The record-union., 1896-06-30

knowledged by the consent of antiquity
But though the authority of ST.
Peter and his successors is plenary
and supreme, it is not TO be regarded as
the only authority. The Bishops who
are the successors of the Apostles, in
herit their ordinary powers, and the
Episcopal order necessarily belongs to
the essential constitution of the church.
They are consequently not to be re-
garded as mere Wears of the Roman
Pontiffs, since they exercise a power
which is really their own, and are most
truly the ordinary pastors of the people
over whom they rule.
For the preservation of unity in the
Christian Church it is above all things
necessary that there should be union
between the Roman Pontiff, the one
successor of st. Peter and the Bishops,
the many successors of the Apostolic
college. 1t is necessary to bear in mind
that no prerogative was conferred on
the apostles in which St. Peter did not
participate, but that many were be-
slowed on st. Peter apart from the
Apostles. He alone was designated by
Christ as the foundation of his church
To him he gave the power of forgiving
and retaining and TO him alone was
given the authority to feed.
From this it follows that Bishops
are deprived of the right and power of
ruling if they deliberately secede from
Peter and his successors, because by
this secession they are separated from
the foundation upon which the whole
edifice rests. AS the divine founder Of
the church decreed that his church
should be in one faith, in government
and communion, so he chose Peter and
his successors as the principle and as
it were the center of this unity. The
Episcopal order is rightly judged to be
in communion with Peter as Christ COM
manded, if it is subject to and obeys
Peter, otherwise 1T necessarily becomes
a lawless and disorderly crowd.
For the due preservation of the unity
of the faith, it is not sufficient that the
head should have been charged merely
with the office of superintendent, or
should have been invested solely with
the power of direction, but it is abso-
lutely necessary that he should have re-
ceived real and sovereign authority
which the whole community is bound to
obey
1T is opposed to the truth, and is in
evident contradiction with the divine
while each Bishop is individually bound
to obey the law of the Roman pontiffs
the Bishops collectively are not so
bound. 1t is the nature and essence of
the foundation to support the unity of
the whole edifice and to give stability
to it, rather than that of each COM
pCnent part. 1t was through the
strength and solidity of the founda-
tion that Christ promised that the gates
of hell should not prevail against his
church-a promise to be understood of
the church as a whole and not of any
certain portions of it. Moreover he
who is set over the flock must have au-
thOrity not only over the sheep dis
persed throughout the church, but also
when they are assembled together Do
all the sheep gathered together rule
and guide the shepherd? Do the sue
cessors of the apostles assembled to-
gether constitute the foundation on
which the successor of st. Peter rests
in order to derive therefrom strength
and stability?
The Popes haye~ever unQuestionahly
exercised the Office of ratifying or re-
jecting the DEGREES of councils. Leo the
Great rescinded the acts of the con-
ciljabulum of Ephesus. Damascus re-
iected those of Rimini, and Adrain 1.
those of Constantinople. The twenty
eighth canon of the council of Chalce-
don by the very fact that it lacks the
assent and approval of the apostolic
see, is admitted by all to be worth
less.
Holy writ attests that the keys of
the kingdom of heaven were given to
Peter alone, and that the promise of
binding and loosening was granted to
the apostles and to Peter, but there is
nothing to show that the apostles re-
ceived supreme power without Peter or
against Peter. Such power they cer-
tainly did not receive from Jesus Christ.
Wherefore, in the decree of the Vatican
Council as to the nature and authority
of the primacy of the Roman pontiff
no newly-conceived opinion is set forth
but the venerable and constant belief
of all ages