POSTSCRIPT.
When the foregoing Pastoral was already printed, I received from Paris Mgr. Maret's volumes, 'Du Concile Général et de la Paix Religieuse.' I am sorry that I did not see them in time to weigh certain points raised in them before publishing what I have here written.
The Bishop has, however, re-stated so clearly the opinion he maintains, in the preface to his work, that I am at no loss to compare it precisely with the doctrine maintained in this Pastoral.
In making that comparison, I trust I shall use no word at variance with the fraternal charity and respect due from me to Mgr. Maret, both in person and as a brother. He says of his own opinion, which shall be stated in his own words,[1] 'As truth cannot be contrary to itself, this doctrine is easily reconcilable with the doctrines which are the most moderate of the School which bears the name of Ultramontane. What Divine right, what certain right of the Sovereign Pontificate is there, which is not enunciated and defended in our book? The Pontifical infallibility itself is not therein denied, but brought back to its true nature. We acknowledge and prove that the Pope, by his right to consult or to convoke the
- ↑ Du Concile Général et de la Paix Religieuse. Preface, xxvi. vii.
