"Because you know too much history to believe in the Pope."
"Honestly," said Paul, "I see no reason in history to disbelieve in the Pope."
"His infallibility?"
"Vox corporis, vox capitis," retorted Paul; "and if the Church has no head, no ultimate authority, how can it speak?"
"The Church has ultimate authority. It resides in the whole college of bishops dispersed throughout the world. The Papal power is a growth due to various human circumstances, and in its final definition is contrary to the true Catholic faith."
"Surely that's what every heretic has said of every definition. That's what was said when every creed came to be formulated in order to safeguard the faith against the increasing theorising of men. That's what the Congregationalists say about the Sacraments."
"But the test lies in the acceptance of the new statement by the whole Catholic body."
Paul nodded eagerly. "And for four hundred years at least the whole Catholic body accepted Pope Leo's definition of the Papacy, which is good enough to justify it, and, sir, has the whole Church accepted your theory? Have even the English bishops accepted it? Are you not almost alone on the bench in your views?"
"Well, but judge for yourself. Read your Bible and pray. Is there a Pope in the Holy Scriptures? Wasn't the First Council of Jerusalem a meeting of the college of bishops?"
"And that," retorted Paul, "is what they said at Keswick. 'Read your Bible and pray.' Only, let alone the Pope, most of them don't see even a bishop at Jerusalem!"