COUNCILS
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COUNCILS
F
conduct; He is therefore in their midst, fulfilling His
promises and leading them into the truth for which
they are striving. His presence, by cementing the
unity of the assembly into one body — His own mysti-
cal body — gives it the necessary completeness, and
makes up for any defect possibly arising from the phys-
ical absence of a certain number of bishops. The
same presence strengthens the action of the pope, so
that, as mouthpiece of the council, he can say in
truth, "it has seemed good to tlie Holy Ghost and to
us", and consequently can, and does, put the seal of
infallibility on the conciliar decree irrespective of his
own personal infallibility.
Some important consequences flow from these prin- ciples. Conciliar decrees approved by the pope have a double guarantee of infallibility: their own and that of the infallible pope. The council's dignity is, there- fore, not diminished, but increased, by the defini- tion of papal infallibility, nor does that definition imply a "circular demonstration" by which the coun- cil would make the pope infallible and the pope would render the same service to the coimcil. It should, however, be borne in mind that the council without the pope has no guarantee of infallibility, therefore the conciliar and the papal infallibilities are not two separate and addible units, but one unit with single or double excellence. An infallible statement of Divine truth is the voice of Christ speaking through the mouth of the visible head of His mystical body or in imison, in chorus, with all its members. The united voice of the whole Church has a solemnity, impressive- ness, and effectiveness, an external, circvmistantial weight, which is wanting in simple ex-cathedra pro- nouncements. It works its way into the minds and hearts of the faithful with almost irresistible force, because in the universal harmony each individual be- liever hears his own voice, is carried away by the powerful rhythm, and moved as by a Divine spell to follow the leaders. Again, the bishops who have per- sonally contributed to the definitions have, in that fact, an incentive to zeal in publishing them and en- forcing them in their dioceses; nay the council itself is an effective beginning of its execution or enforce- ment in practice. For this reason alone, the holding of most Eastern councils was a moral necessity; the great distance between East and West, the difficulty of communication, the often keen opposition of the Orientals to Old Rome made a solemn promulgation of the definitions on the spot more than desirable. No aids to effectiveness were to be neglected in that cen- tre of heresies.
These considerations further account for the great esteem in which conciliar definitions have always been held in the Church, and for the great authority they universally enjoyed without any detriment to, or diminution of, the authority of the Apostolic See. From of old it has been customary to place side by side, in the rule of faith, the authority of the councils and that of the popes as substantially the same. Thus, we read in the formula, or profession of faith, imposed by Pope Hormisdas (514-23) on the East- ern bishops implicated in the schism of Acacius: " The first [step towards] salvation is to keep the rule of orthodox [recta] faith and in no wise to deviate from the constitutions of the Fathers [i.e. councils]. But the words of Our Lord to St. Peter (Thou art Peter . . . ) cannot be passed over, for what He said has been verified by the events, since in the Apostolic See the Catholic religion has always been preserved without spot or stain. Wishing by no means to be separati'd from this hope and faith, and following the constitutions of the Fathers, we anathematize all lieri'sii's, especially the heretic Nestorius, in his time Bishop of ( 'onst.antinople, who was cnndiMuned in the Council of Kphesus by Bles.sed C'elestine, Pope of Rome, antl by Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria . . . We receive and approve all the letters of Leo, Pope,
which he wrote concerning the Christian religion, as
we have stated before, following in all things the
Apostolic See and professing [prcrdlcarites] all its con-
stitutions. And therefore I hope to be worthy to be
with you [the pope] in the one communion which this
Apostolic See professes, in which lies the entire, vera-
cious, and peaceful solidity of the Christian religion.
. . ." It should be noted that in this formula the in-
fallibility of the .\postolic See is the centre from which
radiates the infalliljility of the councils.
X. Subject Matter of Inf.\llibility. — The sub- ject matter of infallibility, or supreme judicial author- ity, is foimd in the definitions and decrees of councils, and in them alone, to the exclusion of the theological, scientific, or historical reasons upon which they are built up. These represent too much of the human element, of transient mentalities, of personal interests to claim the promise of infallibility made to the Church as a whole ; it is the sense of the unchanging Church that is infallible, not the sense of individual churchmen of any age or excellence, and that sense finds expression only in the conclusions of the council approved by the pope. Decisions referring to dogma were called in the East SiaTuTriicreis (constitutions, stat- utes) ; those concerned with discipline were termed Kavdves (canons, rules), often with the addition of T^s cvT-oJi'as (of discipline, or good order). The ex- pressions deiTfwl and Upoi apply to both, and the short formulae of condemnation were known as avaSeiMTuriJuil (anathemas).
In the West no careful distinction of terms was ob- served: 'canones and decreta signify both dogmatic and disciplinary decisions. The Council of Trent styled its disciplinarj' edicts decreta de rejormatione; its dog- matic definitions decreta, without qualification, where they positively assert the points of faith then in dis- pute, and canones when, in imitation of the ancient anathematisms, they imposed an anathema sit on those that refused assent to the defined propositions. An opinion too absurd to require refutation pretends that only these latter canons (with the attached ana- themas) contain the peremptory judgment of the council demanding unquestioned submission. Equally absurd is the opinion, sometimes recklessly advanced, that the Tridentine capita are no more than explana- tions of the canones, not proper definitions; the coun- cil itself, at the beginning and end of each chapter, de- clares them to contain the rule of faith. Thus Session XIII begins: "The Holy Synod forbids to all the faithful in future to believe, teach, or preach concern- ing the Holy Eucharist otherwise than is explained • and defitied in the present decree", and it ends: "As, however, it is not enough to speak the truth without ! discovering and refuting error, it has pleased the Holy Synod to subjoin the following canons, so that all, now knowing the Catholic doctrine, may also imder- stand what heresies they have to beware against and avoid." The same remark applies to the chapters of the Vatican Council in its two Constitutions, as appears from the concluding words of the procemium of the first Constitution and from the initial phrases of most chap-- ters. All that may be conceded is that the chapters of both councils contain the doctrina caiholica, i.e. the authorized teaching of the Church, but not always and- '-:>][(,' invariably dogmata formalia, i.e. propositions of faith : defined as such.
XI. Promulgation. — Promulgation of conciliar decrees is necessary because they are laws, and no law is binding until it has been brought unmistakably to the knowleilge of all it intends to bind. The decrees ; are usually i>romulgated in the name of the synod j itself; in cases of the pope prcsiiling in person theyj have also been published in the form of papal decrees i with the fornuila: sacral unircrxali si/nnili) approliante. This w:is done first at the Third Lateran Council, then at the Fourth and Fifth Lateran, and also partlyat the Council of Constance.
