condemned what was called the Henrician heresy: namely, that not only temporal but spiritual things are subject to emperors and kings. In the Acts of the Synod we read: 'When all were seated according to their order, the decrees of the Holy Fathers concerning the Primacy of the Apostolic See were produced: namely, that it is allowed to none to revise its judgment, and to sit in judgment upon what it has judged; which, by the public profession of the whole Synod, was approved and confirmed.'[1]
15. In the ninth century, that is in 863, a Council in Rome decreed as follows: 'If anyone shall despise the dogmas, commandments, interdicts, sanctions or decrees, in respect to Catholic faith, ecclesiastical discipline, correction of the faithful, the amendment of sinners, or the prevention of impending or future evils, wholesomely promulgated by him who presides in the Apostolic See, let him be anathema.'[2]
16. This canon was recognised in the eighth General Council, held at Constantinople in 869; so that the final and irreformable authority of the Roman Pontiff was recognised and declared under pain of deposition for clergy, and of excommunication for the laity until penitent.[3]
17. In the eighth century Alcuin writes to the faithful in Lyons: 'Let no Catholic dare to contend against the authority of the Church. And lest he be found to be a schismatic and not a Catholic, let him follow the approved authority of the Holy Roman
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