THE VATICAN REVOLUTION'
SIR,—Will you grant me space to show that pt. Vidler (Spectator, February 14) is not justified in expecting me to prove in my book that the papacy has since 1870 'conducted itself in quite a new style'? The title of my book, The Vatican Revolution, was suggested (see p. 59 n.) by Mgr. Maret's ob- servation that it involved 'a radical and essential revolution in the constitution of the Church.' MY thesis is not that Pio Nono was the first pope to have papalist motives; it is, rather, that he was the first to be wholly successful in overthrowing the strong opposition to these within the Roman Church.
Dr. Vidler's charge of inconsistency is also un- founded. That the decree De . . . infallibili tnagis- terio is as vague as I show it to be is not incom- patible with my contention that it was unconstitu- tional and therefore revolutionary. Revolutions do not necessarily either spring from or promote in- tellectual clarity.—Yours faithfully,
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