Kenrick says that, in defining the Immaculate Conception the Pope proposed the greater glory of the Mother of God, and previously to doing so consulted all the bishops, and acted on their advice. Now, however, he proposed his own infallibility, to be defined by a Council, which seems to have been convened for that purpose, although many bishops, and those representing the principal Churches of the Christian world, do not approve of it either in itself or in its concomitants.
Kenrick embraces under the head of expediency matter very different indeed from what one would have anticipated. He barely indicates the social and political dangers likely to arise out of the contemplated changes in dogma and polity. Having done this, he at once declares that the authority and œcumenicity of the Council are liable to be called in question, and will be called in question, on two separate grounds: first, the composition of the Council, and, secondly, its defect of liberty. As to its composition, he divides the members of it into five classes—
1. Diocesan bishops having Sees and governing them by ordinary episcopal authority.
2. Bishops of the Ring—episcopi annulares—who have the orders of bishops, but have neither Sees nor flocks, and who, with few exceptions, hold offices in the Court of Rome.
3. Other bishops in partibus, who, under the designation of Vicars Apostolic, preside over missions, and are all of them so immediately dependent upon the Holy See as to be removable at the discretion of the Pope.
4. Cardinals who are not bishops, and Cardinals who, having the orders of bishops, have no Sees.
5. Abbots and Generals of Orders.
Kenrick asserts that out of all the five classes the right of definition in matters of faith belongs, by a certain and universally acknowledged title, to diocesan bishops alone. The right of the Bishops of the Ring to define in matters of faith is a subject of dispute among theologians. The right of the Vicars Apostolic is disputable, but on different grounds. They have Sees, yet they are immediately dependent on the See of Rome, even to the extent of being removable at the will of the Bishop of Rome. As to Cardinals who are not bishops, with the Abbots and Generals, there is no doubt. They are confessed by all to have no right of definition in matters of faith, except as derived from custom.
Having thus described the composition of the Council, he adds the following solemn words—
In this Council the subject in hand affects the conflicting claims of the Pope and the bishops. If the Pope alone is infallible, the bishops do not exercise the office of judges, and, in a Council, they are only his councillors. Hence it ought to belong not to the Pope singly, but to a Council of diocesan bishops presided over by the Pope, to determine what right properly belongs to the other four classes; for otherwise the Pope would seem to dominate the Council.