Because not upon the pope but upon the head, Christ, does her life depend. And blessed be God that, when a pope is insane or become a heretic, the church militant remains the faithful spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ![1] Blessed also be the Lord, the one living head of the church, who preserves her so effectually in unity that, even now, while there are three so-called papal heads, she remains the one spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ!
For now Balthazar, called John XXIII, is in Rome; and Angelo Correr, called Gregory XII, is in Rimini; and Peter de Luna, called Benedict, is in Aragon. Why does not one of them, called most holy father, out of the fulness of power constrain the others with their adherents to submit to his jurisdiction? By authority of which one does the Roman curia speak; which one has fulness of power over every man on earth? Therefore, the foundation is feeble enough as a foundation and proof, to wit, that anything should be held to be inviolable which is announced by the Roman curia. For the rule is laid down, de Constitutionibus, lib. 6, [Friedberg, 2: 937], that, when two persons having letters from the pope in regard to the same provision given on the same day, he to whom the pope offered the canonical office has the preference, to whom he did not give it without the knowledge of the executor[2] who first besought it. But if they are equally in grace, so far as the form of the papal brief goes, he who first presents it [in the diocese concerned] will have the stronger claim over the prebend. And, thirdly, if they were equal in these three things then the canons, to whom the collation pertains, or the greater part of them, are bound to proceed to an election, the one left out being de-
- ↑ In arguing for the superiority of a general council over the pope, Gerson took the ground that a pope may be deposed who is insane or heretical. The translator must confess that in this translation he has been inconsistent in treating church now as neuter, now as feminine.
- ↑ The executor, usually called procurator, is the legal representative who appears before the ecclesiastical superior or puts into execution a papal or episcopal mandate. See Hergenröther, K.-recht, 428; Friedberg, K.-recht, pp. 327, 359.
