Johann Döllinger - Letters From Rome on the Council

These Letters of the Council originated in the following way. Three friends in Rome were in the habit of communicating to one another what they heard from persons intimately acquainted with the proceedings of the Council. Belonging as they did to different stations and different classes of life, and having already become familiar, before the opening of the Council, through long residence in Rome, with the state of things and with persons there, and being in free and daily intercourse with some members of the Council, they were very favourably situated for giving a true report as well of the proceedings as of the views of those who took part in it. Their letters were addressed to a friend in Germany, who added now and then historical explanations to elucidate the course of events, and then forwarded them to the Allgemeine Zeitung .

Much the authors of these Letters could only communicate, because the Bishops themselves, from whose mouth or hand they obtained their materials, were desirous of securing publicity for them in this way, That there should be occasional inaccuracies of detail in matters of subordinate importance was inevitable in drawing up reports which had to be composed as the events occurred, and not seldom had only rumours or conjectures to rest upon. But on the whole we can safely affirm that no substantial error has crept in, and that these reports supply as faithful a portrait as can be given of this Council, so eventful in its bearings on the future history of the Catholic Church, and not only conscientiously exhibit its outward course, but in some degree unveil those more secret and hidden movements whereby the definition of the new dogma of infallibility was brought about. If it were necessary here to adduce testimonies for the truth of these reports, we might appeal to the actual sequence of events, which has so often and so clearly confirmed our predictions and our estimate of the persons concerned and their motives, as well as to the Letters and other works of the Bishops, whether published with or without their names.

This collection of Letters then is the best authority for the history of the Vatican Council. No later historian of the Council will be able to dispense with them, and the Liberal Catholic Opposition, whose ecclesiastical conscience protests against the imposition of dogmas effected by all kinds of crooked arts and appliances of force, will find here the most serviceable weapons for combating the legitimacy of the Council.

In order to preserve the original character of the Letters, as a chronicle accurately reflecting the opinions and feelings of the Bishops of the minority, they are published now in a complete collection without any change, with the exception of a few corrections here and there in a foot-note. Some articles from the Allgemeine Zeitung are prefixed to the Letters, which have an important bearing on the previous history of the Council; 1 1 [It may be well to add, to preclude misconceptions, that both Letters and Articles are exclusively the work of Catholics. – Tr.] and an appendix is subjoined containing documents partly serving to throw a further light on the history of the Council and partly to corroborate our statements.

September 1870.

Cardinal Antonelli is said on good authority to have replied very lately to the question of the ambassador of a Northern Government, that it is certainly intended to have the dogma of Papal Infallibility proclaimed at the ensuing Council; and, moreover, as this has long been the belief of all good Catholics, that there would be no difficulty about the definition. It by no means follows, if this report is correct, that the importance of the new principle of faith to be created is not well understood at Rome. The Civiltà Cattolica leaves no room for doubt that one of its principal effects is already distinctly kept in view, and that a further principle, which again must involve an indefinite series of consequences, is being deliberately aimed at. 2 2 The weight to be attached to the Civiltà on all questions connected with the Council may be gathered from the Brief of Pius ix. of Feb. 12, 1866, printed in the Civiltà , Serie vi. vol. vi. pp. 7-15. The Pope declares that this journal, expressly intrusted with the defence of religion and with teaching and disseminating the authority and claims of the Roman See, is to be written and edited by a special staff to be named by the General of the Jesuits, who are to have a special house and revenues of their own. The previous censorship, as is known in Rome, is exercised with particular care, so that nothing appears without the approbation of the Curia . In the number for April 3, it has spoken with full approval, with reference to the approaching Council, of the famous Bull of Boniface viii., Unam Sanctam , doubly confirmed by Papal authority, and addressed as a supreme decision on faith to the whole ecclesiastical world, and treats it as self-evident that all the contents of the Bull, with other doctrinal decrees issued throughout the Church, will come into full force after the Council, and thenceforth form the basis of Catholic doctrine on the relations of Church and State. The maxims that will have to be adopted, as well by the learned as in popular instruction, when once Papal Infallibility has been defined, are these: —

The two powers, the temporal and spiritual, are in the hands of the Church, i. e. the Pope, who permits the former to be administered by kings and others, but only under his guidance and during his good pleasure ( ad nutum et potentiam sacerdotis ). It belongs to the spiritual power, according to the Divine commission and plenary jurisdiction bestowed on Peter, to appoint, and, if cause arise, to judge the temporal; and whoever opposes its regulations rebels against the ordinance of God.

In a word, the absolute dominion of the Church over the State will next year come into force as a principle of Catholic faith, and become a factor to be reckoned with by every Commonwealth or State that has Catholic inhabitants; and by “Church” in this system must always be understood the Pope, and the Bishops who act under absolute control of the Pope.

From the moment therefore when Papal Infallibility is proclaimed by the Council, the relations of all Governments to the Church are fundamentally changed. The Roman See is brought into the same position towards other States which it now occupies towards Italy in regard to the provinces formerly belonging to the States of the Church. All States find themselves, strictly speaking, in an attitude of permanent revolt against their lawful and divinely ordained suzerain, the Pope. He indeed on his side can and will tolerate much which properly ought not to be – for it has long been recognised in Rome that right, even though divine, by no means implies the duty of always exercising it. In numberless cases silence will be observed, or some such formula adopted as that of the Austrian Concordat, art. 14: “Temporum ratione habitâ Sua Sanctitas haud impedit,” etc. But that must only be understood “during good behaviour,” or so long as the times do not change or it seems expedient. In conscience every Catholic is bound to be guided, in the first instance, in political and social questions, by the directions or known will of his supreme lord and master the Pope, and of course, in the event of a conflict between his own Government and the Papal, to side with the latter. No Government therefore can hereafter count on the loyalty and obedience of its Catholic subjects, unless its measures and acts are such as to secure the sanction, or agreement of the Pope. As to non-Catholic Governments, moreover, the former declarations of Popes against heretical princes, which receive fresh life from the dogma of Infallibility, come into full force. If it is already a common complaint that in countries where the Government or the majority are Protestant, Catholics are treated with suspicion when they take any part in the service of the State, and are purposely excluded from the higher and more important posts, how will this be after the Council?