acted on. Those who broached heresies in any part of the world, and were condemned by their own local Bishops, often appealed to the supreme decision of the Bishop of Rome. On the other hand. Catholic Bishops and Patriarchs, like St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, and others, who were often persecuted and unjustly condemned by synods, appealed to the Pope, who reversed and annulled the unjust decrees, and decided in favor of the condemned ones, as holding the true doctrine. Nestorius, Eutyches, and other heresiarchs were condemned by the Popes, and the decisions of the Roman Pontiffs were received as conclusive, and were honored as 'the voice of Peter speaking through his successor, ' which it would be heresy to depart from. St. Augustine held that a controversy was closed definitively when the Pope had decided it. Roma locuta est! In defining the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff, the Vatican Council did not introduce a new doctrine, but simply defined the ordinary and normal mode in which Christ has willed and provided that his Church shall in fact be kept infallibly in the path of Divine truth and saved from the assaults of hell, ever striving to lead her into error.
62. How does the Church decide when differences arise in matters of faith?
She decides according to the tenor of Holy Scripture and tradition.
63. Does the Church, then, teach nothing new, when, in such differences, she decides what is to be believed?
No; she only explains the Word of God entrusted to her in Holy Scripture and tradition, and condemns the opposite errors and innovations.
The doctrine of the Catholic Church is no other than the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles, which she has been entrusted with, in order that she may faithfully preserve and preach it. The Church, therefore, perpetually adheres to the old doctrine, inherited from the Fathers, and cries out with the Apostle to all: 'Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called' (1 Tim. vi. 20, and 2 Tim. i. 14). 'But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse: erring, and driving into error. But continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee' (2 Tim. iii. 13, 14). 'If any one preach to you a Gospel besides that which you have received, let him be anathema' (Gal. i. 9). 'What has been believed in all places, at all times,
