the whole Church has believed the successor and the See of Peter to be not only supreme in power, but infallible in faith.
It is upon this basis that the decrees and declarations of the Pontiffs teaching ex cathedrâ bind the universal Church, not only to exterior submission but also to interior assent. Sfondratus expresses this truth as follows:—
'The Pontiff does some things as man, some as prince, some as doctor, some as pope; that is, as head and foundation of the Church: and it is only to these (last-named) actions that we attribute the gift of infallibility. The others we leave to his human condition. As, then, not every action of the pope is papal, so not every action of the pope enjoys the papal privilege.'
'This, then, is to act as Pontiff, and to speak ex cathedrâ, which is not within the competency of any (other) doctor or bishop.'[1]
Gregory de Valentia teaches that, 'As often as the Roman Pontiff uses in defining questions of faith the authority with which he is invested, the judgment
- ↑ 'Pontifex aliqua facit ut homo, aliqua ut Princeps, aliqua ut Doctor, aliqua ut Papa, hoc est, ut caput et fundamentum Ecclesia3: et his solis actionibus privilegium infallibilitatis adscribimus: alias humanæ conditioni relinquimus: sicut ergo non omnis actio Papæ est Papalis, ita non omnis actio Papæ Papali privilegio gaudet. 'Hoc ergo est, pontificem agere, et e Cathedrâ loqui, quod nulli doctorum aut episcoporum convenit.'—Sfondrati Regale Sacerdotium, lib. iii. sec. 1.
Quid sit Pontificem e Cathedra docere.
