cere Pontificem in aliis legibus posse errare, nimirum superfluam legem condendo vel minus discretam, &c. Ut autem jubeat (sc. Pontifex) aliquid quod non est bonum neque malum ex se, neque contra salutem, sed tamen est inutile, vel sub pœnâ nimis gravi illud præcipiat, non est absurdum dicere posse fieri,' &c. And other theologians follow Bellarmine on this point.
(5) This Infallibility of the Pope in the exercise of his office as Pastor and Doctor of all Christians is, how ever, still more closely defined as 'that Infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be provided in the definition of a doctrine relating to faith or morals.' Before, then, we proceed to answer the question, how far the Papal Infallibility extends over matters which concern faith or morals, the question arises how far the Infallibility of the Church extends over such matters? Without entering into the investigation of this very wide question, on which much precise information is afforded in all our great theological works, I content myself with selecting the following proposition, universally acknowledged in theology—viz. 'That even in dogmatic Decrees, Bulls, &c. &c., not all which therein occurs in any one place, not that which occurs or is mentioned incidentally, not a preface, nor what is laid down as the basis of the decree, is to be looked upon as itself[1]
- ↑ If here, as elsewhere, I make use of the term dogmatic definition on a matter of faith in the sense of the Latin words 'dogmatica definitio,' this is only for the sake of brevity. I mean by the words all the 'doctrina de fide et moribus,' following Ballerini (De vi ac Ratione Primatûs Roman. Pontif. cap. xv. § v. Veronæ, 1766, p. 312), who thus explains the expression: 'Fidei dogma, in quo continetur et morum naturalis ac divini juris doctrina.'
