The discussion on Infallibility commenced this day week (the 14th
May), and was opened by the Cardinal-Vicar Patrizzi. The Vatican tells us that the schema consists of four chapters, the first three of which refer to the primacy, and the last to the infallibility of the Pope, and that objections to the doctrine,— for the question of "opportuneness" no longer exists,—fill a volume of 250 pages. Our Roman Catholic contemporary quotes the opinion of the Roman correspondent of the Gazzetta "the principal organ of the Revolution," that the result is cer- tain, in these terms :—" If I were obliged to bet either that the dogma will be voted unanimously, or that there will be fifty opponents, I should prefer the former bet. My reason is very simple. Every day I see the assemblies of the inopportunists be- come more rare, and hear on all sides that such a prelate has abandoned them to join the majority." This is the view we have ourselves always taken, and there seems now hardly more doubt of its turning out correct than may be derived from the uncer- tainty of so aged a Pope surviving a discussion not likely to be ended under six weeks or two months. Of course, the Pope's death might change everything, or it might not. But as far as the logic of the question goes, the issue is no longer doubtful. After all, the world is more logical than it gets credit for.
