Page:Petri Privilegium - Manning.djvu/46

giving manifest proof that you have never held it to be otherwise. For never has your voice been silent. You have accounted it to belong to your supreme office to proclaim eternal verities; to smite with the sword of your Apostolic utterance the errors of the time, which threaten to overthrow the natural and supernatural order of things, and the very foundations of ecclesiastical and civil power; to dispel the darkness which perverse and novel teachings have shed over men's souls; and to declare, persuade to, and approve all that is needful and wholesome to the individual, to the Christian family, and to civil society: so that at length all may attain to know what it is that every Catholic should hold, retain, and profess. For that exceeding great care we render to your Holiness the deepest thanks, and with endless gratitude; and, believing that Peter has spoken by the mouth of Pius, therefore, whatsoever you have spoken, confirmed, and pronounced for the safe custody of the deposit, we likewise speak, confirm, and pronounce; and with one voice and one mind we reject everything which, as being opposed to Divine faith, the salvation of souls, and the good of human society, you have judged fit to reprove and reject. For that is firmly and deeply established in our consciousness, which the Fathers at Florence defined in their decree on union, that the Roman Pontiff "is the Vicar of Christ, head of the whole Church, and father and teacher of all Christians; and that to him, in the person of blessed Peter, has been com-