Pius IX reversed the order of work so the First Vatican Council could address the question of infallibility without further delay. To that end, the Council Fathers began studying the draft constitution De Ecclesia Christi’s eleventh chapter, which dealt with the pope’s primacy. This chapter began with the words Pastor Aeternus. When … Read more
Before being approved unanimously in the April 24, 1870 session, the constitution De Fide (On Faith) was returned several times to the special commission to be modified according to the amendments presented and to receive its definitive wording. In the meantime, the Council Fathers decided to move on to disciplinary matters. They … Read more
The modern “center-left” position contains a fatal flaw. It cannot prevent its ideas from being used to inspire even more radical modes of thinking. This tendency expressed itself as French liberalism degenerated into the “anti-infallibilist” movement of the late nineteenth century. Before the First Vatican Council convened in 1869, French Catholic liberal … Read more
There has been some confused notions about the ultramontane movement of the nineteenth century among traditional-minded Catholics. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) is publishing two articles putting the movement in context and showing its orthodoxy. The author is the French TFP’s Jose Antonio Ureta who … Read more
On the 150th Anniversary of Two Events of Transcendental Significance for the Life and History of the Church The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of two events of transcendental significance for the Church’s life and history. The first is a positive event, which was the proclamation of the dogma of papal … Read more
There is a lot of confusion about the nature and scope of the charism of the Pope’s infallibility. Many Catholics with average religious instruction think the Sovereign Pontiff is infallible in everything he says or does. However, this is not what Catholic doctrine affirms. Two Different Concepts That Are Often Confused Thus, … Read more
Is the Pope always infallible in everything he says or does? What are the conditions and limits provided by the First Vatican Council for the Pope to exercise the charisma of infallibility? Can Catholic faithful with sufficient doctrinal formation resist documents that clearly contradict Catholic tradition? These are some of the urgent … Read more
An abyss separates the world (understood here not in its cosmological but moral sense) from the Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. The world neither accepts being guided by, nor comprehends the Light that came to illuminate it. The world does not live for God or for life eternal, but for … Read more
-150x150.jpg)
Last February 11 marked the 150th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady in Lourdes. In light of this anniversary year, we are publishing the following article that was originally written on the centennial of the apparitions in 1958. Everyone knows the basic story. It began in 1854 when the great … Read more
I. The Papacy: a factor of division or unity? For a long time now certain theological currents and Church personalities, in the name of a heterodox interpretation of episcopal collegiality, have been proposing a change in the monarchical constitution of the Church so as to reduce the Pope’s authority to that of … Read more