and bishops is at once the shield or bulwark behind which Dr. Schulte shelters himself, and the ground on which he rests, in order to open his attack upon the Pope. The Bishops to whom he refers having acknowledged it to be the principal task of the Council 'to advance in the best way possible the greater glory of God, and the welfare of mankind in general,' find it natural that in so great a body of men different opinions should arise—not, however, so different as to split them up into parties. Accordingly, out of the various difficulties presenting themselves in the consideration of the question of Papal Infallibility, they make particular mention of a specially weighty one, and this, their Address says, is a difficulty which directly touches the relationship of Catholic doctrine to civil society; in the treatment of which subject some contradiction might be expected to arise between the doctrine hitherto taught by them on the relationship between Church and State, and the conclusions which might follow from the doctrine of the Infallibility of the Pope.
Well, it is a matter of fact that this difficulty was not separately considered, and it is also matter of fact that, in the matters treated of in the Council, the relations of Church and State power did not come first under consideration, but the doctrine respecting the Pope as the Foundation and visible Head of the Catholic Church. Whoever will look at the question without prejudice will see that there are clearly two different ways of viewing it—viz. first, whether it is best to commence with the Catholic doctrine respecting the Pope as the Foundation and visible Head of the Catholic
