THE POPE AND ANGLICAN ORDERS.
[To THZ EDITOR 07 THE " SrscrArou."] SIR,— Some little time ago it was stated in an article in the Spectator that, although the Catholic Church invariably re- ordains all Anglican clerical converts who seek the priesthood, nevertheless the Pope has never authoritatively declared the nullity of Anglican Orders. This statement is frequently made, yet it is difficult to see how it can be maintained, in the face of the decision of the Holy Office in the Gordon case (A.D. 1704). However, the question appears now to be definitely settled by the recent discovery by Dom Aidan Gasquet in the secret archives of the Vatican of a Bull and Brief of Paul IV. to Cardinal Pole, in which the Pope decides that all Orders not given according to the Form of the Church, and, consequently, those conferred by the Ordinal of Edward VI., are absolutely invalid ; and that those thus ordained must be ordained de novo.
The following is a translation of a passage from the Brief :—" Those Bishops and Archbishops cannot be said to have been duly and rightly ordained who were not ordained and consecrated according to the form of the Church, and therefore persons promoted by them to Orders have not received Orders, but, according to the contents and tenor of the aforesaid Letters, are bound to receive anew the same Orders from their Ordinary, and are to be obliged to this." The Bull is dated 12th of the kalends of July, 1555, and the Brief, October 30th of the same year.— [Unless the Ball were published at the time, it would surely not come under the definition given in the Vatican Council of an infallible decree. It could not have been given ex cathedra with a view to teach the Church.—En. Spectator.]
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