office of supreme teacher of Christendom? Is the consent of the Episcopate required or not? If it is, then men are fighting a shadow, for this is the doctrine universally received; if it is not required, then they are introducing an unheard-of and intolerable innovation. But when a formula free from ambiguities has been discovered, then two conditions must be fulfilled: First, the formula, when discovered, must be proved by solid arguments from Scripture, from the Fathers, from the Councils. It must be shown that no important historic incidents conflict with it, that no papal act refutes it. The Archbishop referred to the Council of Constance as an example in which the statement that "every lawfully convoked Ecumenical Council representing the Church derives its authority immediately from Christ, and every one, the Pope included, is subject to it in matters of faith," was unanimously decreed. The Italian School, of course, would deny the ecumenical character of this decree. "That," says the Archbishop of Paris, "I do not admit." Moreover, in any case it would show the common opinion of the Bishops. All these questions, urged Darboy, would have to be considered and weighed. Until the necessary proofs are forthcoming nothing can rightfully be done. There is no peril in delay. But to impose irrevocably on the consciences of the faithful a decree with precipitation, and without absolute certainty, would be the gravest peril that can be conceived.
As to the practical results of such a decree the Archbishop observed that Papal Infallibility was offered as a means for strengthening authority and unity in the Church. But it must be remembered that the ideal of authority in Christendom is not that which our imagination or our reason represents as most desirable; but that which Christ has established and our fathers
