CHAPTER III.
TRADITION OF THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF.
Thus far we have enumerated, briefly, the reasons adduced for and against defining the infallibility of the Pontiff, speaking ex cathedrâ. In order, then, to preclude as far as possible any ambiguity or uncertainty as to the limits and extension of the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pontiff, speaking ex cathedrâ, intended by me in this Pastoral, and by those known to me, who believe this to be a truth of revelation, I will once for all state the various opinions which have been put forward in opposition and in its defence. No better analysis can be found than that of Bellarmine, which I will therefore simply transcribe. After saying that the Pontiff may be considered in four ways—1, As a private person; 2, As a private Doctor; 3, As Pontiff alone with his counsellors; 4, As Pontiff with a General Council, Bellarmine says:—
1. 'Both Catholics and heretics agree in two things; first, that the Pontiff, even as Pontiff and with his counsellors, or even with a General Council, may err in controversies as to particular facts, which chiefly depend on the information and testimonies of men; secondly, that the Pontiff, as a private doctor, may err even in questions of faith and morals; and
