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The True and the False

CHAPTER II.

'THE CONTENTS OF THE DEFINITION OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL, "ON THE INFALLIBLE TEACHING OFFICE OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF."'[1]

7. This portion of Dr. Schulte's pamphlet contains a German translation[2] of the words of the definition of the Vatican Council now under consideration; it enumerates the particular propositions therein contained, and draws from them their logical and juridical consequences.

I cannot refrain here from expressing my sense of the extraordinary unfairness of the writer in quoting the definition without the reasons which the Council itself gives in express words for making the definition. This context is absolutely necessary in order that we may rightly understand so important a matter. In order to supply this deficiency, I will present to my readers, in the vernacular, the entire section or chapter 'On the Infallible Teaching Office of the Roman Pontiff,' as given by the Council. The whole section, or fourth chapter, of the first dogmatic definition on the Church of Christ runs as follows:

'Caput Quartum.

'ON THE INFALLIBLE TEACHING OFFICE (MAGISTERIUM) OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF.

'That in the apostolical primacy which the Roman

  1. Bear in mind the headings of the chapters are taken from Dr. Schulte's pamphlet.
  2. By Dr. W. Molitor, Regensburg, 1870.