(1) By this expression, then, ex cathedrâ, the gift of God's divine grace conveying Infallibility in faith and morals to the Roman Pontiff, the visible head of the Catholic Church, and who in the person of St. Peter has received from our Lord Jesus Christ the full power to feed the universal Church, to direct and to guide it, is closely restricted to the exercise of his office as Pastor and Doctor of all Christians.
The Pope, as visible head of the whole Church, is:
i. The Supreme Teacher of truth revealed by God.
ii. The Supreme Priest.
iii. The Supreme Legislator in ecclesiastical matters.
iv. The Supreme Judge in ecclesiastical causes.
He has, however, the gift of Infallibility, according to the manifest sense of the words of the definition, only as supreme teacher of truths necessary for salvation revealed by God, not as supreme priest, not as supreme legislator in matters of discipline, not as supreme judge in ecclesiastical questions, not in respect of any other questions over which his highest governing power in the Church may otherwise extend.[1] And when I
- ↑ In this sense F. Perrone writes (Prælect. Theolog. vol. viii. De Locis Theologicis, pars i. § ii. cap. iv. n. 726, Lovanii, 1843, p. 497): 'Quapropter neque facta personalia, neque præcepta, neque rescripta, neque opiniones, quas identidem promunt Romani Pontifices, neque decreta disciplinæ, neque omissiones definitionis, aliaque id genus plurima in censu veniunt decretorum, de quibus agimus. Quanquam enim hæc omnia pro summâ auctoritate, ex quâ dimanant, magno semper in pretio habenda sint, ac humili mentis obsequio ac veneratione sint excipienda, nihilo tamen minus non constituunt "definitionem ex cathedrâ," de qua loquimur et in quâ solâ adstruimus Pontificiam infallibilitatem.' I quote Perrone as my guarantee, inasmuch as he at least cannot be suspected of wishing to derogate
