CHAPTER XVII
THE VATICAN DECISION
If the actual subject of Infallibility had not yet entered the Council for discussion, it was anxiously or eagerly debated in every mind. As far back as the beginning of the year (28th January 1870), a petition[1] under the instigation of Archbishop Manning was sent to the Commission on Faith, entreating that the doctrine of Infallibility might be brought before the Council. This petition for a Decree on Papal Infallibility was based upon the following grounds. It was, they said, opportune and necessary, because, according to the universal and constant tradition of the Church, papal decrees of doctrine could not be reformed; because some who gloried in the name of Catholic were presuming to teach that deferential submission to papal authority was sufficient; that one might acquiesce in silence without inward mental consent, or might at any rate accord a merely provisional assent until the Church itself endorsed or modified the decree in question. This independence was, they considered, injurious and subversive of authority. Prevalent disputes made definition a positive necessity. If the Vatican Council, thus challenged, neglected to testify to Catholic Faith, the Catholic world would fall into uncertainty, and the
- ↑ Acta, p. 923.
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