e judgment
of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is none greater, is
not to be called in question, nor is it lawful for any one to judge
its judgment. Therefore, those wander from the right path of truth who
affirm that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman
Pontiffs to an Ecumenical Council, as to an authority superior to the
Roman Pontiff."
"If any one, therefore, shall say that the Roman Pontiff has only the
office of inspection or direction, but not full and supreme power of
jurisdiction over the Universal Church, not only in the things which
pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which pertain to the
discipline and government of the Church diffused throughout the whole
world, or that he has only the principal place (_potiores partes_),
and not the whole plenitude of the supreme power, or that this, his
power, is not ordinary and immediate, whether over all and each of the
Churches, or over all and each of the pastors and faithful, let him be
anathema!"
5. Since the Church is a perfect society, spread throughout the entire
world, with one supreme ruler at its head, it follows that it must be
endowed with all the means requisite for the carrying out of its
mission. Christ was sent, by His Eternal Father, from Heaven with full
powers. "All power is given me in heaven and in earth"; and these
powers He handed on to His Church. "As the Father hath sent Me, so I
also send you" (John xx. 21). Hence the Popes are, to use Scriptural
phraseology, "ambassadors for Christ; God, as it were, exhorting by
them" (2 Cor. v. 20); and no Catholic dare contest their power or
jurisdiction.
Indeed, it would have been hopelessly impossible to carry on the
government of the Church and to maintain unity amongst its
ever-increasing numbers, if there were no supreme authority ready to
assert itself; to correct errors; to resist abuses; and to restrain
those who might introduce dissensions and differences. Of this fact,
the present deplorable chaotic state of the Anglican and other
non-Catholic Churches offers us abundant and forcible illustrations.
From the very first the One True Church has not only taught, but
ruled; not only spoken, but acted. And when any of her subjects have
proved obstreperous and disobedient, and stubborn in their resistance
to her orders, she has invariably turned them out of her fold, so that
they should not infect and contaminate the good and the loyal. It was
in this sens
|