§ 56. LEO X. 1513-1521. 487
the doctrine of the soul's immortality.^ The affirmation was called forth by the scepticism of the Arabic philosophers and the Italian pantheists. A single vote recorded against the decree came from the bishop of Bergamo, who took the ground that it is not the business of theologians to spend their time sitting in judgment upon the theories of philosophers.
The invention of printing was recognized by the council as a gift from heaven intended for the glory of God and the propagation of good science, but the legitimate printing of books was restricted to such as might receive the sanction of the master of the palace in Rome or, elsewhere, by the sanction of the bishop or inquisitors who were charged with examining the contents of books. 2 The condemnation of all books, distasteful to the hierarchy, was already well under way.
The council approved the proposed Turkish crusade and levied a tenth on Christendom. Its collection was forbidden in England by Henry VIII. Cajetan presented the cause in an eloquent address at the Diet of Augsburg, 1518. Altogether the most significant of the counciFs d(d.iverances wu&jthaJxull, Pater ceternus, labelled as approved by its authority and sent out by Leo, 1516.^ Here the position is reaffirmed — the position taken definitely by Pius II. and Sixtus IV. — that it is^ given to the Roman pontiff to have authority over all Chui'uh 'councils and to appoint, transfer and dissolve them at wilL This famous deliverance expressly renewed and ratified the constitution of Boniface VIII., the Unam sanctam, asserting it
1 The concordat met with serious resistance in France both from parliament and the University of Paris on the ground that it set aside the decisions of the Councils of Constance and Basel on the question of conciliar authority, and thus overthrew the Galilean liberties. The rector of the university forbade the university printer issuing the document, but he was brought to time by Leo instructing his legate to pronounce censure against him and the university, who " thinking themselves to be wise, had become fools."
- Perpetuis futuris temporibus, niillus librum aliquem seu aliam quamcunque scripturam tarn in iirbe nostra quam aliis quibusvis civitatibus et diocesibus imprimere seu impnini facere prcesumat, Mansi, XXXII. 912 sq. Also in part in Mirbt, p. 177.
3 Sacro concilio approbante. Dollinger, Papstthum, p. 185, affirms that, in far-reaching significance, no other rule ever passed in a Roman synod equals this bull.
488 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
to be altogether necessary to salvation for all Christians to be subject to the Roman pontiff.^ Tq^this was added the atrocious declaration tliat disobedience to the pope is punishaljle with deaUi. Innocent III. had quoted Dent. 17 : 12 in favor of this view, falsifying the translation of the Vulgate, which he made to read, " that whoever does not submit himself to the judgment of the high-priest, him shall the judge put to death." The council, in separating the quotations, falsely derived it from the Book of the Kings. ^
Nor should it be overlooked that in his bull the infallible Leo X. certified to a falsehood when he expressly declared that the Fathers, in the ancient councils, in order to secure confirmation for their decrees, "humbly begged the pope's approbation." This he affirmed of the councils of Nice, 325, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople, 680, and Nice, 787. 214 years before, when Boniface VIII. issued his bull, Philip the Fair was at hand to resist it. The French sovereign now on the throne, Francis I. , made no dissent. The concordat had just been ratified by the council.
The council adjourned March 16, 1517, a bare majority of two votes being for adjournment. Writers of Gallican sympathies have denied its oecumenical character. On the other hand. Cardinal Ilergenrother regrets that the Church has taken a position to it of a stepmother to her child. Pastor says there was already legislation enough before the Fifth Lateran sat to secure all the reforms needed. Not laws but action was required. Funk expresses the truth when he says, what the council did for Church reform is hardly worth noting dowQ*^
In passing judgment upon Leo X., the chief thing to be said is that he was a worldling. Religion was not a serious matter with him. Pleasure was his daily concern, not piety. He gave no earnest thought to the needs of the Church. It would
1 Mansi, XXXII. 9G8 ; Mirbt, p. 178. Solum liom. pontificem auctoritatem super omnia concilia habentem et conciliorum indirendurnm transferendorum ac dissolvendnrum plenum jus et potestatem habere . . . et cum de necessitate salutis existat omnes Christi ^fideles Romano pontifici subesse, etc.
2 Petri successores . . . quibns ex libri Eegum testimonio ita obedire ncresse est, ut qui non obedierit, morte moriatur.
8 Kirchengesch., p. 383.