the (Roman) Church or the State; 29 to this we reply that it evades the teaching of the Roman Church that, in objective truth, there should be such union.

The issue remains: Can Roman Catholic claims be carried into effect in the modern State without substantial State nullification?

29 Cardinal Gibbons, ibid.

CHAPTER IV

THE CONSTITUTION PASTOR ÆTERNUS

On the 18th of July, 1870, the Vatican Council convened by Pope Pius IX adjourned, leaving inscribed in the fundamental law of the Roman Church the Constitution1 Pastor Eternus, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ.2 It declared the prerogative of supremacy and the prerogative of infallibility in the Pope as articles of faith of the Roman Church under the penalty of the loss of salvation. Its preamble declares it to be

"necessary to propose to the belief and acceptance of all the faithful, in accordance with the ancient and constant faith of the universal Church, the doctrine touching the institution, perpetuity and nature of the sacred Apostolic Primacy, in which is found the strength and solidity of the entire Church; and at the same time to proscribe and condemn the contrary errors so hurtful to the flock of Christ."

It will be observed that this preamble implies that nothing new is proposed in the Roman Church-but

1 C. E., vol. iv, pp. 321a-322a. Papal Constitutions are "ordinations issued by the Roman pontiffs and binding those for whom they are issued, whether they be for all the faithful or for special classes or individuals. . . . The binding force of pontifical constitutions, even without the acceptance of the Church, is beyond question." 2 This Constitution is set forth in appendix I hereto, pp. 281-291.

...

only that which is in accordance with "the ancient and constant faith of the universal Church."

We would refer to certain points in the Constitution of special importance.

Chapter I deals with the institution of the Apostolic Primacy in Peter. It concludes with the Canon:

"If, anyone, therefore, shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was not appointed the Prince of the Apostles and the visible head of the whole Church Militant, or that the same directly and immediately received from the same our Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of honour only, and not of true and proper jurisdiction; let him be anathema."

The Primacy in Peter is, in Roman Catholic claims and theory, the supreme episcopal jurisdiction of the Pope as pastor and governor of the universal Church.3 Jurisdiction is defined as the right to rule the Church of God. It connotes obviously a supreme power that is sovereignty. It is this claim to a Primacy of Jurisdiction that has separated the rest of the Christian world from Rome. A large part of those separated from Rome would, it has often been said, acknowledge the Primacy of Honor which the Constitution expressly anathematizes; but they regard the Primacy of Jurisdiction as a factititous accretion imposed by Latin Christianity upon a valid and Scriptural Primacy of Honor. The Primacy of Jurisdiction is distinctly a Papal claim. The claim of the sovereignty of the Pope

3 C. E., vol. xii, p. 423 d.

4 Ibid., vol. viii, p. 567 a.

5 Life of George Tyrrell, vol. ii, p. 413: " I believe in

had destroyed the unity of the Church and separated it into East and West, Roman and Protestant. But nevertheless the Vatican Council by the Constitution in question reasserted that sovereignty making the Primacy of Jurisdiction an article of faith, a belief that can be rejected only under the penalty of eternal damnation.6

Chapter II deals with the Perpetuity of the Primacy in the Roman Pontiffs as the successors of St. Peter, and concludes with the Canon:

"If, then, anyone shall say that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter has a perpetual line of successors in the primacy over the universal Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy; let him be anathema."

Chapter III treats of the Power and Nature of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff. It is with this chapter that this discussion is particularly concerned. It declares:

"Hence We teach and declare that by the appointment of our Lord the Roman Church possesses a sovereignty of ordinary power over all other Churches, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; to which all, of whatsoever rite and dignity, both pastors and faithful, both individually and collectively, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination and true the Roman Church so far as it is Christian and Catholic; I disbelieve in it so far as it is papal."

• Appendix I, p. 286 infra,

obedience, to submit, not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world; so that the Church of Christ may be one flock under one supreme pastor, through the preservation of unity, both of communion and of profession of the same faith, with the Roman pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salvation."

7

Chapter III in its third paragraph asserts that such power in the Supreme Pontiff is not prejudicial to the power of the bishops in the Church, but is rather its strength and protection. As it deprives the bishops of all direct jurisdiction and subjects them wholly to the Pope the conclusion suggests points of difficulty.8

The fourth paragraph of Chapter III declares it follows from the supreme power asserted that, in the exercise of his office, the Pope has the right of free communication with the pastors of the whole Church, and with their flocks, "that they may be taught and ruled by him in the way of salvation." It condemns the opinions of those who hold that such communications can lawfully be impeded; or who make it subject to the will of the secular power, so as to maintain that whatever is done by the Apostolic See for the government of the Church cannot have force or value unless it be confirmed by the secular power.

The fifth paragraph, Chapter III,10 declares that 7 Appendix I, p. 286.

8 The relation of the Pope to the episcopate at large is considered in chapter VIII, p. 149 infra.

9 Appendix I, p. 286.

10 Appendix I, p. 286,