It is to be now further observed that the Council of the Vatican expressly quotes the decree of the Council of Florence, and as we have seen that the early Councils unfolded in succession that which was in germ before, making implicit truth explicit, so does this definition. It explains and defines what the Council of Florence meant by saying that the Roman Pontiff is "the pastor and teacher of all Christians." The definition says that he is so when he speaks ex cathedrâ, and he speaks ex cathedrâ when he defines anything of faith and morals to be held by the Universal Church. The phrase ex cathedrâ, though long used in theological schools, was for the first time here inserted in a decree of an Œcumenical Council. Its meaning is plain. "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," in cathedrâ Moysis; they spoke in his place and with his authority. The cathedra Petri is the place and the authority of Peter, but the place and the authority mean the office. All other acts of the head of the Church outside of his office are personal, and to them the promise is not attached. All acts, therefore, of the Pontiff as a private person, or as a private theologian, or as a local bishop, or as sovereign of a State, and the like, are excluded. They are not acts of the primacy.[1]
