# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1916_S13
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1916. 13

Church to be instructed in the explanation of the doctrine of faith and morals; and that therefore these declarations of this Roman bishop are of themselves, and not through the consent of the Church, unalterable" (Romanum Pontificem, cum ex cathedra loquitur, id est, cum omnium Christianorum pastoris et doctoris munere fungens pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab universa Ecclesia tenendam definit, per assistentiam divinam ipsi in beato Petro promissam, ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in definienda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit; ideoque ejusmodi Romani Pontificis definitiones ex sese, non autem ex consensu Ecclesiae, irreformabiles esse). Everyone who does not accept this as divine truth, who teaches otherwise, is solemnly laid under the curse and falls under damnation according to the decree of the Antichrist. The Pope at Rome is the infallible teacher of the whole of Christendom, and indeed the only infallible teacher. All Christendom has to submit to his teachings and pronouncements, to accept them as divine truths, to believe them and live by them, and indeed without any examination, because they come from the divinely confirmed, infallible teacher of Christendom. The Pope judges all things and is judged by no one, not even by the Church. And he alone has the right to interpret his own decrees and to set forth their true meaning. He is the visible head of the Church, the visible representative of Christ on earth, to whom everyone is obliged to render obedience on pain of the loss of his salvation, as to the Lord himself, our highly praised Savior.

And the most recent Popes also, the successors of Pius IX, have expressed themselves in the same sense, have maintained all these shameful presumptions, and have shown themselves just such bitter enemies of Christ and his pure Gospel. Let us look first at the immediate successor of Pius the Ninth, Leo XIII. He hardly let an opportunity pass in his long pontificate, in his many encyclicals, briefs and circular letters, which he had issued over his signature, to declare himself a bitter enemy of the Gospel and to revile the blessed work of the Reformation. Only a few utterances shall be pointed out here. In the year 1897 he writes: "What a significant task this excellent man of fidelity" (the Jesuit Peter Canisius) "took upon his shoulders against the faith, with regard to the interests of the state and of the Church, those readily recognize who consider what sight Germany presented at the beginning of the Lutheran rebellion. Morals deteriorated and daily fell more into decay, and so the doors stood open to error. Error itself brought the corruption of morals to its final ripeness. Gradually, as a result, more and more fell away from the Catholic faith; soon