Folio 403

Pius VI, 1775-1799

printed p. 371 · pdf p. 403

The Power Attributed to the Community of the Church, in Order That by This the Power May Be Communicated to the Pastors

[Episcopal Convocation]

1502. 2. The proposition which states "that power has been given by God to the Church, that it might be communicated to the pastors who are its ministers for the salvation of souls"; if thus understood that the power of ecclesiastical ministry and of rule is derived from the COMMUNITY of the faithful to the pastors,—heretical.

The Name Ministerial Head Attributed to the Roman Pontiff

[Decree de fide (on faith), sec. 8]

1503. 3. In addition, the proposition which states "that the Roman Pontiff is the ministerial head," if it is so explained that the Roman Pontiff does not receive from Christ in the person of blessed Peter, but from the Church, the power of ministry, which as successor of Peter, true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church he possesses in the universal Church,—heretical.1

The Power of the Church for the Establishing and the Sanctioning of Exterior Discipline

[Decree de fide, secs. 13, 14]

1504. 4. The proposition affirming, "that it would be a misuse of the authority of the Church, when she transfers that authority beyond the limits of doctrine and of morals, and extends it to exterior matters, and demands by force that which depends on persuasion and love"; and then also, "that it pertains to it much less, to demand by force exterior obedience to its decrees"; in so far as by those undefined words, "extends to exterior matters," the proposition censures as an abuse of the authority of the Church the use of its power received from God, which the apostles themselves used in establishing and sanctioning exterior discipline—heretical.

1505. 5. In that part in which the proposition insinuates that the Church

  1. These propositions 2 and 3, accepted by Febronius, indicate the systems proposed by Edmund Richereus in his book De ecclesiastica et politica potestate, especially approved by the Jansenists. This book was condemned in 1612 by a synod of the province of Sens under Card. Perronio, and in the same year by a synod of the province of Bagnères. Paul V, in a brief to the bishops of the province of Sens, approved this condemnation. Furthermore (May 10, 1613), under the same Paul V the book was condemned by a Holy Inquisition and (Dec. 2, 1622) under Gregory XV the book was again prohibited by the Holy Congregation of the Index, and again (March 4, 1709) it was prohibited under Clement XI. ↩