The Split in the Church of Rome

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 19, 1870

The Split in the Church of Rome.

The Methodist (New York), thinks a great division in the church of Rome over the infallibility dogma, is now imminent. It says:

“There is no argument which Roman Catholic writers, in their controversies with Protestants, have used with so great an effect as that of the unity of faith existing in their church, compared with the endless dissensions in the Protestant world. Since the convocation of the present Council, this argument has lost much of its force. Roman Catholics, notwithstanding their common belief in the infallibility of the church, are quarrelling as to what constitutes the doctrines of their church; the most learned theologians—yea, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals—are engaged in animated controversies about this point, anticipate grave dangers for the church from the success of their opponents, and even charge each other with heresy. On the part of the infallibilists, the war is waged with the greatest violence; and in this war it is the ultramontane newspapers which lead the van. The most noted among them for blind fanaticism and fiery denunciations of every shade of liberal opinion have thus far been the Civiltà Cattolica, of Rome, and the Monde and the Univers, of Paris.”

It mentions the Freeman’s Journal (Catholic) of New York, as an American sheet which is “determined to equal or to outdo the European champions of infallibility in violence of language, and in unbridled fanaticism.” After giving some extracts to show the tone and temper of this sheet, it concludes thus:

“The above extracts will give our readers some idea of the spirit which will alone be tolerated in the Papal church after the infallibility of the Pope shall have been defined. Will it be possible that men like Bishops Dupanloup and Hefele, Professor Dollinger, and Father Gratry, will subordinate their scholarship to such brutish ignorance and passion? We cannot believe it; and believe a split in the church of Rome to be imminent.”