A Christmas Sermon
SIR,—It is not easy to understand Mr Heckstall- Smith's difficulty (Letters, January 6). It is, of course, true that Acton, along with Cardinal Newman, Bishop Dupanloup, Ketteler and a very large num- ber of the most distinguished Catholics of the day thought the definition of papal infallibility to be in- opportune. It is, of course, also true that, like all liberal men, he deplored the Inquisition and was shocked by the acts of violence of some of the Renais- sance Popes. But what had these acts to do with in- fallibility? It is not Catholic dogma that all Popes have always been good men and no one could con- ceivably argue that the infallibility definition required one to believe in the Inquisition. Is Mr Heckstall- Smith confusing infallibility with impeccability? Very nearly a century has elapsed now since Newman's article exposed the confusion of The Times which thought that Catholics who accepted infallibility would be compelled to approve of the Massacre of St Bartholomew.
CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS
Lizzie Claveys, Mells, Near Frome, Somerset
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