3. A third explanation of the case of Honorius is that he was condemned for heresy, but mistakenly; the Council being in error on a question of fact. Bellarmine proposes this as an alternative solution to those who cannot be induced to believe that the Decrees of the Sixth General Council have been interpolated and corrupted. It may be said that Honorius was actually condemned by the Council as a heretic, but that they acted on false information. If infallible in doctrine, they were not infallible in questions of fact. If the reader objects, and interposes an enquiry whether Bellarmine understands Honorius's letter better than an Ecumenical Council understood him, the ready reply is that Pope Agatho said that his See had never strayed. Pope Agatho understood the letter of Honorius better than the Greeks assembled in the Council. If you ask why, then, didn't the legates of Agatho resist the condemnation, Bellarmine answers that this was diplomatic. They acquiesced to avert a greater evil; namely, continuance of false doctrine. Thus, according to Bellarmine, to secure the condemnation of the Monothelite heresy, the legates sanctioned the condemnation of a Pope for heresy—apparently on the principle of two evils prefer the less—with consequences, however, which Bellarmine does not seem to have thought out. If the reader still persists, in his incredulous temper, to ask, Why, then, did Pope Leo in his letter after the Council also condemn Honorius? it is suggested that
- ↑ Turmel, Hist. Théol. Positive, p. 317.
