Note 396:1 — Chapter XXI

So (for example) Bishop O'Gorman, "The Roman Catholics," p. 434. And yet, at the time, the bull with its appendix was certainly looked upon as "an act of infallibility." See, in "La Bulle Quanta Cura et la Civilisation Moderne, par l'Abbé Pélage" (Paris, 1865), the utterances of all the French bishops. The language of Bishop Plantier of Poitiers seems decisive: "The Vicar of Jesus Christ, doctor and pastor charged with the teaching and ruling of the entire church, addressed to the bishops, and through them to all the Christian universe, instructions, the object of which is to settle the mind and enlighten the conscience on sundry points of Christian doctrine and morals" (pp. 103, 104). See also pp. 445, 450. This brings it within the Vatican Council's definition of an infallible utterance. But we are bound to bear in mind that not only is the infallible authority of this manifesto against "progress, liberalism, and modern civilization" disclaimed, but the meaning of it, which seems unmistakably clear, is disputed. "The syllabus," says Bishop O'Gorman, "is technical and legal in its language, ... and needs to be interpreted to the lay reader by the ecclesiastical lawyer" (p. 435).

A seriously important desideratum in theological literature is some authoritative canon of the infallible utterances of the Roman see. It is difficult to fix on any one of them the infallible authority of which is not open to dispute within the church itself; while the liability of them to misinterpretation (as in the case of the Quanta Cura and Syllabus) brings in still another element of vagueness and uncertainty.