Kitabı oku: «Letters From Rome on the Council», sayfa 2

The Council. (Allg. Zeit., Aug. 19, 1869.)

If the present situation in regard to the Council is considered, the triumph of the Jesuit ultramontane party there appears highly probable. The demonstration of the Rhenish Catholics has as yet assumed no larger dimensions, and will evidently gain nothing by the projected Catholic meeting at Düsseldorf; for not only is red-hot ultramontanism a decisive obstacle, but the widely growing and deepening religious indifference hinders men from taking any part in movements based on a spirit of loyalty to the Church. In Rome, accordingly, little notice is taken of the movement, and satisfaction is felt at the prospect of expelling this mischievous liberal element from the Church, because then it is hoped the kernel which remains true may be more boldly dealt with. Our German ultramontane press, which lost no time in making a bitter and contemptuous attack on the address of the Rhenish Catholics, is therein only the exponent of the mind of the Curia. Meanwhile the German Bishops are preparing themselves to commit an act of doctrinal and ecclesiastical suicide, by renouncing for ever their long obscured but not as yet surrendered rank and authority as supreme judges of faith.⁶ Two of them, Bishops Ketteler of Mayence and Fessler of St. Pölten, have already pronounced in separate works for the infallibility of the Pope.

The diplomatic action of Prince Hohenlohe in regard to the Council has indeed created for the time a sensation, which still continues among the States interested in the matter, and which eventually culminated in the desire to obtain further information about the propositions to be submitted for the acceptance of the assembled Bishops, but even the representative of France has been baffled by the arts of the Curia. When, in June, M. Banneville put the decisive question whether they were not prepared to deny the alarming rumours as to the propositions to be laid before the Council, and to take immediate steps for facilitating the representation of Catholic States in the Council through ambassadors of their own, Antonelli replied that he had no knowledge of what was going on in the Commissions, but as to the second point, the Church in her present changed relations with Catholic States, which sometimes persecute her and sometimes put her on an equality with other religious bodies, could not take the initiative. M. Banneville, who had simply spoken of the presence of an ambassador at the Council, but had said nothing of his rights, stated that this conversation had “profoundly humiliated him.” Thenceforth the Court of Rome was the more confirmed in its resolve to keep out diplomatists from the Council. To an indirect question as to the admission of an ambassador from non-Catholic States, which have a large Catholic population, an instant negative was returned. The quarrel of the Austrian Government with the Bishop of Linz has given a further impulse in the same direction, for then Antonelli began to declare more openly that it was indeed possible, but not likely, that any ambassadors would be admitted, till now at last he makes no secret of its being out of the question for Rome, under existing circumstances, to think of allowing Governments to be represented. It would not be feasible, he opines, to admit France alone, and what other Catholic States are there that have not already disqualified themselves for taking part in the Council? Thus by degrees France too is gently thrust aside with her inquiries and demands, and the only question is whether Napoleon's Government will be content with this. Unless the clerical party in France itself causes the Emperor to assume an attitude of opposition to the Jesuit ultramontane programme of the Council, there is not much to be expected from him, since in view of the internal difficulties his Government at present has to contend with, he is obliged to take that party into account as an important factor in his calculations.

The Jesuits work assiduously in France, as well as Germany, to form a propaganda for the projected dogmas, and to familiarize men's minds with the idea that absolute certainty and inerrancy are only to be found with one man, viz., the Pope. Bouix in Paris, and Christophe at Lyons, have, with the Monde, and Univers, already most urgently inculcated on the Bishops what “good Catholics” expect of them in regard to the acclamation. But, with the exception of the Bishop of Nîmes, none of them have openly adhered to the Jesuit programme of the Council; on the contrary, the attitude of the French episcopate is perhaps at this hour the only black speck on the horizon of the Curia. And in fact with them rests the decision in the present ecclesiastical crisis. To the French episcopate it belongs to show that they still preserve the great traditions of internal freedom in the Church, newly brought to light since the mediæval reforming Councils by French theologians, and thenceforth always conspicuously represented among them, and that they are filled with the spirit of Bossuet, who did not confound loyalty to the Church with blind devotion to unfounded claims of the Pope, but understood it to mean, above all things, loyalty to the ancient spirit and original institution of the Church.

But there are good grounds for hoping that at least a majority of the French Bishops will constitute a free-spoken opposition at the Council; the two French theologians Freppel and Trullet, as well as Cardinal Bonnechose, are said to have exercised a most powerful influence in this direction.⁷ The latter openly complains that words of moderation are not listened to in Rome, and that, up to this time, giving any definite declarations of a reassuring nature has been avoided. He is understood to have said plainly that the great majority of the French episcopate wished to keep peace with the State, and would lend no hand to the sanctioning of extreme tendencies. It is even rumoured that a collective remonstrance of the French Bishops on the notions prevalent at Rome is already contemplated, but has not yet been able to be carried out on account of some hesitation about the mode of action. Much may be hoped from Dupanloup's attitude at the Council; in him freedom of discussion and voting is sure to find a representative equally bold and eloquent.

But even the opposition of the French Bishops will produce no results, if the decisions of the Council are to depend on majorities, for there can be no doubt that Rome may safely count on the great majority upholding her designs. We should have a repetition of what occurred in the Doctrinal Commission, when the question of Infallibility came before it, and a Monsignore and titular Bishop, residing in Rome, produced a memorial intended to prove that this high prerogative of the Pope had been the abiding faith of the Church all along, and arguing from this belief for the opportuneness of promulgating the new dogma, on the ground especially, among others, that at no period had the Bishops been so devoted to the Holy See as now. It is natural to expect of men so submissive, and so ready to follow every hint of the Papal will, that they should joyfully seize the occasion for offering this grand homage also to the Pope. This was so conclusive to the Committee that they all decided at once, without any discussion, for the promulgation of the new dogma. Only one of the two German theologians, Alzog of Freiburg, opposed it; Schwetz of Vienna, on the other hand, fully agreed. For Rome, therefore, the question is settled, and whoever is otherwise minded at once forfeits his character for Catholic orthodoxy.

Nor is there any more doubt about making the Syllabus dogmatic, for Roman prelates, who wish to have the character of being very enlightened, openly affirm that the propositions contained in it might already be regarded as dogmas. And it is stated on the best authority, even by high dignitaries themselves, that the whole of the seventeen questions laid before the assembled episcopate by Cardinal Caterini at the time of the Centenary, are to come before the Council for discussion, on the basis of the opinions then transmitted by the Bishops to Rome. And as a considerable number of these questions concern the relations of Church and State —e. g., civil marriage, the relations of Bishops to the civil power, etc., – it is clear enough what credit is to be given to the assurances that the Council will not deal with any matter that could involve the Church in conflict with the State. It was found almost necessary, after public opinion had been alarmed by the Civiltà, to change the method of procedure. It was either expressly denied that the Council would deal with such matters as the Civiltà had indicated, or it was said that even in Rome what subjects would come on for discussion and decision was unknown, since the intentions of the Bishops, at present scattered over all parts of the world, were not known, and on the general ground that the decisions of a Council acting under Divine guidance cannot be conjectured beforehand. As if the recent Provincial Synods, and the answers of the Bishops to the questions laid before them by Caterini, had not supplied Rome with a perfectly clear understanding of their views! As if it was not notorious that the work the Council was desired to accomplish had been already cut out for it in detail in the preparatory Congregations!

Now, at length, if we may trust a communication dated from Rome in the Donau Zeitung, the authorities seem inclined to abandon this system of playing at hide-and-seek with the public, and find it necessary, in some measure at least, to lift the mask from their designs for the Council. Pius ix. himself is said no longer to make any secret of his intention to bring forward the question of Infallibility; but he declares that the Council will be left entirely free in discussing and deciding on it, and that it will only be raised to a dogma if a large majority pronounce for it. And with this agrees a recent statement of Antonelli, made in the teeth of his earlier declarations, that the Holy Father will meet the Council with positive proposals of his own, and that no doubt can be allowed as to the acceptance of his authority. This last clause shows what is meant in Rome by the so-called freedom to be enjoyed by the Council. If then that freedom is all of a sudden pointedly dwelt on, this is only one of the devices of the Curia for hoodwinking public opinion, just as eminent theologians of liberal tendencies were summoned to the previous Commissions, which were none the less occupied with duties of a precisely opposite kind.

It may be conceived that loyal but far-sighted Catholics, like Montalembert, are profoundly afflicted at the course things are taking in questions of decisive interest for the authority and the whole future of the Church, The religious indifference of the age will prevent any open schism in the Catholic Church, but the internal apostasy will be all the more extensive. All modern culture will separate itself in spirit from the Church, which has nothing but anathemas for the development of the human mind. And when an Œcumenical Council, which is the highest teaching authority in the Church, degenerates into the instrument of an extreme party, and sanctions doctrines in glaring contradiction to the teaching and history of the Church, the very foundation on which the confidence of faith has hitherto reposed is undermined and destroyed. And thus the ever growing rejection of Christianity will be powerfully strengthened, so that even believing Protestants watch with sorrow an Œcumenical Council preparing to compromise its authority. Very different, of course, is the view of men like Manning and Ward, who fancy the definition of Papal Infallibility will be a short and easy way for restoring their countrymen to the bosom of the Catholic Church. Pius ix. himself is indeed convinced that he is only building up the Church and crowning her work in placing the dogma of Infallibility on it as a cupola.

It has been thought fit by statesmen to exercise no constraint on the designs of the Curia, but to await its decisions, and afterwards, if they should be menacing to political interests, to employ measures of repression. This conduct cannot, of course, accord with the mind of believing Catholics who are not ultramontanes, as it leaves their obligations towards those articles of faith untouched, and cannot annul the definitions for their consciences. But the question arises, whether from a political point of view this expedient must not be pronounced a mistake. Consider the dangerous influence conciliar decrees provoking hostility against the modern State and its civilisation may exert on those numerous classes, which are always in the hands of the clergy, and form an important factor in the life of the State. Consider, again, what is to be expected in this respect of a clergy who, as everything serves to indicate, will hereafter more than ever before be alienated from all modern culture, on the express ground of the decrees of the approaching Council, educated in a spirit of hostility to the State, and made into a mere passive instrument of Rome. It is difficult to exaggerate the conflicts between Church and State that may be expected to follow.

The Fulda Pastoral. (Allg. Zeit., Sept. 25, 1869.)

The Pastoral which the Bishops assembled at Fulda ordered to be read in all the Churches under their jurisdiction is an important document. It reflects the excited and abnormal state of feeling prevalent among Catholics, since the Jesuits, and some Prelates allied with them, have announced the design of using the Council for proclaiming new dogmas, especially that of Papal Infallibility. “Even among loyal and zealous members of the Church,” say the Bishops, “anxieties calculated to weaken confidence are being excited.” The object and main substance of their Pastoral is directed to allaying those anxieties, and assuring German Catholics that their Bishops at least will not assent to the projected dogmas. They have solemnly pledged their word, before the whole nation, that they will avouch at the Council the three following principles —first, “That the Council can establish no new dogmas, or any others than are written by faith and conscience on all your (German Catholics') hearts;” secondly, “That a General Council never will or can proclaim a new doctrine not contained in Holy Scripture or Apostolic Tradition;” thirdly, That only “the old and original truth will be set in clearer light.”

This indeed is very re-assuring. The Jesuits have proclaimed that the bodily Assumption of the Holy Virgin and the Infallibility of the Pope are to be made dogmas at the Council. The Bishops are aware that the two Jesuit organs, the Civiltà, and Rheinischen Stimmen, from the Monastery of Laach, as well as the Archbishop of Mechlin (Deschamps), and Bishop Plantier of Nîmes, have put forward the erection of Papal Infallibility into a dogma of the Universal Church. Moreover, the assembly at Fulda knew well enough that the preliminary materials for this definition were already prepared at Rome. Now nobody will seriously maintain that these two opinions are written by faith and conscience on the heart of every Catholic, or are doctrines contained in Scripture and Tradition, and ancient and original truths. The Pastoral therefore contains a promise, worded with all the distinctness that could be desired, that, so far as it depends on the votes of the German Bishops, the yoke of the new articles of faith shall not be laid on the German nation.

The German Bishops cannot of course pledge themselves beforehand for the whole Council, for they will have at most only about 25 votes at their disposal – a small number in an assembly of 400 or 500 bishops. But if these 25 votes, which represent nearly eighteen million Catholics, and the whole of a great nation, remain united and firm, they are a guarantee that the new dogmas will not be decreed. For it is not majorities or minorities that decide on dogmas, but the Church requires the actual or approximate unanimity of the whole assembly. And it may be assumed as probable that the Austrian Bishops will not separate themselves from their German colleagues in these weighty questions, except, of course, the Bishop of St. Pölten, who already openly declares himself for the principal new dogma, and will therefore no doubt vote for it. It may, moreover, be confidently asserted that a considerable portion of the French Bishops will unite with the German Opposition against the new dogmas. And an Opposition so numerous and so compact will make it impossible for the Latin Prelates to carry through their pet doctrines, powerful as they may appear, if their votes are counted and not weighed.

From another point of view, too, the Pastoral is noteworthy and gratifying. It markedly discountenances that pessimism which for some thirty years past has characterized Papal documents, and which gave occasion to the observation that Pius ix. and his predecessor whine whenever they talk Latin. Occurrences in Italy, Spain, and Germany, and the history of the Austrian Concordat, with many other things, have led most of the clerical organs to take a gloomy view of the state of the world; and we frequently find them maintaining that a universal overthrow of the whole order of society in the Christian world, a universal deluge, is inevitable, but that the ship of the Church, the one asylum of safety, will float, like the ark, upon the waves, and then will begin a new order of things, and new period of history corresponding to the ultramontane ideal. In sharp antithesis to these gloomy pictures and predictions, the Bishops declare, first, that throughout the world the kingdom of God increases with fresh vigour, and brings forth fruit; secondly, that all attacks on the Church, and sufferings brought upon her, work for her good; and thirdly, that religious and ecclesiastical life is strengthened. Such a view as this is better calculated to arouse and sustain attachment to the Church and confidence in her indestructible powers of life and providential guidance than the opposite view, which exhibits to Catholics everywhere nothing but the humiliation of their Church and the triumph of her enemies.

The Bishops and the Council. (Allg. Zeit., Nov. 19 and 20, 1869.)

As the moment for the opening of the Council approaches, the excitement and disquiet, not only of Catholics but of all who concern themselves with the movements of the day, increases in view of so important an event. For the notion that the Council is merely an internal affair of the Catholic Church, and that its decrees will be confined to the sphere of the religious conscience, will be accepted by nobody who has heard of the projects entertained by the Curia, and who is not ignorant of the close connection of the Church with the culture of modern life, and the powerful position this gives her in the State and in the social order generally.

We may safely state that the Fathers of the Council are already divided into two camps, and that anxiety and painful uncertainty prevail in both of them. The occurrences of the last few weeks have brought out their opposite views and designs into sharp contrast. It is now known in Rome that a considerable number of Northern Bishops are not disposed to accept the rôle assigned to them of simple assent to ready-made decrees, and that the German Bishops, except those trained by the Jesuits, most decisively object to making new articles of faith. Many Bishops also dread the far-reaching consequences of Papal Infallibility, and the retrospective effects of the new dogma, and they know that the establishment of such doctrines would drive the educated classes of the country, if not into open schism, to an internal and lamentable breach with the Church. Accordingly, remonstrances have been forwarded to the Pope from three quarters – from the Prelates of Hungary, Bohemia, and Germany, – expressing the most emphatic desire that the Council should not be forced to any decision on Papal Infallibility, or on matters affecting the relations of Church and State, in the sense of the Syllabus. What reception this document met with in Rome may readily be divined from the great astonishment the Fulda Pastoral is known to have excited there, when a translation of it was laid before the Pope. It is now thought politic in Rome to deny the existence of these letters of remonstrance, but they have taken such effect that the highest authorities begin to hesitate, and ask themselves the question whether they have not gone too far in their confident assurance of victory. The idea of being able to carry the Infallibility dogma off-hand by acclamation seems at least to have been abandoned. It is understood that some less summary method of gaining their object must be resorted to, if it is to be gained at all. And hence at the last moment they have begun to look out for some Council Chamber where the Bishops may discuss the matters to be decided upon, for the chapels appropriated to the Council in St. Peter's are only designed for solemn sessions.⁸ It is said in Rome that the pungent remark of a Cardinal to the Holy Father has had something to do with the change of the original scheme of an acclamation. Pius ix. had asked his opinion as to the most effective way of carrying the decrees, and he replied, that obviously the theatrical effect would be greater if there was no debating, but simply decision by acclamation, as though by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And thus the hope of getting the Council over in three weeks is also given up, and it is now expected to last to the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.

The drawing up of the letter of remonstrance at Fulda is said not to have been such plain sailing. The Pastoral originally sketched out by Heinrich, Canon of Mayence, but to which important additions were made subsequently, was subscribed by all the Bishops, even those who had been pupils of the Jesuits, who consoled themselves with the belief that the dogma of Infallibility did exactly combine the conditions specified there as requisite for a dogmatic decree, and was really scriptural, primitive, and written on the hearts of all good Catholics. So their Jesuit masters had taught and assured them. But the secret document sent to the Pope had necessarily to be more explicit, and though it was limited to pointing out how inopportune the definition of new dogmas, especially of Papal Infallibility, would be, that was precisely opposite to what the Jesuitizers among the Bishops were convinced of. The Jesuits themselves lose no opportunity of proclaiming that nothing can be more opportune than this dogma, and from their own point of view they may be right enough, for the rich and ripe fruits of the dogma would fall into their own laps, and would help the Society to absolute dominion over science, literature, and education within the Catholic Church. The proposed dogma would give canonical authority to the Jesuit theology, and identify it with the doctrine of the Church, and the Order, or the spirit of the Order, would always be required for teaching and vindicating the new system. The Bishops of Paderborn and Würzburg therefore refused to sign, and the representative of the Bishop of Spires followed their example.

The scruples of these Northern Bishops were so utterly unexpected that they must have created great surprise at Rome. Their informant in the matter of the Infallibility dogma had assured the authorities, in the teeth of the Northern Prelates, and with the full concurrence of all the members of the Commission, that no fitter or more favourable time could be found for establishing the new dogma, for at no former period could the Court of Rome reckon so securely on the unconditional devotion of the Bishops, nor was there ever a time when they were so ready as at this moment to surrender before the Pope all exercise of their own judgment or independent examination. The remonstrances of the Hungarian, Bohemian, and German Bishops have of course poured water into this wine, to the no small astonishment and indignation of the Roman Prelates, with whom it is an axiom that nobody is a good Christian who does not believe the infallibility of the Pope as firmly as the divine mission and truthfulness of Christ. Accordingly, the Correspondance de Rome cast in the teeth of Prince Hohenlohe, that since all true Catholics already hold the infallibility of the Pope when speaking ex cathedrâ, a decree of the Council will only confirm what is universally known and believed.⁹ Let those good souls who flatter themselves that the Civiltà, with its expectations and demands, stands alone, weigh well the utterances of so well-known a journal.

The Austrian Bishops have not thought it well to follow the example of their Hungarian, Bohemian, and German colleagues. One of them, Dr. Fessler, is notoriously the most determined advocate of the whole ultramontane system, and was the first Bishop to declare the definition of the new dogma to be at once a natural and suitable work for the Council. His services were promptly rewarded; he is already named chief secretary of the Council, and his hand will press heavily on its decrees. The Curia may congratulate itself on its choice. The silence of the Austrian Bishops is further explained by the differences of opinion among them about the questions coming before the Council.

In their secret letters the Northern Bishops have opposed the new definition only as being inopportune, and it is known that the French Opposition Bishops mean to take the same ground. But it deserves careful consideration whether this line of action can be really tenable or effective at the Council. Surely it may be certainly foreseen that the far more numerous, and, from its determined attitude, stronger party on the other side will answer, “If your only objection to the dogma is that it is unsuited for the times, you thereby admit its truth; for if you thought it doubtful or erroneous, you must have opposed the definition on that ground. By not venturing to assail its truth, you deprive your objection to its opportuneness of all weight, for when was ever a religious truth, on which eternal salvation depends, suppressed on such a ground as this? Does this holding back, inspired merely by fear of men, correspond to the ancient spirit and lofty mission of the Church? How many of her doctrines would she have dared to proclaim if she had chosen to wait on the approval of the age? Rather, for that very reason, must religious truths be loudly and emphatically proclaimed, when a contrary opinion is growing among men, because thereby an insidious heresy is marked out and judged by the supreme authority in the Church. Your plea of inopportuneness is therefore a fresh and urgent ground for adhering firmly to the solemn definition of Infallibility by the Council.”

How far better then would it be if these Prelates were to declare simply and directly, what the German Bishops have indeed said in their Pastoral, but, of course, in general terms only, and without express mention of the Infallibilist hypothesis; “This doctrine possesses none of the requisite conditions of an article of faith; it has no guarantee either of Scripture or Tradition, and no roots in the conscience and religious mind of the Christian world.” Such a line would be incomparably worthier of the Bishops, and would make their position far stronger and more unassailable. Instead of letting themselves, as is intended, be yoked, like willing prisoners, to the triumphal chariot of the sole infallible and sole defining Pope and lord, they would be making a beginning for the revendication of their ancient apostolical rights, which the Papacy has sequestered or robbed them of. They would be asserting, by implication, that the Papacy and the Church are not identical, and therefore that the Church cannot be made responsible for all decrees and actions of the Popes. Half-and-half courses, and false piety, in the tremendous crisis the Catholic Church is now entering upon, are not only powerless but fatal. And this half-heartedness, which looks only too like fear, will make the Ultramontane and Jesuit party all the bolder and stronger in their plans. And they continue still as firm as the rock of Peter. In the number for Oct. 2, p. 64, the Civiltà maintains, against a new French paper, the Avenir Catholique, that the relation of the Bishops assembled in Council to the Pope is simply one of most absolute subjection and obedience to Papal commands, and declares, on the authority of Ferraris, who is a classical authority at Rome, what is meant by præsidentia auctoritativa, viz., the Pope's right, not only to decide on everything, but to coerce all opponents, by ecclesiastical censures – excommunication, suspension, and deposition – and other judicial means.¹⁰ If the Pope strikes down every contradiction or refusal of a Bishop at once, with the thunderbolt of his anathemas, according to the Civiltà he no more violates the freedom belonging to the Fathers of the Council, than a man who keeps within his own rights in his dealings violates his neighbour's rights of property. We must remember, as to this definition of freedom, that the logic of the Jesuits has always gone its own way without troubling itself with the logic of the rest of mankind.

It deserves notice, however, that two months before the opening of the Council the Jesuits had traced out for the Bishops the extent and nature of the freedom they are to enjoy there. They do their part frankly enough in dispelling any illusion on the subject. If any complaint from the Bishops should be heard in Rome, such as was made by the Spanish and French Bishops at Trent, the Curia can reply that they were told all this beforehand. The Civiltà has the most direct sources of information, and may therefore be safely trusted when it says, in a recent number, “We are not the authors of the Papal thoughts, nor does Pius ix. speak and act under our inspiration, but we are certainly the faithful echo of the Holy See.” And, as an echo of the Pope, the Civiltà, in its last number, p. 182, gives a more precise explanation or statement of the infallibility of ex cathedrâ decisions, as extending, not only to all dogmas, but to “all truths and doctrines connected with the various kinds of revealed dogmas, and so to all sentences and decrees concerning the common weal of the Church, her rights and discipline.” In truth, if the Bishops don't even yet see the precipice to the edge of which they have been led step by step for years, and which they are just going to spring into, that is no fault of the Roman Jesuits, who have honestly done what they could to open their eyes. It is therefore to be earnestly wished that the Civiltà may be read and well weighed as widely as possible, for then one may hope they will be “forewarned, forearmed.” They have certainly had no lack of signs and warning voices, who are expected and are willing to subscribe the intended decrees of the Council. “The true echo of the Holy See” proclaims to the world that every Pope is, ever has been, and ever will be infallible, first, when he teaches or maintains anything in any way connected with revealed truths of faith or morals; secondly, when he decrees anything affecting the welfare, rights, or discipline of the Church. Clearly therefore, henceforth the question will be, not in what cases the Pope is infallible, but what are the few cases where he is not infallible. He, as being infallible, will have the first and only right to determine what is the welfare of the Church, and what it requires. And since, in the whole range of public life, of politics and science, there is scarcely anything not permanently or incidentally connected with the weal of the Church, and with its real or assumed rights and discipline, he will have it in his power to make every secular question a Church question. For it must certainly be anathematized as an error, as the Syllabus says, to affirm that the Pope has exceeded the limits of his power. How can he possibly do so on this theory? He is infallible alike in the definition of doctrine and in its application to concrete cases. He is therefore always right in every claim and every decision, and whoever opposes him, or does not at once unconditionally submit, is always wrong. Whatever demand he makes of any State or Sovereign, whatever law or constitution he abrogates, he must at once be obeyed, for he acts for the good of the Church, and he, as being infallible, can alone judge and settle what that is. The episcopate and clergy must blindly submit to his infallible guidance and serve dutifully under his banner, when he proclaims war against a State, or an institution.