'It absolutely cannot be said, that the means necessary for the Supreme Pontiff in the investigation of truth have been neglected by him, even though he should be supposed to have defined anything ex cathedra, without first seeking the judgment of others.'
'The privilege of infallibility, when the Supreme Pontiff defines anything ex cathedra, is to be ascribed not to those whom he has previously consulted, but to the Roman Pontiff himself.
'Inasmuch as the truth and certainty of those things which are defined "ex cathedra" depend on the authority and infallibility of the Supreme Pontiff, it is not necessarily requisite, that he should first consult these (counsellors) rather than others, this rather than that body, concerning the matter which he is about to define ex cathedra.'[1]
From all that has been said, three things are beyond question; first, that the privilege of infallibility in the head of the Church, neither by its possession nor by
- ↑ 'Semel ac a Summo Pontifice quidpiam ad fidem spectans definitum habeatur, dubitare non licet, utrum omnem diligentiam ante hujusmodi definitionem ille præmiserit.
Quæ ad investigandam veritatem media in summo Pontifice requiruntur, ab eo neglecta fuisse, absolute dici non potest, etiamsi aliorum non exquisita sententia quidpiam ex cathedra definiisse præsupponatur.
Privilegium infallibilitatis, dum a Summo Pontifice aliquid ex cathedra definitur, non iis qui antea consulti fuerint, sed ipsi Eomano Pontifici tribui debet.
Ex eo quod veritas et certitudo eorum quæ ex cathedra definiuntur, a Summi Pontificis auctoritate et infallibilitate pendeant, non necessario requiritur, ut Summus Pontifex de eo quod est ex cathedra definiturus, hos vel illos potius quam alios hunc vel ilium cœtum præ alio antea consulat.'—Cerboni, De Jure et Legum Disciplina, lib. 23, cap. 6, apud Biunchi de constitutione mon. Eccles. p. 158. Rome, 1870.
