THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 674, 14 May 1870, Page 2

THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE.

[to the editor.] Sir — In your paper of to-day, fourth page, and third column, there are news about which I would beg leave to make' a few remarks. The Pope is said to be determined to carry the personal infalli>bility question, even if necessary by a coup d' Eglise. There is reason to doubt the correctness of this assertion ; for, two days ago, I received news from Borne, from the Very Eev. J. Favre, who, as General of the Society of Mary, is a member of the Council. He writes:— "There is no doubt but the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope will be defined. The journal "LaCivittaCattolica" has been authorised to treat the question " ex prpfesso." Three petitions have been framed by the Fathers of the Council to ask and urge the infallibility of the Sovereign Pontiff, and these petitions bear ihe signatures of more than 650 Bishops; " With regard to the unwillingness of the French and German Bishops to accept the so-called new dogma, suffice it to say that the German Bishops never, either as a body or individually, countenanced such a tendency ; but, on the contrary— and here I speak from personal knowledge—they all, as far as I know, ordain the infallibility of the Pope to be taught "ex cathedra " in their theological schools, of which they are the only responsible rulers and directors. "As far as the 30 French Bishops are concerned, Mgr. Maret is the only one who treats the infallibility of the Pope as an open question, and Bishop Doupanlaup, of Orleans, thoughtfully admitting the dogma in question to be an article of faith, deemß it not advisable to define the same at the present time. But one or two dissentient voices in an assembly which is composed of about one thousand Bishops, who are men of every clime and nation, cannot be looked upon as a matter of surprise. Of the seven or eight Prelates who died at Borne since the beginning of the Council, the last is the Bishop of Tarbes, in France, who, a few hours before his death, asked for the petition in favor of the infallibility of ,the Pope, and wrote on it — 'Papa est infallible ;' the Pope is infallible." From these and many other facts that (night be quoted in reference to this subject, we are to infer that very little faith, >r no faith whatever, can be put in the so rften repeated reports about dissentions iniong the Fathers of the Council. Hoping that you will be kind enough o insert these few remarks in your next 3sue. — lam, &c, T. W. Binspeid, Of the Society of Mary. ; St. Patrick's, May 12th, 1870.