollie societies as among their own membe
ir and in case of the organization OF q NJ
versal Catholic Union, fine opportuni
ly for testifying to the faith on this poi
tn -I-pl ~ x,rasapSod in framing ite co