truly and humbly acknowledges it has received from our Lord Himself in the person of St. Peter, the prince and chief of the Apostles, together with the fulness of power; and as this Church is before al! other Churches bound to defend the truth of the faith, so ought all questions of faith which may at any time arise to be decided according to her judgment." The Council of Florence finally defined: "That the Roman Pontiff, the true Vicar of Christ, is the head of the whole Church and the Father and Doctor of all Christians, and that to him, in St. Peter, was committed by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power to feed the universal Church, to rule, and to guide it."
'In order to fulfil this pastoral office, our Predecessors have, time after time, directed their unwearied labours that the wholesome doctrine of Christ might be spread abroad among all people of the earth, and with like care have they watched that, wherever the true doctrine has been received, there it should be preserved pure and undefiled. Therefore have the Bishops of the whole world, sometimes individually, and sometimes assembled in solemn synods, acting according to the long-received custom of the Church, and according to the pattern of the ancient rules, brought before this apostolic chair those difficulties which were ever arising in matters of faith, in order that the rents in faith might there be mended, where alone the faith could never fail.[1] The Roman Pontiffs, however, have, as times and circumstances warranted,—sometimes by summoning Ecumenical Councils or by asking the opinion of the Church throughout the world,
- ↑ S. Bernard, Epis. 190.
