If it be said that this has not been defined and proposed by the Church as de fide, it may be answered first, that many truths of Divine revelation have not been defined. All that is defined is indeed de fide, but not all that is de fide has been defined. The revelation of Christianity extends far beyond the definitions which, in condemnation of error, the Church has made progressively from age to age. The infallibility of the successor of Peter, speaking ex cathedrâ, as universal teacher, was not contradicted till the preludes of the so-called Reformation began to work. And wheresoever the contradiction has gained a hold, a decline of faith has followed. The events of the last century in France issued naturally from
theologica, omnino certa, contenta in Scripturis, et perpetuâ Ecclesiæ traditions et communi consensu Patrum ac Doctorum firmata; et, ut ajebat Bellarminus, opposita doctrina videtur omnino erronea, et hæresi proxima, ut meritò possit judicio Ecclesicæ hæretica declarari. Et licet non sit de fide, quoad obligationem credendi intimatam omnibus ab Ecclesiâ, est tamen de fide quoad objectum, et quoad obligationem respectu eorum qui certi sunt bane veritatem esse revelatam, ob argumenta quibus convincuntur: hanc autem certitudinem habent omnes fere Doctores Catholici, exceptis paucis nonnullis ex Galliâ. Omnes autem in re tanti momenti tenentur fundamenta expendere, quibus probatur Romanum Pontificem definientem è Cathedrâ non posse errare; nam si quis negaret Romano Pontifici privilegium infallibilitatis ipsi a Christo concessum, vel quia controversiam hanc diligenter non examinavit; vel quia aliquâ passione humanâ abreptus erravit in judicio ferendo, is apud Deum excusationem non haberet; quia ejus error esset culpabilis, et ejus ignorantia vincibilis.'—Gonzalez, ut supra, disp. xvii. sect ii. 11.
See also Raynaudi, Corona Aurea, 'Romanus Pontifex docens ex Cathedrâ errare non potest.'—App. tom. x. p. 146.
