Infallibility entirely and exclusively to the Pope. Manifestly therefore a revolutionary alteration would have to be made in the diocesan Catechisms if Papal Infallibility were decreed.
That a doctrine contrary to Papal Infallibility was being taught as Catholic, under sanction of Episcopal Authority, in Germany in the first half of the nineteenth century is indisputable. Liebermann's theological writings were published in five volumes at Mainz. The third edition was in 1831. It was first published with the imprimatur of the Vicar-General of Mainz in 1819.
Liebermann was a distinguished personage in his day. He became Superior of the Seminary at Mainz and Canon of the Cathedral, afterwards Vicar-General of Strasburg. His Institutiones Theologicæ,[1] became the standard work in many seminaries in France, Belgium, Germany and America.
Liebermann's doctrine is:—
"It is certain from the principles of the Catholic Faith that the supreme Pontiff has the chief place in determining controversies of Faith; and that his judgment, if the consent of the Church be added, is irreformable. But whether his judgment is infallible before the Church's consent is a matter open to dispute among Catholics without detriment to their Catholicity."[2]
To this proposition Liebermann adds:—
