The Specter of Popery: Infallibility and the Vatican Decrees

Peterson, Stephen J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97996-0_4

Stephen J. Peterson²

131 Accesses

Abstract

In his 1874 pamphlet The Vatican Decrees in Their Bearing on Civil Allegiance: A Political Expostulation, Gladstone took critical aim at Pope Pius IX and the papal decree of infallibility. He declared it a dangerous innovation that subordinated Catholics in England to the dictates of the pope in matters of civic loyalty as well as faith and morals. The controversy also drew in famed converts to Catholics Bishop Henry Manning and Cardinal Newman. Peterson examines how Gladstone’s reputation as a champion of liberty continued to advance, except among Roman Catholics, who published withering criticisms of the pamphlet. With a few exceptions, American Protestant and secular papers largely agreed with Gladstone’s warning. His pamphlet was considered a credible and necessary call for lovers of liberty.

England is entitled to ask and to know in what way the obedience required by the Pope and the Council of the Vatican is to be reconciled with the integrity of Civil Allegiance.

William Gladstone (WEG, “The Vatican Decrees in Their Bearing on Civil Allegiance; A Political Expostulation” in Philip Schaff, ed, The Vatican Decrees in Their Bearing on Civil Allegiance; A Political Expostulation. By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. To which are added: A History of the Vatican Council ; Together with the Latin and English text of the Papal Syllabus and the Vatican Decrees (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1875), 31)

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Notes

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3.
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Stephen J. Peterson

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Peterson, S.J. (2018). The Specter of Popery: Infallibility and the Vatican Decrees. In: Gladstone's Influence in America. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97996-0_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97996-0_4
Published: 03 October 2018
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