Year: 1870




At Rome infallibility still is the absorbing
| question. All accounts 60 to prove that the
| Pope Is inAexible In his purpose, that II his
voice is not now por Del it is his fixed deter
| minati0n that it will be so at the earliest pos
| sible moment, and that henceforward there
will be no sublunar difficulty as to what is the
will of Heaven. From sources somewhat
] authentic we have learned that the Council


has not been wholly failure. that it has
done some good work, and in matters subordi-


nate has somewhat satisfied the wants Of the


inner circles Of Catholicism The two great
objects, however, for which the Council was
planned and convened, which gave it meaning
and purpose, which gave 1t Importance in
the eyes Of the world, which interested
Protestants and divided Catholics-those
two objects, the Syllabus and Infallibility,
have been mysteriously, or mischievousy or
happily postponed. During the first four
months of It's existence the Council has done
everything but that which it intended to do.
And what it has done, there are not few
who will say, il has done in very question
able manner.


Our latest news is to the effect that the
Council, in spite Of the presence Of the Papal
Legate, or Leyates, and in spite Of presumed
Presence which is holier and mightier than
that Of Legates or Popes, the Council has
become not little rowdy in its mode Of doing
business. 1t is only few days sisce we had
occasion to comment upon the fact that when
Bishop Stropmayer, Of Hungary, ventured to
express his opinion in opposition to the will
and wishes Of the majority he was rudely
sllcnced-put down, in fact, somewhat after
the fashion that the Sixth ward of New
York puts down obnoxious orators-and
forcbly and in some peril driven from the
tribuue. Our news Of yesterday informed us
that the scene was repeated with some aggra-
vatiOns. Cardinal Schwarzenberg, Prince and
Prinfate Of Bohemia, acting in conjunction


with Stropmayer, Chief Bishop Of Hungary,
and both Of them giving expression to the pre-
vailing sentiments Of Catholic Germany, had
gone strongly in for common sense and for


sympathy with dissidents inside the Church
and for Protestants beyond the pale; but
amid uproar and confusion wilder than Tam
many Hall would have presented had the
fierce wOrshppers been permitted to assemble
on the evening of Monday last within its
sacred precincts, both Schwarzenberg and
Stropmayer were compelled to shut up. The


purpose Of the Council is thus no longer
doubtful, and that the Holy Father is in
perfect harmony with the majority in tho
Council is made abundantly plain by thou
sand concurring circumstances, but particu-
larly by his treatment Of the Marquis de
Banneyile, d report of which treatment we
give in the HERALD Of to-day. We know the
sentiments of all the Catholic Powers. Not
one of them encourages the Pope in his present
course of conduct. Austria, Bavaria, Italy,
Spain, France-aIl are opposed to the
ambitions designs of the dominant party in


the Council. Nor is the opposition in those
countries limited by the range of civil
authority. 1t includes in each country, if not
the most numerous, at least the most powerful
and most active portion of the Catholic
community, the Dollingers and Schwarzenbergs
and Strophayers Of Catholic Germany, and
the Dnpanoups and Darboys and Marets and
Hyacinthes aud others in France, not TO mention
the thoughtful and determined anti-inialibilists
in Italy, in Spain and in the United States of
America. The parpenw Catholic, DR..
Manning, known as Archbishop Of West
minister, who reveals all the zeal Of novice,
has the advantage Of being at the head Of a
nut tn ha hot
fruit this zeal is to bring forth. To the Catho-
lie Church it may be grapes from Eschol, but
1t may also be bitter water from Marah. II all
the Catholic Powers turn their backs upon the
Holy Father, and il France takes fancy to
Withdraw her troops from Rome, the Catholic
Church all the world over will not be without
good reason to bless DR.. Manning, the J esuits
and the Ultramontanes generally for their
hearty and unmistakable zeal. In any case,
we now know that whatever infallibilisy may
mean when it becomes the unquestioned pro-
perty of the Holy Father, we have yet to be
taught to entertain ordinary respect for the So
called EcumenicaI Council, the Divine channel
through which this infallibiity is sought and
from which alone it is admitted it can come.





For our own part we cannot say we dislike
the present aspect Of things. II was all along
our conviction that it would come to this.
We have never known assembled di-
vines in any church giving much
proof of wisdom Our reading of
history has not taught us that ecumenical
councils have done either the world or the
Church any large amount of good. We did
not expect this Council to show more wisdom
than had been shown by its predecessors.
With the best intentions, believing, as we did,
that the Catholic Church had found an oppor-
tunity, if it knew how to use it, we pointed
out some possible difficulties and gave some
sound advice. The infallibilists, however, did


not need advice, and, Of course, did not take
it. They have now made their bed, and, like
or not like it, We suppose they must lie upon