clergy and people, of which the Roman Pontiff is Bishop. All particular Churches, except this, may err; the particular Church of Rome cannot; for which cause it has inherited a host of titles expressive of its dignity and stability. It has been known as 'The Head of the Episcopate,' 'The Mother of all Churches,' 'The Mistress or Teacher and Ruler of all Churches,' 'The Primacy over all the Church,' 'The Primacy over all the World,' 'The Head of Religion,' 'The Guardian of the Faith,' 'The Guardian of Tradition.'[1] The Roman Church has been regarded as the true seat of the apostolic tradition; the doctrine of Rome as the form of truth; the Roman See as the pattern for judgments in faith; the judgments of Rome as equivalent to decrees of Councils. In a word, the Chair of Peter has been held to be the test of orthodoxy, the confirmer of Councils, the supreme tribunal of faith, the destroyer of heresies, the end of controversies, an authority which is subject to no appeal, to no reversal, to no revision, to no superior upon earth.[2]
What is the sense of all this, but that the indefectibility and infallibility of the Pontiff, by a singular privilege, pervades the Church of which he is pastor? Therefore it is that, from the earliest history, we find the Roman Church exercising this supreme office of
